Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
September 20, 2015 Operations began for the first line of a light rail system in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital and largest city. The Addis Ababa Light Rail was officially inaugurated by Hailemariam Desalegn, who served as prime minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018. In an article appearing in the Ethiopian Herald a couple of... Continue Reading →
September 19, 2009 A state-of-the-art coastal mapping vessel built for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was launched into the East Pascagoula River at the shipyard of VT Halter Marine, Inc., in the vicinity of Moss Point, Mississippi. This vessel was formally commissioned as NOAAS Ferdinand R. Hassler (S 250) on June 8, 2012.... Continue Reading →
September 18, 1981 Transit entrepreneur Francis Brunner died in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 81. He had been one of the pioneers of sightseeing bus tours along Southern California’s coast -- through a segment of the Santa Monica Mountains region and near the shoreline of the Santa Monica Bay -- and was pivotal in... Continue Reading →
September 17, 1871 Within the Alps mountain range in Europe, a tunnel connecting the French commune of Modane with the Italian town and commune of Bardonecchia was officially opened to rail traffic. This transportation route runs through the region of the massif known as Mont Cenis and beneath both the Pointe du Fréjus (a mountain)... Continue Reading →
Juan Ortega was born in Spain in 1840. He eventually immigrated to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania. Ortega, who became better known as John rather than Juan, would serve with distinction while fighting for his adopted country during the American Civil War. Ortega joined the Union Navy -- the name for the U.S.... Continue Reading →
September 13, 2005 National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) began construction on USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3), a U.S. Navy underway replenishment (UNREP) vessel. (This type of vessel is used to transport fuel, munitions, and various other supplies to ships out at sea.) The building of the Alan Shepard took place at NASSCO’s shipyard in San... Continue Reading →
September 12, 1911 More than three decades after achieving worldwide fame as a winner of the America’s Cup, the schooner-yacht Madeleine underwent her final journey when she was towed to the mouth of the Hillsborough River on Florida’s west-central coast to be dismantled and sunk there. During the previous year, the Madeleine had been used... Continue Reading →
September 11, 1935 Ground was broken on the first section of the Appalachian Scenic Highway, which is now known as the Blue Ridge Parkway. These initial building efforts took place along a 12.5-mile (20.1-kilometer) stretch near the western North Carolina-Virginia border, specifically in the vicinity of North Carolina’s Cumberland Knob mountain peak. The ultimate result of... Continue Reading →
September 10, 1932 In northwestern Massachusetts, a newly built bridge crossing the Connecticut River was opened. The French King Bridge serves as a link between the towns of Erving and Gill. This bridge was named after French King Rock, a nearby geographical feature. Approximately 15,000 people showed up on that Saturday for the inaugural festivities... Continue Reading →
September 9, 1963 More than a century after it had first gone into service, Linley Hall station on the Severn Valley Railway line in England’s West Midlands region was permanently closed. This railway station was opened on February 1, 1862. It had been built at the behest of Thomas C. Whitmore (1807-1865), a prominent local... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 