Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
March 16, 1938 A dedication ceremony was held for an airport built in the Sydenham ward of Northern Ireland’s capital city of Belfast. (This city also has the distinction of being the largest one in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.) The inauguration of the facility originally known as Sydenham Airport was... Continue Reading →
March 7, 1969 The Victoria line of the London Underground, the wide-ranging rapid transit system of England’s capital city and the metropolitan area surrounding it, was officially opened. The Victoria line was the first entirely new line of the London Underground to be built in a half-century. The first portion of the Victoria line to... Continue Reading →
February 28, 2015 A newly built railway station was opened in the city of Delft in the Netherlands’ province of South Holland. This city has played a huge role in Dutch history over the centuries and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Netherlands. Delft -- located between Rotterdam to the southeast... Continue Reading →
February 10, 1955 The day after the Rome Metro was formally opened in Italy’s capital city, Colosseo (Colosseum) station became one of the five stations on Line B of that rapid transit system to begin operations. Colosseo station is located in the Monti rione (administrative division) in the central part of Rome. As its name... Continue Reading →
February 9, 1809 The South Stack Lighthouse in the Irish Sea first went into service. This navigational aid is located on a stack, a geological landform consisting of steep columns of rock in the sea. South Stack is near the Welsh island of Anglesey, which is off the northwestern mainland coast of Wales. The... Continue Reading →
February 7, 1996 British Airways (BA) supersonic airliner Concorde G-BOAD took only two hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds to fly between the United States and England. “British Concorde Sets Atlantic Speed Mark,” announced a headline in the Tampa Bay Times a couple of days later. This trip continues to hold the record as the... Continue Reading →
January 31, 1862 A railway bridge was inaugurated in an area of western England that is now entirely within the county of Worcestershire. This bridge, which went into regular service the day after it was it was officially opened, crosses the River Severn between the village of Upper Arley (part of the county of Staffordshire... Continue Reading →
January 27, 1989 Aviation pioneer Thomas Sopwith died at his mansion near the city of Winchester in southern England. He was 101. “The Genius of Flight is Dead,” announced a headline in the London-based Evening Standard. Sopwith was born on January 18, 1888, in the Royal Borough of Kensington (now part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) in... Continue Reading →
January 24, 2019 In the western section of London, a newly completed pedestrian bridge in the city’s district of Chiswick was officially opened. Chiswick Park Footbridge is located just north of Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve. This 114.8 (35-meter)-long bridge serves as a connection between Chiswick Business Park, a development that encompasses the London-area offices of... Continue Reading →
January 20, 1902 A railway station in the Alnabru neighborhood of Norway’s city of Kristiania was opened. At the time, Norway was part of the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. Under this personal union, those countries had the same monarch; the capital typically alternated throughout each year between Kristiania and the Swedish city of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 