Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
March 17, 1813 A newly completed lighthouse on Inishtrahull Island, which is about five nautical miles (t0 kilometers) off the coast of County Donegal in Ireland, first went into service. Inishtrahull Lighthouse was designed by renowned civil engineer George Halpini Sr., who had been appointed inspector of lighthouse for the Dublin Ballast Board in 1810.... Continue Reading →
March 4, 1890 Scotland’s Forth Bridge, spanning across the estuary Firth of Forth, made its official debut. This cantilever railway bridge was built to carry two tracks of the North British Railway through a stretch of territory between the city of Edinburgh and the council area of Firth. The Forth Bridge -- also known as the Forth... Continue Reading →
March 3, 1910 Transportation pioneer Dorothy Levitt was one of the featured speakers at a mid-afternoon meeting of the English Women’s Aerial League at the renowned Criterion Restaurant in London, England. The league had been established the previous year and was focused on promoting both advances in aircraft technology and the involvement of women in... Continue Reading →
February 7, 1867 William Dargan, widely considered to be one of the most significant Irish engineers of the 19th century, died in Dublin at age of 67. He had been born in 1799 in the town of Carlow in southeastern Ireland. Dargan’s public works career began in earnest in 1819 when he secured a job... Continue Reading →
February 2, 1870 As a bicycle craze swept across Europe, the first-ever official race in Italy involving that type of transportation took place. The increased popularity of bicycles owed a lot to two key developments in France during the previous decade -- the launch of the first pedal-equipped bicycle; and the Michaux Company’s subsequent mass production... Continue Reading →
January 28, 2000 In Greece, the Syntagma station made its formal debut as part of the rapid transit system serving the capital city of Athens and other municipalities within the country’s region of Attica. This station was one of several stations opened at the same time as the inauguration of Lines 2 and 3 of... Continue Reading →
January 27, 1861 Ralph Modjeski, a civil engineer who achieved acclaim for his wide range of bridge design and construction projects, was born in the town of Bochnia in the Austrian Empire (in what is now Poland). Modjeski immigrated to the United States in 1878. He became an American citizen five years later. Modjeski’s first major... Continue Reading →
January 20, 1959 The first flight of the British short-to-medium-range turborprop airliner Vickers Vanguard took place in the skies above southeastern England. This plane was designed and built by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs. The chief test pilot for the Vanguard’s maiden flight was E.R. “Jock” Bryce. A 1955 article in the Melbourne-based Age newspaper characterized... Continue Reading →
January 18, 1857 Henry Wigram, who became a transportation pioneer in New Zealand, was born in London, England. Wigram immigrated to what was then the British colony of New Zealand in 1883. He settled in the city of Christchurch, located in the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island. Wigram eventually became involved in Christchurch’s... Continue Reading →
January 11, 1815 David Stevenson, who would achieve widespread renown as a civil engineer and lighthouse designer, was born in Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh. By the time of his birth, his father Robert Stevenson (1772-1850) had begun to establish himself as a notable designer of lighthouses within Scotland. (This country officially became part of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 