Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
A new railway line made its official debut in south Norway. The Krøderen Line, spanning 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the Krøderen lake to the town of Vikersund, was built as a narrow-gauge branch line of the Radsfjorden Line. The formal opening of the Krøderen Line took place without any fanfare; the actual celebration for... Continue Reading →
A French crew of 14 sailors on board the vessel Banque Populaire V began an ambitious round-the-world voyage. The voyage was undertaken to win the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by a yacht. Starting in 1993, the Jules Verne Trophy – named for the acclaimed French writer whose works included... Continue Reading →
Tazio Nuvolari, whose world-renowned racing career encompassed both motorcycles and cars, was born in the commune of Castel d’Ario in northern Italy. He eventually became a longtime resident of the nearby city of Mantua. Nuvolari’s racing career first took shape in 1920 when he began racing motorcycles. His achievements at this point in his career... Continue Reading →
In northwestern Germany, the record-setting motor luxury yacht Dilbar was launched at the Lürssen shipyard in the city of Bremen. The 512-foot (156-meter)-long vessel is the world’s fourth largest yacht by length. With a total interior volume of 15,197 gross tons, Dilbar is also widely considered to the largest yacht in terms of volume. It... Continue Reading →
A new lighthouse began operations on a shallow sandbank that is about seven miles (11 kilometers) off the coast of Ireland’s capital of Dublin. The Kish Lighthouse – located on the sandbank known as the Kish Bank in Dublin Bay-- has since become a familiar landmark for those sailing through this region of the Emerald... Continue Reading →
Miles Clark, who established a new sailing record in Europe, was born in the town of Magerherafelt in Northern Ireland. Clark was a geography student at Downing College in England, and his strong sense of curiosity and international adventure eventually led him to become a freelance travel writer and photographer. Clark also served as features... Continue Reading →
Henri Pigozzi, who served as the general commercial representative for the Italian automobile producer Fiat S.p.A. in France, founded the company Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile (Simca)-Fiat at the one-time Donnet manufacturing factory in the French commune of Suresnes (a western suburb of Paris). Pigozzi launched Simca-Fiat as a distributor for Fiat automobiles... Continue Reading →
Oceanographer and engineer Jacques Piccard, whose work involving underwater vehicles revolutionized deep-sea exploration, died at the age of 86 at his Lake Geneva home in Switzerland’s municipality of Cully. Piccard was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1922. He came from a renowned Swiss family of adventurers and transportation pioneers. His father, Auguste Piccard, was an accomplished inventor and... Continue Reading →
ICGV Thor (Þór), a new patrol vessel built for the Icelandic Coast Guard (ICG), arrived in Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavík two-and-a-half years after being launched at the ASMAR Naval Shipyard in Talcahuano, Chile. The ship was named after the Norse god Thor. The origins of ICGV Thor can be traced to a proposal drafted... Continue Reading →
Jens Theodor Paludan Vogt, a civil engineer, and public transportation pioneer died at the age of 62 in Norway’s capital city of Kristiania. (In 1924, the city formally readopted its original name of Oslo.) Vogt had been born in 1830 in the Norwegian parish of Fiskum. To say that Jens Vogt came from a highly... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 