Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
The last mainline passenger train hauled by a steam locomotive made its run on British Rail before the implementation of a steam ban the next day. The so-called Fifteen Guinea Special (15 guineas was the equivalent of 15 pounds, 15 shillings in the pre-decimal British currency, or £15.75 today - a very high price for... Continue Reading →
American inventor Robert Fulton took his newly-built paddle steamboat out on the Seine River in France for a test run. Unfortunately, the ship sank. Nevertheless, Fulton was not discouraged. He was accustomed to perfecting his designs and inventions in high-profile situations. Born in Pennsylvania in 1765, Fulton grew up in the environs of Philadelphia, and,... Continue Reading →
A Parisian mechanic named Jules Pierre Suriray was awarded French patent number 86,680 for a radial-style ball bearing he had developed for bicycles. By this time, the use of ball bearings to reduce friction between rotating parts had already long been identified with and applied to various forms of transportation. Ball bearings were used for... Continue Reading →
After nearly three decades of planning and construction, a new rapid transit system was fully opened to the general public for regular all-day service in Finland’s capital and largest city. (Test drives during rush hours only had been initiated two months earlier.) Finnish President Mauno Koivisto formally inaugurated the Helsinki Metro, which is the northernmost... Continue Reading →
Théodore Vienne, a textile manufacturer and sports entrepreneur who made significant contributions to cycling, was born in the French city of Roubaix. A big proponent of sports events, Vienne coordinated a variety of bullfighting, Greco-Roman wrestling, boxing, and billiards competitions in his hometown. Vienne also happened to be an avid cyclist, so he likewise invested... Continue Reading →
It was a unique case of a student teaching his instructors... In the Croatian city of Zagreb, Ferdinand Budicki took a driving test so that he could become eligible to operate an automobile in his native country. (Croatia, which was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time, eventually ended up under the rule... Continue Reading →
More than 16 months after leaving Abu Dhabi, the experimental solar-powered monoplane Solar Impulse 2 completed its first-of-a-kind circumnavigation of Earth by returning to the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The innovative aircraft had been one of two built as part of a privately financed aviation project in Switzerland. The Swiss citizens leading this... Continue Reading →
One of the first bus routes in Norway began regular service between Steinkjer and Namsos in the central part of the country. This bus route also had the distinction of being the first one in Norway to transport mail, with stops en route at a total of six post offices. This considerably shortened the time... Continue Reading →
The Trans-Siberian Railway was officially completed after more than a decade of construction throughout a large stretch of the Russian Empire. Thousands of workers helped build this network of railways linking Moscow with the Russian Far East. While formally finished, trains had already been running on some portions of the system; other segments, however, would... Continue Reading →
Cavour, an aircraft carrier and the flagship of the Italian Navy, was launched from the Riva Trigoso shipyards in the town of Sestri Levante in northwestern Italy. The ship was named after Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, who was a 19th-century Italian statesman and is generally known as Count Cavour. His major accomplishments included helping... Continue Reading →
