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 →
The first commercial electric railway began service in Baltimore, Maryland. Replacing the mule-drawn cars on the Hampden line, the pioneering system used electricity in a third rail running down the middle of the track to power the cars. English inventor and professor, Leo Daft began work on the railway line in the early 1880s, having... 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 →
Patent No. 1,000,000 was issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office to Francis H. Holton for the invention of a tubeless vehicle tire. Beyond the celebration of the milestone patent number achieved by Holton, the invention was important for other reasons. It represented the incredible advancement of transportation technology since the first... Continue Reading →
Just a few days after Australia entered World War I on the side of the Allied powers, the 350-fooot-long passenger steamship Grantala (an Aboriginal word for “big”) was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) for military service as a hospital ship. Grantala, which had been completed and launched by Armstrong Whitworth Company for the... Continue Reading →
The Otira Tunnel serving the Midland Railway line within the central part of New Zealand’s South Island was officially opened. The tunnel, which runs under the Southern Alps between Arthur’s Pass in that mountain range and the township of Otira, took approximately 15 years to build. The debut of the Otira Tunnel was hailed throughout... 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 →
On Australia’s southeastern coast, a new lighthouse made its debut on the headland of Barrenjoey in the colony – and present-day state – of New South Wales (NSW). The first light for the sandstone structure was kerosene-fueled. The Barrenjoey Lighthouse was built in response to longtime demands for stronger safeguards for vessels, particularly the steady... Continue Reading →
The Takutu River Bridge, which links the town of Lethem in Guyana with the municipality of Bonfim in Brazil was opened to traffic. Construction of the bridge was a project within the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA); this initiative had been launched in 2000 to promote and facilitate... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 