Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
October 27, 1909 The Great Southern Automobile Company was established in Birmingham, Alabama, with local banker Eugene F. Enslen serving as its president. This new company manufactured automobiles at a plant in the nearby city of Ensley. Starting in 1912, the Great Southern Automobile Company maintained a salesroom in the landmark Empire Building in downtown... Continue Reading →
October 26, 1952 A station of the Stockholm metro was formally opened in the community of Blackeberg in the western section of Sweden’s capital and largest city. Blackeberg metro station was one of 17 stations to be inaugurated on the same date on Line 19 of the Green Line of Stockholm’s rapid system. Blackeberg metro... Continue Reading →
October 25, 2016 Robert Anderson “Bob” Hoover, a longtime pilot with a wide range of aviation achievements, died in Los Angeles at the age of 94. He had been born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1922. Hoover learned to fly at Berry Field (present-day Nashville International Airport). He worked at a grocery store to help pay... Continue Reading →
October 22, 1934 The Union Pacific Railroad’s M-10001 diesel-electric streamliner train departed Los Angeles at 10:00 p.m. to set a still-unbroken record for transcontinental rail travel in the United States. The M-10001, which had been delivered to Union Pacific only 10 days earlier and was the company’s first diesel-powered train (and the first Pullman-sleeper-equipped passenger... Continue Reading →
October 21, 1922 The ocean liner RMS Franconia was launched at the John Brown & Company shipyard in the town of Clydebank, Scotland. Operated by the Cunard Line, this ship was the second one named Franconia to serve that company. (The original version of RMS Franconia had been launched in 1910 and was sunk by a German... Continue Reading →
October 20, 1892 In Chicago, more than 1,000 good roads advocates from across the United States gathered at Central Music Hall to form an organization to further promote their cause. This meeting was held in conjunction with the dedication ceremonies for the Chicago World’s Fair (also called the World’s Columbian Exposition), which would take place the... Continue Reading →
October 19, 1973 In the Canadian province of British Columbia, a key transit exchange for buses was opened at Highway 1 and Main Street in the city of North Vancouver. (This waterfront municipality is located on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet and directly across from the larger city of Vancouver.) That transit exchange was... Continue Reading →
October 18, 1869 In Australia, a railway station in the town of Bowenfels in the colony (now state) of New South Wales (NSW) was opened. The Bowenfels railway station was built as part of the Main Western Railway (also known as the Main Western Line) in that region of Australia. This station was designed by... Continue Reading →
October 14, 1892 The first type of tram service in the city of Belgrade in the Kingdom of Serbia (a region that is now part of the Republic of Serbia) was formally introduced. The government of Serbia’s capital had contracted with Periklos Tziklos, a native of Italy, to build this public transportation system. The first... Continue Reading →
October 13, 1881 A railway station that been constructed in the city of Larvik in southeastern Norway was formally opened. At the time, the present-day Kingdom of Norway was part of the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. Larvik Station was built as part of the Vestfold Line in that region of Norway. Construction on... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 