Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
October 29, 1987 A new trolleybus system was inaugurated in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar (also known as Ulan Bator). These trolleybuses have become a heavily used part of the city’s overall transit network, which also includes regular bus lines and a hodge-podge of privately owned passenger vans that are collectively called “microbuses.” The sometimes... Continue Reading →
October 28, 1888 In Japan, the first line of the Iyotetsu (Iyo Railway) Company went into service in the Ehime Prefecture on the main island of Shikoku. The Takahama Line, covering 5.8 miles (9.4 kilometers) between the Ehime Prefecture’s capital city of Matsuyama and the port town of Mitsuhama, made its debut a little over... Continue Reading →
October 25, 1873 John North Willys, a leading automobile industrialist, was born in Canandaigua, New York. His original career involved selling bicycles, but all that changed when he saw his first automobile in 1899. Willys (pronounced Will-is), realizing the automobile’s potential, started selling models of that type of transportation instead. By 1907, Willys’ high volume... Continue Reading →
October 24, 1891 A new railway station was officially opened along the Øresund strait at the city of Helsingør (best known in English as Elsinore) in eastern Demark. This building continues to serve as Helsingør’s principal railway station, and it was constructed to replace a station that had been in existence elsewhere in the city... Continue Reading →
October 23, 1906 Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont made the first sustained and officially witnessed flight in a powered heavier-than-air machine in Europe when he piloted his 14-bis biplane in Paris, France. Santos-Dumont came from a family of wealthy coffee producers in his native Brazil, but devoted his life instead to the study of human flight... Continue Reading →
October 22, 1938 Professional cyclist Alfred Letourneur set a new world record during a motor-paced racing competition at a velodrome in Montlhéry, France. Motor-paced racing involves having a cyclist closely follow a motorized vehicle to gain momentum and speed from that vehicle’s slipstream, and Letourneur – while riding his bicycle behind a motorbike in Monthlhéry... Continue Reading →
October 21, 1863 George Alexander Troup, an architect, and engineer who designed a large number of notable railway stations in New Zealand was born to Scottish parents in London, England. Not long after his birth, his family returned to Scotland to live in Edinburgh. By the time he turned 11, Troup was attending a prestigious... Continue Reading →
October 18, 1910 The efforts of journalist and adventurer Walter Wellman to pilot the first transatlantic flight ended when he had to halt the ambitious trip about 450 miles (643.7 kilometers) east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. With his dirigible America unable to travel any further across the Atlantic Ocean due to both mechanical failures... Continue Reading →
October 17, 2018 A cable-stayed bridge spanning the Nile was opened in the town of Njeru in the Republic of Uganda. Njeru is a suburb of the city of Jinja, which is located on the shores of Lake Victoria. Along with being Africa’s largest lake by area, Lake Victoria is also considered by many to... Continue Reading →
October 16, 1961 Cork Airport was officially opened in the Republic of Ireland. Located in the southwestern part of the country, this airport is four miles (6.5 kilometers) south of the city of Cork. Plans for an airport in the area had been under serious discussion as far back as 1928. The actual construction of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 