Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 10, 1908 The Thamshavn Line, Norway’s first electric railway, made its debut. The initial segment of this trailblazing line was formally opened by Norway’s King Haakon VII (1872-1957). This railway was built to carry ore from the mines at the village of Løkken Verk in central Norway to the ports of Orkanger and Thamshavn... Continue Reading →
July 9, 1923 The Logan Valley Bus Company (LVBC) began operations in the vicinity of Altoona, Pennsylvania, in the south-central region of the Keystone State. (A portion of this area has long been known as Logan Valley.) The LVBC was formed the previous week as a subsidiary of the Altoona & Logan Valley (A&LV) Electric... Continue Reading →
July 1, 2002 On Japan’s island of Shikoku, a passenger railway station was opened in the town of Kagami in Kōchi Prefecture. (In 2006, Kagami became part of the newly formed city of Kōnan; however, the name of the station has remained the same.) Kagami Station is located on the 26.5-mile (42.7-kilometer)-long Asa Line of... Continue Reading →
June 12, 2004 In the western region of the Federal Republic of Germany, a train station at Cologne Bonn Airport made its formal debut. Cologne/Bonn Airport station was officially opened by Gerard Schröder, who served as chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. Construction on this four-track underground station had started on January 29, 2002.... Continue Reading →
May 30, 2014 In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the first part of an aerial cable car transit system serving country’s La Paz- El Alto region officially began operations. This system, known as Mi Teleférico (Spanish for “My Cable Car”), took shape in July 2012. That is when Evo Morales Avma, who was president of... Continue Reading →
May 28, 1818 A pioneering sidewheel steamboat known as Walk-in-the-Water was launched at Black Rock, New York. (An independent community at that time, Black Rock is now part of Buffalo.) Walk-in-the-Water became the first steam-powered vessel to sail on Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan. An engineer named Noah Brown designed Walk-in-the-Water. Robert McQueen was the... Continue Reading →
May 23, 2009 In New York City’s borough of the Bronx, daily operations began for a station of the suburban commuter transit system Metro-North Railroad. This new stop was the Yankees- East 153rd Street station on Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line. The station was constructed to serve both Yankee Stadium and the Bronx’s Concourse neighborhood. It... Continue Reading →
May 6, 1993 An automated people mover was officially opened to the public at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. In an article appearing in that day’s edition of the Chicago Sun-Times, reporter Scott Fornek described this new transit system for one of the biggest and busiest airports in the United States. “Picture yourself riding in something... Continue Reading →
April 22, 1857 A railway station was opened in the prefecture and commune of Carcassonne in southern France’s department of Aude. This station was built by the Railway Company du Midi. Carcassone railway station (Gare de Carcassonne) is now operated by the Société nationale des Chemins de fer francais (SNCF), the national state-owned railway company... Continue Reading →
April 16, 2013 A newly built railway terminus in Kurla, a suburb of western India’s city of Mumbai, was officially opened. (Along with being the most populous city of India, Mumbai is the capital of the country’s state of Maharashtra.) This terminus was the replacement for a smaller and dilapidated station complex that had long... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 