Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 9, 1831 The first regular steam engine train run in the United States took place in New York. The small four-wheeled steam engine DeWitt Clinton, which had been constructed in the Empire State earlier that year and was among the first steam engines to debut in the United States, successfully completed the trip of approximately... Continue Reading →
July 28, 2006 In the Republic of Ecuador, the inaugural flight at a terminal for an international airport took place. This airport is located three miles (five kilometers) north of the central part of Guayaquil, which is second only to the Ecuadorian capital of Quito as the country’s largest city. (Guayaquil also has the distinction... Continue Reading →
July 21, 2015 Tren del Valle, a commuter rail service in the west-central region of Argentina, was opened. This transit line, which runs trains on tracks belonging to the General Roca Railway, connects the cities of Plottier, Neuquén, and Cipoletti. The public officials taking part in the official launch of Tren del Valle included Cristina... Continue Reading →
July 19, 2004 An inaugural ceremony was held for the first section of the current tram (streetcar) system serving Greece’s capital city of Athens and several nearby municipalities. The original version of this region’s tram system had been launched in 1882 with horse-driven vehicles. This system, which was electrified in 1908, remained in operation... Continue Reading →
July 18, 1931 The Matson Navigation Company ocean liner SS Mariposa was launched at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. (That facility served as part of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s shipbuilding division.) Mariposa was built for service on a Pacific Ocean route between San Francisco, California, and Sydney, Australia. This ship was the largest passenger... Continue Reading →
July 14, 2008 The first line of the MAX bus rapid transit service in north-central Utah was formally launched. MAX, which is operated by the Utah Transit Authority, was established to provide more expeditious bus transportation in that area of the Beehive State. The MAX service has differed from other local bus operations because of... Continue Reading →
July 13, 1898 The opening of a terminal for ferries traveling across San Francisco Bay was officially opened. The San Francisco Ferry Building was built as a replacement for a wooden structure that had been a ferry depot at that site since 1875. The second and current version of the terminal in that region of... Continue Reading →
June 27, 2006 In Mexico, an inaugural ceremony was held for Ángel Albino Corzo International Airport (also known as Tuxtla Gutiérrez International Airport) in the city and municipality of Chiapa de Corzo in the west-central region of the state of Chiapas. This international airport is 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) east of the city of Tuxtla... Continue Reading →
June 26, 2007 Work began on a railway tunnel in the municipality of Bӕrum, a western suburb of Norway’s capital city of Oslo. A drilling and blasting method was used for creating this tunnel, which is now the major portion of the 4.2-mile (6.7-kilometer) Asker Line. The first dynamite salvo for the project was fired... Continue Reading →
June 16, 1941 In the Washington, D.C., area, Washington National Airport (now formally known as Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) first went into service. “Washington Airport Opened to Air Lines Without Ceremonies,” stated a headline in that day’s edition of the Baltimore Sun. This federally owned and operated airport was preceded by two privately owned... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 