Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
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 →
June 5, 1935 The New York, New Haven & Hartford (NH) Railroad officially introduced its double-ended diesel electric passenger train Comet for service between Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island. This streamliner -- a high-speed railway vehicle designed to provide reduced air resistance and also the precursor to a later era’s “bullet train” -- had... Continue Reading →
May 19, 1897 In southeastern New Hampshire, construction on the Exeter Street Railway -- an electric streetcar line that would link together the towns of Exeter and Hampton as well as the highly popular Hampton Beach resort -- officially began with a late-morning ceremony. At around 10:30 a.m., Judge Charles M. Lamprey spoke to those... Continue Reading →
May 18, 1947 The streamlined passenger train Silver Comet was inaugurated with a great deal of fanfare by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) at Penn Station in New York City. Prior to its first-time run between New York City and Birmingham, Alabama, this newly built train was christened by film and stage actress Jean... Continue Reading →
May 9, 1896 The Nord Express (Northern Express) train service was introduced by the Belgian company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). This train transported passengers from Paris, France, to Saint Petersburg, Russia, traveling between those two points via the cities of Brussels, Cologne, Hanover, Berlin, Konigsberg (present-day Kalingrad), and Dvinsk (now known as Daugavpils). Following World War... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 