Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 29, 1884 Europe’s first cable-operated tramway was introduced to the public in north London. This .7-mile (1.1-kilometer)-long tramway ran on Highgate Hill in an area encompassing parts of both the Highgate and Archway sections of England’s capital city. While most of the line was double-tracked, about 1,000 feet (304.8 meters) of it was single-tracked. The... Continue Reading →
May 21, 2018 Operations officially began for an airport rail link in the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. This transit service was inaugurated by Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (born in 1961), who was president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. The link was built to reduce travel time between Padang, West Sumatra’s capital and largest city;... Continue Reading →
May 20, 2022 A streetcar line in central Arizona’s city of Tempe was opened for regular operations. This transit system is operated by the Valley Metro regional Public Transportation Authority (better known as Valley Metro), which serves that area of the Grand Canyon State. Construction on the Valley Metro Streetcar -- also called the Tempe... Continue Reading →
May 9, 2006 A newly built station of the Sáo Paulo Metro (popularly known as the Metrô), one of the rapid transit systems serving the capital of Brazil, was opened in the Chácara Klabin neighborhood of the city’s south-central area. Chácara Klabin station made its debut as part of Line 2 (Green) of the Metrô.... Continue Reading →
May 7, 1867 A railway station in the city of Naples in the Kingdom of Italy was inaugurated. (The Kingdom of Italy existed from 1861 to 1946; it was replaced by the present-day Republic of Italy.) Napoli Centrale (Naples Central Station) was designed by Enrico Alvino (1809-1872). This version of Napoli Centrale, which is... Continue Reading →
May 6, 1895 The third elevated rapid transit line in Chicago, and the first of those lines to be electrically operated, made its debut. The first train of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad -- also called the Metropolitan “L” -- left the Robey Street station at six o’clock that morning for the downtown terminal at... Continue Reading →
May 5, 1914 In Florida, the last official flight of the St. Petersburg-Tampa (SPT) Airboat Line took place. This line, which provided the world’s first scheduled commercial airline service using winged aircraft, had made its inaugural flight on January 1 of that year. SPT Airboat Line was operated by aviator and aircraft manufacturer Thomas W.... Continue Reading →
April 30, 1978A special preview run took place for a passenger train that would serve a recently authorized commuter rail line between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. This train was named the Chesapeake. It was one of three trains, each with four cars, leased by the Maryland Department of Transportation for Amtrak to operate on the... Continue Reading →
April 23, 2017 Aubin Grove railway station in the vicinity of the state of Western Australia’s capital city of Perth made its official debut. This station -- located within the median of the Kwinana Freeway -- serves the Perth suburbs of Atwell, Aubin Grove, Hammond Park, and Success. Aubin Grove railway station is part of... Continue Reading →
April 22, 1833 The Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad (E&KRR) was chartered in the then-Territory of Michigan, which became a state in 1837. This railroad ultimately ran from what was at that time Port Lawrence, Michigan (now Toledo, Ohio) near Lake Erie to the village of Adrian, Michigan, on the River Raisin to the northwest. E&KRR was... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 