Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
March 16, 1957 In the state of Western Australia (WA), plans for a major transportation project in the city of Perth moved further towards full-fledged reality. John Digby Leach, who served as WA’s commissioner of main roads from 1953 to 1966, became the catalyst for this milestone when he signed a contract for building a... Continue Reading →
March 5, 2009 A short but pivotal extension of the Northeastern Line of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) was opened between the line’s station in Nong Khai City in northeastern Thailand and – via the First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge over the Mekong River – the newly built Thanaleng station in the village of Dongphosy... Continue Reading →
March 2, 1863 A new railway bridge crossing the River Thames in London was officially opened. This 754.6-foot (230-meter)-long bridge connects the areas of Battersea and Fulham in England’s capital city. Now commonly known as the Battersea Railway Bridge, this structure had early on been named the Cremorne Bridge after public gardens that were once... Continue Reading →
February 26, 1925 In the southeast region of Virginia, Captain Albert F. Jester launched a then-innovative type of ferry service on the James River between the community of Scotland in Surry County on the southern bank and historic Jamestown Island (site of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas) in James City County on... Continue Reading →
January 4, 1884 The national railway of Chile was established. Domingo Santa María, who served as president of Chile from 1881 to 1886, signed the decree authorizing this new means of transportation. The railway, which is officially called Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE), was created in large part to maintain a key transportation... Continue Reading →
November 19, 1921 A recently completed railway station was officially opened in the village of Bjorli, which is located along the Rauma river in southern Norway. Bjorli Station was built as the western terminus for the first section of the Rauma Line. That section covered 35.3 miles (56.8 kilometers) between the village of Dombås and... Continue Reading →
October 9, 1834 In a trial run, the steam locomotive Hibernia pulled a train consisting of eight carriages on the newly built Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) line in Ireland. (At that time, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged together as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; this sovereign state remained in... Continue Reading →
August 17, 1903 The Great Western Railway (GWR), which originated in the 1830s and operated throughout western England as well as most of Wales, began a new type of transit option for its passengers traveling to rural areas without direct access to trains. The GWR road motor services were seen as a cheaper alternative to building... Continue Reading →
July 17, 1879 The earliest public railway to exist in the present-day state of Hawaii began operations on the island of Maui. The first train to run along that narrow-gauge track was pulled along by a locomotive named after Queen Emma, who had been queen consort of what was then the Kingdom of Hawaii. This new... Continue Reading →
July 10, 1950 Richard Fontaine Maury, an engineer whose legacy includes several key railways in South America, died in the city of Córdoba in northwestern Argentina’s Salta Province at the age of 67. He had started out life in the United States, but ultimately became a naturalized Argentine citizen. Maury was born in Philadelphia in... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 