Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
June 1, 1982 A little over two months before the Helsinki Metro was officially inaugurated, Hakaniemi station became one of a few stations of that rapid transit system to be opened to the public for test drives of trains during the morning and afternoon rush hours. Hakaniemi station is named for an area within the... Continue Reading →
May 13, 1885 Operations officially began for a rapid transit system in what was then the independent city of Brooklyn, New York. This new means of public transportation in Brooklyn was the first elevated railway – a transit system with its tracks above street level and on a viaduct or some other raised structure –... Continue Reading →
May 11, 1991 The first segment of the Green Line of the Washington Metro rapid transit system was formally opened. The next day’s edition of the Washington Post highlighted the fanfare surrounding this public transportation milestone in the nation’s capital. “The politicians were there,” reported Washington Post staff writer. Stephen C. Fehr. “So were clergy... Continue Reading →
April 28, 1978 Operations began for Adenauerplatz station, a part of the line that is designated as U7 and within the rapid transit system known as the Berlin U.Bahn. This station was built in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorft, a borough of what was then West Berlin. West Berlin was a political enclave in the western area of the... Continue Reading →
April 22, 2016 Operations began for a rail station built at the intersection of East 40th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver. 40th & Colorado station, which is based in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood, was one of eight stations opened on the same date to form the newly established A Line. This commuter rail line is... Continue Reading →
April 3, 2011 On the South Side of Chicago, operations began for a passenger train station built on 35th Street in the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood. This station is part of the Metra commuter rail system’s Rock Island District line. The station was officially named not only for the street and neighborhood where it is located... Continue Reading →
April 1, 2013 Operations began for Pedro Mir station on Line 2 of the Santo Domingo Metro, a rapid transit system in the metropolitan region of the Dominican Republic’s capital city. The station was one of 13 opened as part of the inaugural segment of that line. Pedro Mir station was built underneath Avenida John... Continue Reading →
Margaret A. Wilcox, who was born in Chicago in 1838, became a prolific mechanical engineer and inventor at a time when very few women -- due to prevailing social conventions -- played any meaningful role at all in these professions. She developed a strong interest in mechanical engineering early in life and would use her... Continue Reading →
March 6, 1995 Operations began for a newly built rail station in the city of San Clemente on the coast of Orange County, California. This station is served by both the Orange County Line and Inland Empire-Orange County Line of southern California’s commuter trains network Metrolink. San Clemente station is specifically located in the North... Continue Reading →
March 4, 1937 After five weeks of crew training at a depot in the Scottish city of Glasgow, the prototype of the Class K4 locomotive of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) made its public debut as a self-propelled vehicle for passenger trains. This prototype constituted what became a new class of 2-6-0 steam... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 