Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Alberto Ascari, who became one of the world’s leading race car drivers, was born in Milan, Italy. His father Antonio Ascari was also an accomplished racecar driver. He died after his vehicle crashed in the 1925 French Grand Prix, just a little over a week before Alberto’s seventh birthday. Despite the tragic circumstances of his... Continue Reading →
Pictured: The first Jaffa–Jerusalem train arriving in Jerusalem, 1892 The end of an era in Middle East transportation took place when Amos Uzani, chief executive officer of the state-owned Israel Railways, decided to completely close the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem railway line that had long served as a transit link between those major cities. The final train... Continue Reading →
A key moment in the prolonged efforts to build a major bridge across the Jamuna River in present-day Bangladesh took place when Shamsul Haque, a member of the Provincial Assembly from the city of Rangpur, formally introduced a legislative resolution for constructing that bridge. (At the time, this section of South Asia was a provincial... Continue Reading →
Hélène Dutrieu, whose skills and accomplishments involved several modes of transportation, was born in the municipality of Tournai in Belgium. By the time she was only 15, she had already established herself as a professional track cyclist. One of Dutrieu’s biggest achievements in this role took place in 1893 when she set a new women’s... Continue Reading →
An unprecedented and even jaw-dropping victory in a cycling race took place in France when native son Francis Faure set a new world record by pedaling a different type of bicycle at the Vélodrome d’Hiver of Paris. Instead of using a conventional bicycle, Faure competed with a recumbent bicycle – a low-slung model placing the... Continue Reading →
The Story Bridge in the state of Queensland in northeastern Australia made its public debut. The 2,549-foot-long structure, spanning the Brisbane River and connecting the northern suburbs of Brisbane with the city’s southern suburbs, is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia. At the time of its grand opening, the Story Bridge – measuring 79 feet... Continue Reading →
A new airline, Windward Islands Airway (Winair), began operations in Sint Maarten in the northeast Caribbean. At the time, Sint Maarten – constituting most of the southern portion of the island of Saint Martin – was one of five Dutch island territories in the region that were collectively known as the Netherlands Antilles; Sint Maarten’s... Continue Reading →
In western India, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link was first opened to traffic. Characterized by the Mumbai-based Economic Times as “India’s latest showcase to the world,” the cable-stayed bridge formally debuted with only four of its eight lanes opened. The other four lanes were opened nearly nine months later. The bridge, measuring three-and-a-half miles in length,... Continue Reading →
Josef Ressel, an inventor who helped pioneer key advances in ship propellers, was born in the town of Chrudim in Bohemia (at the time under the rule of the Austrian branch of the royal House of Habsburg and now part of the Czech Republic). Ressel studied at various institutions, including an artillery school in the... Continue Reading →
In Southeast Asia, the newly established Wearnes Air Services (WAS) began operations. This marked the first regular commercial air service between the island of Singapore and the Malay Peninsula, with a de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide biplane known as “Governor Raffles” making the inaugural flight from Singapore (at the time part of the British territories... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 