Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Rock Island locomotives meet, 1952


Rock Island 4-6-2 #916 on an outbound suburban train meets RS-3 #488 with an inbound on the bridge above 89th Street at Gresham on the South Side of Chicago on May 26, 1952. (John F. Humiston photo via trains.com)

Mittenwaldbahn poster, Germany-Austria, 1929

The route is given in the summary timetable. See earlier posts.

commercial fishing vessel near Kapiti Island, NZ

For lots more see the Nets, Lines and Pots trilogy of books. (Karl Webber photo)

Keswick bus station, Cumberland, England art

From the look of it, in the 1950s. A postcard scene by G.S. Cooper.

'Inner Lighthouse, Port Jackson., Sydney,' 1855, by Samuel Thomas Gill


In 1839 Samuel Thomas Gill arrived with his family in Adelaide after sailing from England. By the mid-1850s he had established himself as one of Australia's most popular artists with many of his sketches published as lithographs. The discovery of gold opened up the country for new towns and caused unprecedented growth in Melbourne and Sydney.

Gill's work covers this vibrant period in Australia's history with an immediacy and feeling for people and place which others missed. Although he spent most of his life in Victoria he visited Sydney for a year in 1855. (State Library of New South Wales)

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Plimmerton Station panorama, NZ, February 1920

No trains are visible although there is a freight car on a siding; this is where Mainline Steam now has its Wellington base. The station is now an island type and the line has been electrified since 1940.

man repairs his truck on the roadside postcard circa 1910

It seems a rather odd theme for a greeting card -- maybe to explain to a customer why he hasn't arrived?

some of the Selfkantbahn's rolling stock, Germany




This 5.5 km long railway is the remaining section of the former Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn and the last remaining metre-gauge railway in North Rhine-Westphalia. The current operator is the Tourismusbahnen im Rheinland GmbH a member of the Association of Interest Group Historischer Eisenbahnverkehr e.V. (IHS).In 1970, the IHS bought its first steam loco, 900 mm gauge Klöcknerhütte No.19 (built by Jung in 1956) from the Klöcknerhütte in Hagen-Haspen, which was regauged and in use from 1971 (in the pics.)

In 1969, the first heritage rail traffic began on the Geilenkirchen - Gillrath - Schierwaldenrath - Gangelt section, from which today's Selfkant (Bahn) Railway emerged. The original plan of the museum railway activists to electrify the route and use vehicles from the Aachen tramway failed because of the high costs.

Since 1973 there has only been a museum operation with regular use of steam locomotives on the section between Geilenkirchen - Gillrath and Gangelt - Schierwaldenrath. The reason for this relocation away from the former production center Geilenkirchen was that the superstructure of the line between Geilenkirchen and Gillrath was too poor for rail vehicles to be able to travel regularly. In addition, when modernizing roads in the Selfkant area, the aim was to save costs on the construction of new level crossings.

Nevertheless, the IHS plans to extend the route west to Gangelt and east to the Geilenkirchen bypass. This is intended to achieve greater tourist attractiveness. 

Monday, June 21, 2021

DC-3 moody runway photo

"Midnight Flight" by acclaimed photographer Peter Lik. Website

United Airlines' new DC-7 advertisement, 1954


From the collection of James Vaughan (X-Ray Delta) on which there is this comment by Ed Dempsey: "Seven and a half hours? Maybe so, but they were a lot more enjoyable than the same amount of time we spend getting to the airport in time for security screening, standing in lines to board, waiting on the runway for take off, and being diverted to an airport we didn't plan to go to, so we can catch a cold, noisy, overcrowded BUS to our original destination. We got speed, but what did we have to give up for it?"

Delivery of furniture to Whakataki Hotel, NZ, early 20th century

 The hotel still exists on the road to Castlepoint but is now 2-storey.  What is the truck?

Sunday, June 20, 2021

Ferrobus and trailer, Bolivia



ENFE or Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles de Bolivia, Western Network. The motor coach was built by Ferrostaal (Germany) with a Cummins engine in 1967.  Is that passenger luggage under a tarpaulin?

DSB diesel hydraulic 6-wheel switcher



Seen here at Helsingør on 19 June 1986 is no. 373. This had just shunted Swedish carriages off the train ferry from Helsingborg in Sweden prior to attaching a diesel for the final leg of the journey into København. (Phil Richards/wikimedia commons)

Designated class MH were these 120 units built by Frichs in Aarhus, Denmark, between 1960 and 1965.  Final withdrawal was in 2001.  More info

Porsche 356 promo pics


Porsche's first production automobile, this was produced from 1948 to 1965.  Info

Saturday, June 19, 2021

L.A. with Bunker Hill traffic, 1940s

With AI colorization and added sound.

Victorian Railways steam S class art


Only 4 of this 4-6-2 type, the S class from 1928, were produced, but they were arguably the most visually appealing steam locos in Australia and certainly were VR's most prestigious. They were used in the early decades of the Spirit of Progress until the advent of diesel-electrics in the early 1950s and then all were sadly scrapped.

More info

See also the posts on the Spirit of Progress train.

Friday, June 18, 2021

BR Standard Class 4 2-6-4T art


Locomotive No.80078 leaves Corfe Castle station on the 9.5 mile (15.3 km) heritage Swanage Railway in Dorset. The Class 4 was a series of 155 units produced from July 1951 to November 1956. 


(Painting by Gerald Savine, available commercially as a print)

Thursday, June 17, 2021

SNCB class 53, Belgium

The cover of a book published in the early 1990s.  The 53 was a class of 20 Co-Co type from 1955, final withdrawal was in 2002. They were derived largely from the B class of VR in Australia and both were conceived by EMD.  

More info

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Land Rover Safari


"My boyfriend said he saw a pride of lions -- he's been gone a long time."

"September 1955 saw the introduction of the first five-door model, on the 107-inch chassis known as the "station wagon" with seating for up to ten people. The 86-inch station wagon was a three-door, seven-seater. The new station wagons were very different from the previous Tickford model, being built with simple metal panels and bolt-together construction instead of the complex wooden structure of the older Station Wagon. They were intended to be used both as commercial vehicles as people-carriers for transporting workmen to remote locations, as well as by private users. Like the Tickford version, they came with basic interior trim and equipment such as roof vents and interior lights.

The Station Wagons saw the first expansion of the Land Rover range. Station Wagons were fitted with a "Safari Roof" which consisted of a second roof skin fitted on top of the vehicle. This kept the interior cool in hot weather and reduced condensation in cold weather. Vents fitted in the roof allowed added ventilation to the interior. While they were based on the same chassis and drivetrains as the standard vehicles, Station Wagons carried different chassis numbers, special badging, and were advertised in separate brochures. Unlike the original Station Wagon, the new in-house versions were highly popular." (wikipedia)

steam hauled Kingswear to London Paddington Express, 1957, art

On the former Great Western Railway, here depicted climbing the 1 in 66 (1.5%) grade Maypool Viaduct on the way up to Greenway Tunnel -- painting by George F. Heiron.

SBB/CFF Be 4/6 from 1921


4/6 means 4 powered axles out of 6. This example is preserved by SBB Historic -- info and data.

the iconic Hollywood sign when it was still Hollywoodland

The "land" part was removed in 1949, so this scene can't be any later -- photo taken from North Gower?  The H was clearly in need of repair.  The Hollywood Tower in the left background, now an apartment complex is at 6200 Franklin Avenue. 

from Vintage Los Angeles

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Eva Braun sits on the hood of a mid-1930s Hanomag Rekord

Eva Braun was the well-known girlfriend of Adolf Hitler - is that her mother in the passenger seat?

traffic in Willis Street, Wellington, 1920s

The nearer tram is headed south to Aro Street (see the book Wellington Transport Memories).  Nearly everything in this scene now belongs to history.

electric and steam locomotives at Arthur's Pass NZ, August 1939


Three or four of the original E class in the centre and an Ab class Pacif
ic on the right, probably from Christchurch. For lots of info and pics, see our books.