transpress nz: June 2024

Monday, June 17, 2024

'a good real book is what I enjoy the most on my bed'

Canadian passenger and motor vehicle ferry 'Bluenose'

MV Bluenose, 6419 GRT 65 x 17 ft, was operated by Canadian National Railways and later CN Marine from 1955 to 1982. She sailed between Bar Harbor, Maine and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The vessel was named after the famed Grand Banks fishing and racing schooner Bluenose.

San Pedro Harbor, Los Angeles, at night, 1940s

San Diego light rail trains at El Cajon

See earlier posts (Geoff Churchman photo)

cars in Main Street, Brigham City, Utah, late 1950s

And a few years earlier...

Slovak Railways electric multiple unit Class 460 from the 1970s

"The Slovak Railways EMU class 460 is a DC suburban train that consists of two powered driving units at either end of this (overall) four unit train (originally this was a five car train). There were 84 trains built between 1974-1978, and this example is seen running between the eastern Slovak cities of Košice and Prešov."

cars in Tucumcari, New Mexico, circa 1960

The first blue car parked on the right looks like a Vauxhall Victor

Milwaukee Road Class EP-2 electrics

from AmericanRails.com:

The Milwaukee Road’s Class EP-2 electric locomotives, commonly known as Bipolars, were one of the most interesting designs ever developed.

Arriving just a few years after the EP-1s, the Bipolars built exclusively for passenger service, were another collaboration from General Electric and the American Locomotive Company (Alco).

Not only was this design one of the most interesting ever built it was also one of the most complex, made up of no less than three articulated sections.

After about 40 years of service the EP-2s were pulled from daily use in the late 1950s, largely due to an overhaul issue. In spite of this, they were highly reliable locomotives that enjoyed several decades of service.

General Electric did not enter diesel locomotive production until the late 1950's. However, the company had been building or collaborating on electric propulsion since the late 19th century and produced some very fine designs during that time.

Wikipedia article

Helsinki, Finland, stamp 1979

Saturday, June 15, 2024

British Railways 'Peppercorn' class A1 4-6-2

Seen in August 1964, loco 60154 arrives at Garsdale working a passenger train to Leeds.

A total 49 of these were built between 1948 and 1949 at Doncaster and Darlington Works to a design of Arthur Peppercorn for hauling express passenger services on the East Coast Main Line owned by LNER's successor, British Railways' North Eastern Region. None of the original 49 Peppercorn A1s survived into preservation, with the last being scrapped in 1966. The 50th Peppercorn A1, 60163 Tornado, was completed in 2008 as an evolved member of its class.

19th century horse-drawn fire wagon

Friday, June 14, 2024

American Airlines Flagship Fleet promo material, 1950

Featuring DC-4 and Convair propellor aircraft.

Sale of Estonian national rail freight operator gets underway

The Estonian government has formally launched a two-stage process to privatise national rail freight operator Operail.

The public auction approved by the cabinet on June 6 will cover Operail’s entire business, including freight operations, rolling stock repairs, all contracts and the brand name.

It is being managed by LHV Group’s investment banking unit, with law firm Ellex Raidla providing legal advice.

The scene in Customs Street now is rather different. However, the building in the middle of the 3rd photo above is still there.

SJ snow plough at Riksgrensen, Sweden, trading card

Probably from the 1960s. As the name suggests, Riksgrensen or Riksgransen is on the Sweden-Norway border, see earlier posts.

steam action at Leeds Central, England, circa 1959, art

60131 Osprey, one of the handsome Peppercorn A1 Class 4-6-2 leaves Leeds Central Station with the Yorkshire Pullman bound for London. Kings Cross. On the left, a Jubilee, 45698 Mars awaits departure time for a journey to Liverpool, while one of Copley Hill Shed's J50 class 0-6-0 engines busies itself with station piloting duties. The station closed to all traffic in 1967.

Art by Philip D. Hawkins, available commercially in different forms.

Thursday, June 13, 2024

SNCF 4-8-2 241.P.17 at Nantes, August 1969

This is preserved operational at Le Creusot and classed as a Monument historique.

Info

cars outside the Driftwood Motel in Denver, Colorado, 1950s

It's still there -- present day view

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

1950 Nash Statesman 2 Door

Sydney tram leaving the Balmain Wharf for Rozelle, 1950

Present day streetview

RMS 'Campania' (1893) graphic

This was 12,950 GRT, 622 ft (189.6 meters) long x 65 ft 3 in (19.9 meters) wide and had 12 double-ended Scotch boilers plus 102 furnaces powering to five-cylinder triple expansion engines producing 31000 shp direct to twin screws.

The ship lasted until being sunk in a collision with HMS Glorious on 5 November 1918. More

The contents of a passenger log invite some tongue in cheek speculation:

Day 1: Blimey it was cold at Southampton, but I'm looking forward to the trip.

Day 2: Seasick today, but think I'm getting my sea legs.

Day3: So windy on deck today, it just about flippin' blew my block off.

Day 4: I met a nice girl in the dining room today but her chaperone gave me a steely look.

Day 5: I managed to catch the girl away from the chaperone. She invited me back to her cabin to look at her corsets. It was nice.

Day 6: Icy wind, but I can see New York, do they speak the Queen's English, and will I be able to buy good English grub?

SBB Ae 6/6

Locomotive Ae 6/6 11459 Chiasso at the head of train 73130 (Bodio -- Siggental) on 23 June 2006 is just leaving the short Rohrbach tunnel near Wassen on the northern ramp of the Gotthard-Bahn. The locomotive was made in 1960 and retired from SBB rolling stock in January 2011 after a very long service life. (Marek Štěpánek photo via Rail Impressions & Photos)

car chase from the movie 'Short Time' (1990)

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Southern Pacific steam passenger train art

The coast route is a reference to the line between San Diego and San Luis Obispo. This dates from the 1940s.

Haoji Viaduct, China

This is the 1,813 km long Haoji Railway Bridge in China. It is the longest heavy-duty railway bridge in the world, the bridge is used for coal transportation. The total cost was around $US 28 billion.

It was built to haul 200 million tons of coal from Inner Mongolia and Shanxi to China's southern provinces. The railway is also the first north-south railway in China that is dedicated to coal, and is built to bypass existing coal transport routes that go via coastal cities by ship. The line reduces transit time from 20 days by sea to just 3 days by rail.

The line connects to existing railways at several points to share maintenance facilities. The design speed of the railway is 120 km/h. It is operated by China railway.

The line was approved in 2014, financed by China Railway and several large domestic coal mining companies. The railway was inaugurated on 28 September 2019.