'this real touchable book is so much better than a little screen'

Kiev tram, 1958, art

Issued as a postcard in 2015 of Kiev tram KTV-55-2. This type, built by the Kiev Tram Repair and Construction Plant (KZET) between 1955 and 1969 was designed to accommodate the city's complex dead-end routing. "While they previously carried passengers along main city lines, surviving KTV-55-2 cars (such as unit 2053) are currently reserved for maintenance, track repair, snow plowing, and heritage."

SNCF class CC 7100 electric locomotive with a passenger train crosses the Rhone river in Lyon, 1958

The next bridge along is the Pont Gallieni and the Lyon Perrache station is out of sight on the left.

Approximate location

Tramway du Mont Blanc scene, 1958

The TMB is a 12.4 km (7.7 mile) meter-gauge electric mountain railway line in the Haute-Savoie department of France which has operated since 1909. It is the highest in France and the fourth highest in Europe.

The line runs from the SNCF connection at Saint-Gervais-les-Bains Le Fayet station to the Nid d'Aigle station near the Bionnassay Glacier at an altitude of 2,372 meters (7,782 ft).

More

1934 Chevrolet Master Six

cab ride: White Pass and Yukon from Skagway to Carcross

 

On a nice sunny day, with some great landscapes on the 3 ft narrow gauge route. The railway reaches its summit at 2,865 feet (874 meters) above sea level at Milepost 20.4, which marks the international border between the United States and Canada. See earlier posts.

to Norway on DFDS steamships poster, mid 20th century

The company still operates. See earlier posts.

1952 Riley RMF

 

SNCF 'Picasso' automotrices at Menton in 1957

Obviously before electrification of the line took place. The switch tower is no longer there. See earlier posts

Metro in China that goes through a building

Chongqing metro Liziba Station on Line 2 of the Chongqing Rail Transit. The monorail passes directly through the 6th to 8th floors of a 19-story residential apartment block. 

The station takes up the 6th, 7th, and 8th floors. The upper 11 floors and the lower 5 floors are regular residential apartments. The trains use specialized rubber tires and the station is built with independent structures and soundproofing, so residents are minimally disturbed.

The station, which opened in June 2005, and the apartment building were constructed simultaneously as an engineering necessity due to Chongqing's dense, mountainous terrain.

'On my way home from work I bought this good real book to enjoy '

1952 Alvis 3 liter saloon and drophead coupe promo art

SNCB Wagons-Lits sleeping car poster 1950s(?)

 

"Why don't you descend and spend the night with me in this bunk?"

"Sounds great!"

Rio Grande units near Minturn, Colorado, 1989

On the now unused Tennessee Pass route, part of the now UP system. See earlier posts.

trams and buses in Katowice, Poland, 1960s

 

Katowice trams currently operate 178 km (111 miles) of routes using 660 V DC from trolley wires.

British Railways parcels railcar

British Railways introduced a number of 'parcels only' railcars which could also tow trailers. This one was built by Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. in 1959, later designated as 128 Class. It is seen here between Spring Road and Tyseley on the North Warwickshire line in 1961. (pic by Michael Mensing from the magazine Backtrack volume 6(2)

Model of an SNCF Z 4700 série electric muliple unit

The Z 4700 series (specifically Z 4701 and Z 4702) were built by the former Paris-Orléans (PO) railway company and later inherited by the SNCF, these were distinctive dual-coach, three-bogie electric units.  Details here.

This HO scale display model is made by Atlas (cost about $US 15).

how to transport railway boxcars when there's a break of track gauge

In German these flat low level narrow gauge trucks are known as Rollwagen -- the standard gauge boxcars get pushed up onto them to continue the journey along narrow gauge line.  Of course the operation is time consuming and the reason why new lines will never be built with a break of gauge today.  In the past, narrow gauge made economic sense when there was rugged terrain as curves can be sharper.

This scene was at Zanjemysl in Poland in the good old steam days.

1987 Porsche 924S

More pics

Brill tramway, Buckinghamshire, England

The Brill Tramway was a standard gauge 6-mile (10 km) railway, also known as the Quainton Tramway, Wotton Tramway, Oxford & Aylesbury Tramroad and Metropolitan Railway, Brill Branch in the Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire. It was privately built in 1871 by the 3rd Duke of Buckingham as a horse tram line to help transport goods between his lands around Wotton House and the national rail network. Lobbying from the nearby village of Brill led to its extension to Brill and conversion to passenger use in early 1872. 

Two passenger train locomotives were bought (the one in the pic is obviously an 0-6-0T), but the line had been built for horses and thus trains travelled at an average speed of only 4 miles per hour! The headquarters were in Brill from 1872 to 1899 when the Metropolitan Railway took over operations then London from 1899 to closure in 1935.

More info

'I like to read a good real book on my bed'

early 1950s Riley 2.5

These cars were participating in NZ's 1952 Southland rally. Next to the Riley 2.5 is a Jowett Javelin. The scene is outside the iconic Wanaka Hotel, which burnt down 6 years later.  (Pic by Digby Paape's father, colorized)

streetcar in Austin, Texas, 1905

The streetcar era lasted from 1891 to 1940 when it was dismantled to make way for internal combustion transport.

Here a woman looks to have just got off a trolley headed for the State Capitol.

More info

NZR KA 933, a 4-8-4, with a short goods train north of Paekakariki, 1950s

For lots more, get the book New Zealand 1950s Steam in Colour.

traffic in Plac Wileński, Warsaw, Poland, 1975

The big monument in the center-right was the Monument to the Brotherhood of Arms (Pomnik Braterstwa Broni), commonly known as "Four Sleepers" which was removed in 2011.

Milan tram from 1931

See earlier posts.

1956-1959 BMW 507 cabriolet dealer postcard

cars outside the Texas Employment Commission Building in Austin, early 1960s

Now the Texas Workforce Commission, one of several similar buildings near the Texas State Capitol.

Leyland 20-seat railmotor in Greymouth NZ, circa 1937

This was introduced in 1936 and ran over the Midland Line in the early morning with Christchurch Press newspapers for the West Coast. It also carried passengers. See earlier posts (colorized)

Approximate equivalent view today.

1960 NSU Prinz 3

 

598cc, 2-cylinder 30 hp 4-stroke engine with 4-speed all synchro transaxle, weight 493 kg, length 3.14 meters (10.5 feet).

pretty young Frenchwoman who likes real books

 

We don't just make it up: see at 11:45 minutes and 13:45.

1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K (series W29)

Seen in the Southwards car museum north of Wellington NZ. It sounds as good as it looks.

Queensland C17 class with cattle cars crosses a bridge on the Brisbane Valley line, 1950s

See earlier posts on this class.

Copenhagen tram in Rådhusstræde, 1968

See earlier posts.

Approximate view today

1984 Volvo 242 GLT

Info

the DDR upmarket long distance trainset SVT 18.16 is back in use!

After 20 years of standing still, the set does a special run from Halberstadt to Thale.  See earlier posts.

2018 Suzuki Xbee

In fitting colors of black and metallic mustard.  The introduction of these cars was in 2017 and they have a 1-liter turbocharged 3-cylinder engine paired with mild-hybrid technology. Dimensions are 3,760 mm (L) × 1,670 mm (W) × 1,705 mm (H) with a generous 180 mm of ground clearance. They seat up to five passengers with a versatile, sliding/reclining rear seat and a flat-folding trunk.

More

Bratislava tram postcard circa 1910

At the time the city was called Pressburg in German and Pozsony as it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now the capital of Slovakia. See earlier posts.

Max Schiemann electric road train circa 1903

The train operated in the Biela valley near Dresden, Germany, and utilized a then unique current collection system developed by Schiemann, employing two horizontally parallel overhead wires, later used universally for trolleybuses. These vehicles could pull 3 to 4 wagons and travel at speeds of 6 to 30 km/h depending on load and terrain.

More info

early Toronto Transit Commission experimental trolley bus

A painting titled "Trolley on Mt Pleasant Toronto c. 1922" by artist Ken Kirsch which depicts an experimental trolley bus which operated between 1922 and 1925.

Operating on the Mount Pleasant route, the 1.9-km line served as a cost-effective alternative to laying streetcar tracks in lower-density neighborhoods. The experiment was so successful that ridership outgrew the small buses, leading the TTC to replace them with streetcars in 1925. 

There were 4 buses numbered 20 through 23 which had J.G. Brill bodies on Packard Motor Car Company frames, and Westinghouse electric motors. Tires were solid rubber (not pneumatic). They had seats for 29 passengers.

(via transittoronto.ca)

'would you like to read a good real book with me?'

Soviet electric railway poster 1931

Soviet propaganda poster showing a steeple cab electric loco as a centerpiece and a similar loco hauling a freight train on a bridge above. It states '3690 kilometers' and seems to promote a new train line for the Ukraine for completion over 1932-1933.

Yugoslavia railway poster, 1949

This advertised the 2nd Congress of the Union of Railway Workers and Employees of Yugoslavia in Zagreb from 13-15 March 1949.  It obviously features communist imagery, including an industrial background and a red star on one of the locomotives.