East Broad Top's locomotive number 12 - a Baldwin narrow gauge Mikado

At the Orbisonia station in Pennsylvania is the East Broad Top Railroad, which dates back to 1856 when The East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company (EBT) was chartered  to mine and transport coal from the rich fields of Broad Top Mountain.

The EBT was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and remains the most complete and authentic narrow gauge site in America and the last original narrow gauge east of the Rockies.

Number 12 was the first and smallest "Mikado" type or 2-8-2 to enter the EBT's roster. Millie, as it was named in 1960, was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia and was capable of hauling 15 loaded hoppers from the coal mines; it set the standard for the rest of the main line locomotives to come. It last operated in October 2000.  Website

a blue moon marks the death of Neil Armstrong

One of the definitions of a blue moon is the second full moon in one calendar month which seems appropriate for the death of the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, on 25 August as in America there was a blue moon last night (31 August). They happen only every few years, the next being July 2015.

The landing of a manned lunar capsule on the moon in July 1969 and its return to Earth was a major event in world transport history and occupied everybody's attention at the time; only 66 years after the first powered, sustained and controlled flight on Earth it still seems an amazing achievement.  The original capsule is now in the Smithsonian Flight Museum in Washington DC.

the Mandy Lynn

A fishing boat based in the nice old whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and is featured in a movie released earlier this year called Fairhaven which is the neighboring port.

San Luis Obispo horseshoe curves, California - 2

a postcard from Southern Pacific's Daylight era

One of the highlights on the railway route from Los Angeles via Santa Barbara to the San Francisco Bay Area is the tortuous trajectory just to the north of the town of San Luis Obispo which, as well as a large bridge and a steep climb, involves three horseshoe curves. And for those not into railway engineering, the bottom horseshoe curve provides a good view of a large "correctional facility". See earlier post for more.


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Santa Fe SD40-2 in Denver

An early morning scene of a Santa Fe SD40-2 still in pre-merger livery, now BNSF 1603, against the Denver skyline. (Geoff Churchman)

cars in Canon City, Colorado, 1940s

Canon is the Spanish spelling of canyon, and Canon City is best known as the starting point of the scenic Royal Gorge train trip, once a part of the Denver & Rio Grande Western, now a stand alone tourist train - see earlier post.

variation on the bicycle design

Cortina HPV or human powered vehicle, made in the Netherlands. 

flight from London to Port Darwin, Australia, 1919

Pioneering Australian aviator Ross MacPherson Smith flew this Vickers Vimy biplane half way around the world between 12 November and 10 December 1919,  the first pilot to make this trip by plane. Maxicard issued in Monaco, 1964.

satire - typeface for doctors

Remember those illegible prescriptions that doctors used to write before they had pcs and printers...

Fiat railcar at Springfield

Of the various Springfield stations in the USA, Australia and NZ the most most scenic is the one in Canterbury. Of course the scenery is invisible in this night scene taken in 1969 by Roy Sinclair, but the railcar is still nice.