Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Happy Holidays to our readers


As we approach the end of the 15th year of our blog, the question that often occurs now is -- why are we doing this?  

In the first 6-7 years it complemented our retail division which sold transport-subject books and DVDs, but sales of them have steadily reduced to the point where that division has become almost defunct as ever more people have switched to using the web to research their subjects of interest.

This blog has been a labor of love for some years, but as economic conditions have become tough with soaring costs, particularly in Los Angeles, and Wellington is little better, we need to devote more time to the things that bring in dinero. 

We'll put a tip jar up shortly, the response to which will provide incentive to carry on or not as the case may be.

Monday, December 23, 2024

Russian class RA1 railbus

173 of this diesel-hydraulic type have been built since 1997. 

More


'I'm so pleased I discovered real books I can touch'

Russian compound 2-8-0 from 1898



20 of these were built for the Moscow-Vinau-Rybinsk railway by Burnham, Williams and Co.

1974 Ford Ranchero


cars at Brighton Beach & Coney Island Aves, NYC, 1970s


wagon train in Nevada, 1860s


A wagon train following the California Trail through Nevada during the 1860s. The Bartleson-Bidwell Party was the first wagon train to travel the California Trail through Nevada in 1841. By 1869, about 450,000 people had traveled in a covered wagon along the California Trail in Nevada. The 40 mile wilderness between Lovelock and Fernley was the worst part of the trail because there was no water. In Fallon, during the 1930s, it was still possible to find many wrecks of the wagons that crossed that stretch of desert. (Archeology and Ancient World FB)

an NZR Dj/Dg combination with a southbound freight train north of Kaikoura, early 1970s

A frequently used photo location, see the book South Island Main Trunk for more. Why did the original red of the Dj class fade to pink? Probably because of the paint they got in Japan.

Sunday, December 22, 2024

'Cornish Riviera Express' of the Great Western Railway postcard art


Effectively it's a train that has run since 1904 with gaps in the war years.. 

It looks look a GWR 4000 class 4-6-0 is depicted -- see here

preserved Baldwin 2-8-0


It's a Class H-4 of the Southern Railway built in 1907. weighing 120 tons in full working order. Now in the Whippany Railway Museum of New Jersey.