cars outside a North East U.S. train station, early 1950s

Which isn't stated.  A still from an Encyclopedia Britannica film.

'I like to read a good real book for pleasure'

Tokyo's grand central station

Info at the time these pics were taken: "Tokyo Station, the main gateway to Greater Tokyo. Over 100,000 people use it daily. A Renaissance-style building completed in 1914 (Taisho 3), it remarkably withstood the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 (Taisho 12). The central entrance is reserved for the Imperial family. Cars and trains weave through the crowds in front of the station."

Info

Sri Lanka diesel multiple unit seen in 2003

It looks like a English Electric pre-WW2 driving trailer car, denoted as S1 series. The colors kind of match the environment.

moving cane and bamboo by small barges in Java, Indonesia, art

Probably for school use. Indonesia is the world's largest producer and supplier of rattan cane, accounting for approximately 70% to 80% of the global commercial rattan supply. Sugar cane is also widely grown in Indonesia.

NZR B306 at Reefton with a works train on the West Coast, 1950s

The B class was a 4-8-0 type of which 10 were built between 1899 and 1903. It looks like the engine crew are engaged in cleaning out the tubes, which involves this process:

* The crew opens the firebox door to access the boiler tubes.
* The fireman turns on the draft blower to create strong suction through the boiler.
* Sand, compressed air, or specialized lances are introduced into the firebox.
* The draft pulls the cleaner violently through the tubes, knocking off hard carbon.
* The loosened debris is safely blown out of the smokestack.

For lots more get the book New Zealand Railways 1950s steam in colour

tram and trailer in Danzig (Gdansk), Poland, late 1970s

Even by communist standards the apparantly pre-WW2 buildings clearly suffered from advanced neglect.

This looks to be the scene now

On one of the buildings of the row is this facade with German lettering from before 1945:

Fisherman's Walk Cliff Lift, Bournemouth, England

 

The world's shortest funicular railway was opened in 1935 and transports beachgoers a huge 128 feet (39 meters) with a vertical height change of 91 feet (28 meters) from clifftop to shore.

More pics and info

trams, buses and cars on Most Poniatowskiego, Warsaw, Poland in 1966

A pic that seems to have been taken from one of the ornamental towers of the bridge.

Location on Google streetview

trams and other traffic in Aleje Niepodległości, Warsaw, Poland 1978

From a magazine cover of the time.