Sunday, August 2, 2026

customised biker desktop ornament

A website called icutee makes these using 3-D printing and a photo customers upload of themselves or the person who is featured.

Should a female biker be called a bikeress?

Saturday, August 1, 2026

avion monoplace (single seat plane) poster, 1912


In 1912, M. Campion presented the original poster "Single-Seat Aircraft," illustrating the innovation and enthusiasm surrounding the early days of aviation. The artwork depicted a monoplane, a then groundbreaking aircraft characterized by its single pair of wings, against an open sky, symbolizing the boundless possibilities of flight.

"Single-Seat Aircraft" embodied the spirit of adventure and exploration that marked the beginnings of aviation. With vivid colours and dynamic composition, the poster aroused wonder and enthusiasm, inviting viewers to imagine themselves cleaving through the clouds aboard this engineering masterpiece.

'I wish I had a boyfriend who likes good real books'

VW convertibles that didn't start out that way

The cause is obvious.  A scene in Sweden of a Scania-Vabis transporter that had to stop, no date, 1970s?

Nouvelle Compagnie Havraise Peninsulaire de Navigation poster, circa 1955


La Compagnie Havraise Péninsulaire (CHP) was founded in 1882 under the name Compagnie Havraise de Navigation à Vapeur by Eugène Grosos (or Grossos), a shipowner from Le Havre for deliveries to and from Spain and the Iberian peninsula before extending its lines for other destinations.

In 1968 it was merged with the Compagnie Nantaise to become the Compagnie Havraise et Nantaise Péninsulaire.  In 1986 it was purchased by the group Delmas-Vieljeux

The ship depicted is the Ville de Tamatave from 1949 -- info 




1979 Mercury Cougar XR-7


 More pics and info

Friday, July 31, 2026

an ÖBB 1099 class electric with a passenger train on the Saugraben Viaduct of the Mariazellerbahn, Austria


The viaduct with its stone pillars spans 113 meters and stands 37 meters high, making it the largest and highest on the line. 

The 760 mm gauge (2'6") 91 km long mountain line from St Pölten was opened over 1898-1907 and electrified in 1911. Originally designated as the NÖLB Series E, the 16 electric locomotives were manufactured by Krauß & Co. in Linz (mechanical components) and Siemens-Schuckert-Werke (electrical equipment) for the Niederösterreichische Landesbahnen. Designated as Serie 1099 after 1945 they remained for over a century, being retired officially in 2013.

Specifications: C-C type, 49 tonnes, 10.9 meters long over buffers, 50 km/h maximum speed, power output: 320 kW or 429 hp (continuous) / 420 kW or 563 hp (one hour), overhead system: 6.5 kV AC, 25 Hz.

Pic from 1962.

1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen model


The real thing is widely recognized as the world's first gasoline-powered automobile. As is obvious, it featured a single front wheel for steering with a tiller lever and two larger wheels at the rear and was powered by a rear-mounted, single-cylinder four-stroke engine.

This 1:12 scale model is available commercially.

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Cab Ride Ventimiglia - Cuneo (Tenda Railway) Italy, France

This is one of the more impressive mountain lines in Europe which crosses the Italy-France border twice. See earlier posts.

FS ETR 220, 1960


The ETR 220 (for Elettro Treno Rapido 220) was a further development of the ETR 200 introduced in 1936 and withdrawn from revenue service in 1997. They are considered the first high-speed trains by some railway historians.

The first example was built by Società Italiana Ernesto Breda, (now AnsaldoBreda), in 1936, an articulated and traction-distributed train with three cars on four bogies, two of which were Jacobs bogies, had a single T 62-R-100 motor, while the others—at the front and rear—were provided with two similar motors each.

They were equipped with air conditioning and had only first-class seats.

On 20 July 1939 unit 212 obtained the railway speed record, between Bologna and Milan, running (on the average speed for the whole run) between Florence and Milan at 165 km/h (103 mph), and also improving the absolute top speed record up to 203 km/h (126 mph) in the stretch from Pontenure to Piacenza.

A total of 18 3-car sets were built and 2 had to be scrapped due to wartime damage, In the early 1960s, the remaining sixteen units were converted to ETR 220/230/240 by adding a fourth car and making other improvements. They remained in service until the early 1980s, and were later used for charter trains until the 1990s.