Thursday, June 4, 2026

'Gas station' art by Edward Hopper, 1940

He painted quite a few transport themes and he painted this gas station from a two different angles, one with and one without any cars. The first one has Mobilgas pumps, today just Mobil, and the second with Fire Chief which was a brand of Texaco.  These and others are available commercially as prints.

shipping on the River Mersey, Liverpool, interwar years

Probably a school poster.

Queen Louise bridge, Tilset, Germany, 1908


The bridge, named after the wife of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III, was built in 1907 to mark the centenary of the Peace of Tilsit with Napoleon. The bridge portal, which looks similar to the triumphal arch, was decorated with a bas-relief of Queen Louise (1776--1810). After World War I, it became a border bridge. Customs and a checkpoint were functioning until 1939, when the Memel region -- previously belonging to Lithuania -- became a part of Germany. In October 1944, German troops blew the bridge up during their retreat. In 1947, it was restored but a bas-relief of Queen Louise was taken down. In 1964, symbols of the Soviet state took its place and were not removed until 1995. Today, the bridge is a border bridge once again. Customs and truck parking occupy almost the entire square in front of it.

The Tilset (Sovetsk) bridge still incorporates the ornate bridge portal and it is still called Queen Louise Bridge (Мост Королевы Луизы).

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Moscow's historical parade of trams

 

Reading Railroad retro poster


Copies are available commercially. The locomotive depicted, #2124, was built in December 1924 by Baldwin Locomotive Works as an I-10sa class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type locomotive. The Reading Company completely rebuilt it into a T-1 class 4-8-4 "Mountain" in January 1947. It was initially designed and used to haul heavy trains of anthracite coal across the Reading Railroad network. from 1959 to 1961, the 2124 was brought out of freight retirement to lead the famous passenger "Iron Horse Rambles" excursions.


Zeppelin travel humorous postcard: Friedrichshafen - Chemnitz - Memel

Memel is now Klaipeda in Lithuania. This postcard looks pre-WWI, but such flights did happen in the early 1930s: AI comment: "Historic "Chemnitz-Friedrichshafen" and "Chemnitz-Memel" refers to famous airship flight routes and postal drops serviced by the historic Graf Zeppelin in the early 1930s. Commemorative postcards from these specific 1930s mail delivery drops are actively traded as sought-after philatelic items"