Saturday, August 31, 2013
Santa Fe EMD SD45u and GE B40-8
On the left is a rebuilt SD45u and on the right a General Electric B40-8 of which 150 were built between 1988 and 1989, a Bo-Bo type diesel electric with a 4,000 hp (3,000 kW) prime mover. Of the 150, 40 went to Santa Fe.
the North Coast Limited at Billings, Montana, 1952
It almost looks like a picture out of Model Railroader, but it is a real scene - the westbound North Coast limited of the Northern Pacific Railway stops at the largest city in Montana - Billings (present population 152,000 but it no longer has a passenger train service).
The vista dome service began in 1948. See earlier post on this train.
Queen Street tram, Auckland, 1940s
The streamline moderne/late art deco building on the left from the late 1930s is probably one that most people wouldn't pay attention to. For lots more NZ tram scenes, see earlier posts and of course our books.
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1959 De Soto promo material
They don't make 'em like this any more... at the literal zenith of Detroit's fins, this was another mobile work of art.
trams at the Stockholm zoo, circa 1905
Friday, August 30, 2013
Cougal railway spiral near Kyogle, Australia
About 20 km north of the town of Kyogle, NSW, is one of the better known features of the Australian railway system: this single track convoluted trajectory, involving a 1.5% curvature compensated gradient is often called the Border Loop as it straddles the the NSW/Queensland border. It has two short tunnels and a 1 mile (1.6 km) summit tunnel.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Willis Street trams, Wellington, 1940s
For details and lots more photos, see the books Wellington: a Capital Century and Wellington Transport Memories.
a log train, Gippsland, Australia, 1915
Artistic license? Although men often rode the rails downhill with big logs on bogies (trucks), see the photos in the book The Era of the Bush Tram in NZ, a few men like this seem rather feeble considering the size and weight of these logs in multiple; possibly there were horses pulling in front.
Australian GM class locomotives
In Commonwealth Railways service, no. 27 is seen with the Indian Pacific (see earlier posts) near Broken Hill in the 1970s. Later Commonwealth Railways became Australian National. A total 47 of these standard gauge units were built in different batches from 1951 to 1967 by Clyde Engineering whose design was based on the General Motors EMD F7 locomotive. The first 11 had an A1A-A1A axle arrangement, the rest a Co-Co axle arrangement. Power output of the first 11 was 1500 hp (1119 kW), the rest 1750 hp (1305 kW). Apparently this unit, along with 3 others, is still used by the Southern Shorthaul Railroad.
Mexico's homicide rate fell slightly last year
A news item - and Aljazeera America video
A rate of 22 per 100,000 is still five times what it is in the U.S.
MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexico's homicide rate dropped slightly to 22 per 100,000 people last year from 24 per 100,000 in 2011, according to new estimates by the country's National Statistics and Geography Institute.
Experts said Tuesday the drop was uneven, with some of Mexico's most violent states posting big declines and others showing big increases.
For example, both the northern border state of Chihuahua and the southern Pacific coast state of Guerrero recorded 77 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012.
Yet Chihuahua, home to the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez, has seen the number of homicides fall from 6,407 in 2010, when it began a stepped-up policing effort, to 2,783 killings in 2012. Guerrero, home to the resort city of Acapulco, had homicides jump from 1,555 to 2,684 during those years.
Bloodshed also worsened in the border state of Coahuila, where homicides rose from 730 to 1,158. But Baja California, home to the once-violent border city of Tijuana, had homicides fall sharply, from 1,528 to 584.
The institute said in a statement late Monday that a total of 26,037 homicides were recorded last year across Mexico, a country whose population is now estimated at 117.3 million.
A rate of 22 per 100,000 is still five times what it is in the U.S.
MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexico's homicide rate dropped slightly to 22 per 100,000 people last year from 24 per 100,000 in 2011, according to new estimates by the country's National Statistics and Geography Institute.
Experts said Tuesday the drop was uneven, with some of Mexico's most violent states posting big declines and others showing big increases.
For example, both the northern border state of Chihuahua and the southern Pacific coast state of Guerrero recorded 77 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012.
Yet Chihuahua, home to the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez, has seen the number of homicides fall from 6,407 in 2010, when it began a stepped-up policing effort, to 2,783 killings in 2012. Guerrero, home to the resort city of Acapulco, had homicides jump from 1,555 to 2,684 during those years.
Bloodshed also worsened in the border state of Coahuila, where homicides rose from 730 to 1,158. But Baja California, home to the once-violent border city of Tijuana, had homicides fall sharply, from 1,528 to 584.
The institute said in a statement late Monday that a total of 26,037 homicides were recorded last year across Mexico, a country whose population is now estimated at 117.3 million.
Montreux-Oberland-Bernois railway poster, 1950
The mountain looks rather like the Matterhorm which is a reasonable distance away from this railway's route. See earlier posts for more.
autogrill on the autostrada, Italy, 1960s
A fairly large one at that - is that the motorway it is spanning? A 1960 Chevrolet 4-door hardtop is in the center, a 1961 Opel on the right.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
1969 AMC Rebel 2-door hardtop
Illinois Central E units, 1960s
Compare with the later livery in an earlier post. Location not stated, but it looks like a Chicago suburban station in the right background.
early super trike
It seems to have a motor at the back. The reason why the two men are holding the rear wheels isn't obvious - a lack of brakes? Are they going to give the lady a push off?
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
1996 MAN 11.190 HOCL bus
1967 Fiat 124 Sport Coupé
double deck horse tram, Christchurch
As presented in the Ferrymead Historic Park. According to the info on the back of this postcard, this was built in the mid-1880s by a local builder, copying the design of John Stephenson and Company tramcar builders of New York. It was acquired by the Christchurch Tramway Board in 1905; 60 years later ownership transferred to the Tramway Historical Society who restored it twice.
Bad Saarow station, Germany, 1912
A colored postcard from the year the station was opened in the lakeside town in the Brandenburg region. It is still there, in fact nicely renovated, and still used as a station, now officially Bahnhof Bad Saarow-Pieskow.
Monday, August 26, 2013
U.S. freight rail is the world's most efficient
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| Andrew J. Matuska photo on the BNSF Facebook page |
'turbulent Stretch-Trabi tours', Berlin
You can imagine the old East German communist bosses gaping with astonishment: "Mein Gott! Was haben sie mit unserer ruhmreichen Kameraden-Auto getan?"
Details on this esoteric method of touring Berlin (in German only) on this website
to Bagdad by Middle East Airlines poster, early 1960s
Probably not a destination much in demand these days. These show de Havilland Comet 4Cs of which the airline acquired four in December 1960. The airline began after WW2 and BOAC had an involvement with it from 1949 to August 1961. A merger with Air Liban in June 1963 gave Air France a 30% holding, since relinquished.
tram at the bottom of Queen Street, Auckland, 1908
How many of these buildings survive today? None. See earlier posts.
Keystone Kops
They look more like desperados than cops, maybe about to hijack the car. The photo is dated 1928; most of the silent comedies were made between 1912 and 1917 but some continued to be made until the end of the silent movie era.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
the 'Argentina Star'
The ss Argentina Star was one of four large passenger-cargo ships built after World War 2 by Cammell Lairds at Birkenhead, Merseyside for the Blue Star Line to serve on the UK -South American service.
The Vestey group who owned Blue Star Line also owned Fray Bentos, a well known meat company with factories in Argentina and also the farms where stock was reared before processing. Regular services in luxury surroundings for passengers were enjoyed for over two decades before the jet airliner saw the service wound down. For those who still wished to travel to South America by ship there was the option to sail with Lamport and Holt or Booth Line who ran merchant vessels on a regular schedule to all South American eastern ports including the Amazon river. These companies became part of Blue Star Line in the 1970s.
This Wallace Trickett painting shows Argentina Star at the Canary Isles, one of the regular calls on passage to South America. The commissioned work is the 109th in his series on the companies' ships.
Specifications from bluestarline.org:
Dimensions: 335 x 42.80 x 14 metres
Tonnage: 10716 grt
Propulsion: Three steam turbines by the shipbuilder powered by two Babcock & Wilcox sinuous header boilers, double reduction geared to one shaft
Service speed: 16 knots.
Type: Refrigerated Cargo/Passenger Liner, 53 1st Class passengers, 6 refrigerated hatches
Launched: 26/9/1946
Completed: 06/1947
Sold: 1972 to Nissho-Iwai Co., Japan for demolition, resold to Yi Ho Steel & Iron Works, Taiwan 19/10/1972 and arrived at Kaohsiung to be broken up.
car stamps, Lithuania
from this year - a Soviet era Moskvitch 401 and a Tazzari Zero, the latter with a Post Office logo on the side.
Los Angeles streetcar, 1915
