Saturday, November 30, 2013
1956 Aston Martin
traffic in Queen Street, Auckland, 1920s
Friday, November 29, 2013
1936 Lux Sport
The Lux Sport was a luxury car designed by a team of Polish builders under the leadership of engineer Zygmunt Okołów in 1935. Notable features were the frame structure of the chassis, independent suspension with double wishbone at each wheel, hydraulic double-acting shock absorbers consisting of four long torsion bars, allowing adjustment of ground clearance in the range of 180-230 mm from the passenger compartment, automatic lubrication of the relevant elements of the chassis, adjustable suspension and hydraulic drum brakes.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
'your strength through joy car'
Early Nazi announcement of the Volkswagen in the late 1930s, an illustration considered for but not used in the book 50 years of Volkswagens in NZ.
It was used, however, in the book Art of the Third Reich which has over 300 examples of Nazi produced or approved art and is an interesting read about how ideology and prejudice took over cultural expression generally (despite disagreement in some matters by Goebbels) and how those whose work was not approved of were banished in the Reich (although so-called 'degenerate' artists could move to Paris where they could paint unmolested during the occupation and their work could be bought and sold at auction as long as it was not exported to the Reich.)
narrow gauge railway junction, Bertsdorf, Germany
Loco 99 787 on the right is a 2-10-2T built in 1955 by Lokomotivbau Karl Marx, Potsdam-Babelsberg. This is on a preserved 750 mm gauge operation known as the Sächsisch-Oberlausitzer Eisenbahngesellschaft which operates trains between Zittau and Bertsdorf with 2 branches to Kurort Oybin & Kurort Jonsdorf. See earlier post for details on the railcar on the left. (Geoff Churchman pic)
Tupolev Tu-134A airliner
Seen in the now defunct Interflug (see earlier posts) livery. A total of 852 of the general type were manufactured. The Tu 134 made its first scheduled flight in September 1967. The second series were denoted Tu-134A, however, this one doesn't seem to have the distinctive glass nose and chin radar dome - more info
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Southern Pacific SD45R
A rebuilt unit from 1966, seen on the front of this freight train 20 years later in California.
Formula 1 car facts
A F1 car is made up of 80,000 components. If it were assembled 99.9% correctly, it would still start the race with 80 things wrong!
When a F1 driver hits the brakes on his car he experiences retardation or deceleration comparable to a regular car driving through a brick wall at 300 km/h
A F1 car can go from 0 to 160 km/h AND back to 0 in 4 seconds
A F1 car's engine lasts only for about 6 hours of racing mostly before blowing up. On the other hand we expect our engines to last us for a decent 20 years on an average and they quite faithfully do - that's the extent to which the engines are pushed to perform.
An average F1 driver looses about 4 kg of weight after just one race due to the prolonged exposure to high G forces and temperatures for little over 1 hour 45 minutes.
At 550 kg, a F1 car is less than the weight of the original Mini.
As an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and added down force can be, small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track.
Without aerodynamic down force, high-performance racing cars have sufficient power to produce wheel spin and loss of control at 160 km/h. They usually race at over 300 km/h.
In a street course race like the Monaco Grand Prix, the down force provides enough suction to lift manhole covers. Before the race all of the manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down to prevent this from happening!
The refuelers used in F1 can supply 12 litres of fuel per second. This means it would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of an average 50 litre family car. They use the same refuelling rigs used on US military helicopters today.
Top F1 pit crews can refuel and change tyres in around 3 seconds.
During the race, the tyres lose weight! Each tyre loses about 0.5 kg in weight due to wear.
Normal tyres last 60,000 - 100,000 km. Racing tyres are designed to last 90 - 120 km.
A dry-weather F1 tyre reaches peak operating performance (best grip) when tread temperature is between 900 degrees C and 1,200 C. (Water boils at 100C)
At top speed, F1 tyres rotate 50 times a second.
(Thanks to Cliff for sending this in)
NZ bush tramway scene in model
One of the layouts on display at the Model Railex in Lower Hutt last weekend. For lots of info on the real thing, see the book The Era of the Bush Tram in NZ
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
horse and cart on Horse Shoe Bend, Raurimu, 1900s
Not the roadbed of the railway being built although this may be nearby.
Monday, November 25, 2013
London and North Western Royal Train, 1904
Hauled by a 4-4-0 on a quad-track section of line. The location is not given, nor who was on board.
the bush tram, NZ, 1900s
The local term for a logging railway. Shown in this tinted postcard is one as basic as it got, horses on wooden rails. For lots more, see the book The Era of the Bush Tram in New Zealand.
'Adriatica': Venise - Grèce - Istamboul
Although intended to look like a 1930s French poster, we think this is a recent 'retro' creation.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
cars on Beach Street, Daytona Beach, Florida, mid-1950s
British steam loco cigarette cards
Inserted into packs of cigarettes by the different manufacturers, these collector cards were intended to encourage people to collect a full set, necessarily buying the same brand. They were quite small and this pic (full resolution) shows about actual size. For NZ examples, see our forthcoming book on NZR memorabilia.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Futwa-Islampur Light Railway, India
A Manning Wardle 0-6-2T on a narrow gauge, 43 km(?) line built after India's independence in 1947. More pics here
through the Pyrénées to Canfranc, Spain
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| opening day in 1928 |
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| view from the Avenida de Fernando el Católico |
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| French standard gauge electrified tracks |
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| non electrified Spanish approach track |
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French TER regional railcars go from Pau only as far as Oloron-Sainte-Marie, 35 km (see earlier post). Canfranc sees similar trains from Zaragoza. It is planned to extend the TER on the section between Oloron-Sainte-Marie and Bedous, 25 km, in 2015. more here
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| the French line through the Vallée d'Aspe |
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| Viaduc de l'Escot on the French line |