transpress nz: September 2014

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Christchurch to Picton passenger train stops at Kaikoura, February 1987

At the time this was one of NZR's celebrated 'Refreshment Stops'. The luggage van and the first three cars are in Southerner (Christchurch to Invercargill) livery. Today the station is the base of Whale Watch, the train is now the upgraded Coastal Pacific and the Dj locos are history. For more, see our books.

1969 Chevrolet pickup

Automobile Club de France race poster, 1935

With participants from Germany and Italy.

Nantes port poster, France, late 1940s

Promoting a borrowing for rebuilding it, following Allied bombing in 1943. This city, despite being a reasonable distance from the coast, has been a major commercial harbor, with facilities on the river Loire in Quai de la Fosse and the west side of the Île de Nantes in the downtown. Much of the commercial traffic has moved to Saint-Nazaire, although the river remains navigable to ocean-going ships as far as Nantes.

'he said he was going to find a transpress nz book, he's been gone ages'

Arras Tunnel opened, but not in France

Named after Arras in France, but this is in Wellington: the Arras Tunnel, connecting the Basin Reserve to Taranaki St, commemorates the French town where 500 NZ soldiers dug extensive tunnels during WW1. Media reports of the opening on Saturday showed the tunnel walls lined with large memorial poppies, presumably they will be a permanent feature. (DominionPost pic)

While on the subject of that area, it seems that Transit NZ (roughly the equivalent of a US Department of Transportation) is to appeal a court ruling against its controversial Basin Reserve road flyover. Such a ruling casts doubt over other pet Steven Joyce projects.

Monday, September 29, 2014

traffic on Wilshire Boulevard, L.A., 1946

The Bullocks and the Town House buildings, both built in 1929, are now on the National Register of Historic Places.

A view the other way from Lafayette park.

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1967 AMC Rambler advert

1965 Pontiac convertible

Amtrak Residency program - write on board a train

Amtrak has announced 24 writers who will be the first to participate in the Amtrak Residency program that was launched earlier this year. During the next year, they will work on writing projects of their choice in the workspace of a long-distance train. More than 16,000 applications were received, and Amtrak said the "writers selected for the program offer a diverse representation of the writing community and hail from across the country."

"From the beginning of the launch of the Amtrak Residency program this spring, we have been humbled by the overwhelming response not to just the program, but to Amtrak's long-distance service. Our long distance trains don't just connect small towns to big cities, they connect families, friends and loved ones. They offer a chance to connect with other travelers, experience the American countryside without the stress of driving, and to unplug and take in the inspirational experience. Our trains help tie the fabric of this country together and we are excited for the 24 residents to experience the beauty of long-distance train travel and hopefully find inspiration for their writing along the way."

More here

traintime at Rättvik, Sweden, 1900s

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Space age travel, NSW, 1980s

All right then... The XPT was the New South Wales railways version of the British High Speed Train of the 1970s (see earlier post) and used on country services, including interstate services to Brisbane and Melbourne. In the first few years, official vendors on the trains used to sell ornaments and items like the one shown.

The trains had some modifications from the British design, however: the power cars were 50 cm shorter, the Paxman Valenta engine was downrated from 2,250 to 2,000 hp (1,680 to 1,490 kW), gearing was lowered for a top operating speed of 160 km/h (100 mph) as against 200 km/h (125 mph), the suspension modified for inferior track and air filters and the cooling system were modified to cater for hotter and dustier Australian conditions. A different light cluster was fitted along with three high beam spotlights mounted to the roof. The passenger cars were based on a Budd design, rather than the British Rail Mark 3 cars, which were considered unsuitable.

An XPT in the original colour scheme seen in October 1983.

Canadian docklands graphic art

By British Columbian 'underground' artist Rand Holmes who, among other things, in the 1970s produced a counter-culture comic book series called Harold Hedd and this scene is from one of them in a well illustrated biography entitled The Artist Himself: A Rand Holmes Retrospective by Patrick Rosenkranz.

1946 Chevrolet pickup

'I like a book I can touch, not a computer file'

London and Port Stanley Railway, Ontario, Canada, 1954

Showing car 14, a Jewett from 1917. See earlier post.

1933 MG K1

As featured on this Telstra (Australia) phonecard from a few years ago.

buses in St Heliers, Auckland, late 1920s

Three of them seem to have wedding ribbons over the hoods. On the motor bus garage is a banner for "Silvertown Cord Tires".

Bretocyl lubricants poster circa 1950

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Montreux-Oberland-Bernois railway poster, Switzerland

See an earlier post on the metre-gauge MOB. Berner Oberland in German was translated as Oberland Bernois in French (although the Académie Francaise would say hautes terres for Oberland). The EMU looks like a De 4/4 from about a century ago, but the age of the poster is uncertain.

1972 Chevrolet Caprice

1973 SEAT 850D

1982 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

buy 2 Lamborghinis and get 20% off, or buy 3 and get 30% off

Leaving aside the question of why you would want three of them, the price of a new Lamborghini in Los Angeles is around $200,000 so it's a rather select group who can afford even one.

'I like to leaf through a well-designed book'

Canadian Pacific 4-6-0 at Elora, Ontario, 1955

CPR's number 528, a class D6b compound 10-wheeler built by North British of Scotland in 1903, and converted to a simple in 1921, is seen at the end of the branch line from Fergus on 28 June 1955, two months before its withdrawal.

traffic in Cuba Street, Wellington, late 1910s

Manners Street in the right foreground, Dixon Street next up. Another picture considered for, but not used in the book Wellington: a Capital century

Cunard liner 'Campania'

The 12,950 grt, 622-ft (189.6 metre) long RMS Campania was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Scotland, and launched on Thursday, 8 September 1892. Campania was identical in dimensions and specifications to her sister ship Lucania, and was the largest and fastest passenger liner afloat when she entered service in 1893. She crossed the Atlantic in less than six days; and on her second voyage in 1893, she won the prestigious Blue Riband, previously held by the Inman Liner SS City of Paris. The following year, Lucania won the Blue Riband and kept the title until 1898.

Superseded by bigger liners, Campania was due to be broken up in 1914, but with the beginning of WW1, the British Admiralty stepped in at the last minute and bought Campania with a view of converting her to an armed merchant cruiser that could carry seaplanes. The original idea was to use float-planes which would be lowered into and retrieved from the water by a crane. Her interior was completely gutted, and room made inside to store up to 14 aircraft. She was also equipped with eight 4.7" guns. HMS Campania lasted until 6 days before the end of the war when she was involved in a collision in the Firth of Forth when at 03:45 she struck the bow of the battleship Royal Oak and then dragged along the side of the battle cruiser Glorious. She began to sink stern first. A few hours later an explosion—presumed to be a boiler—sent her to the bottom. more