Friday, April 29, 2016

1930 Seagrave Pumper fire truck CA68b


tram in Queen Street, Onehunga, Auckland, late 1900s

See earlier posts.

Omakau station, Otago Central, 1975


Now history.  A Tony Hurst photo from his book The Otago Central Railway: a tribute

'we never have enough transpress nz books'


1957 Mercury Monarch Turnpike Cruiser and convertible advertisements

For French speakers in Québec; no lack of hype in the text!

traffic in Viale Stazione, Casteggio, Italy, circa 1950


Not much of it, except for bicycles.  The railway station is the building with ground level arches in the distance.

1956 Volvo sport


1956 Triumph TR-3


Obviously an ad for America.

a Muslim 21st century "Trojan Horse" in Greece

A shipment of weapons instead of "furniture equipment" -- thanks to Wallace for sending this in.


How much more is it going to take to convince people that these are not refugees but armed invaders.

This “furniture shipment” was supposed to go to the refugee camps in Greece to make their life more bearable and ease their hardships.

52 tons of guns and ammunition in big 40’ double containers followed the migrants to Europe, pretending to be furniture but, was discovered by the Greek border securities in 14 containers.

If this doesn’t convince you that this Migration is nothing less than an Armed Invasion then nothing will.

Wonder still why all those young (military age) men without children or wives are taking on the task of traveling all those miles posing as refugees?

They are coming.......Like they said they would.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

circa 1970 Ford (UK) D series fire engine


wall art on the Victoria Line of the London Underground


For those into general art, a blog post on this theme is here

the 'Flying Scotsman' steamer in Australia, 1988


This famous British locomotive ex-LNER (see earlier) made a tour of Australia in 1988 as part of that year's bi-centennial celebrations.  Of course, it was restricted to standard gauge lines which generally meant NSW, although it made visits elsewhere.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

the Third Avenue El in the Bronx, NYC, 1960s


The Bronx services ended in 1973.  Info on the Third Avenue El is here

Egypt cracks down on troublemakers


Protests in different places on Monday were met by security forces who made clear they were not going to tolerate any bad behavior according to this report.

Although the Muslim Brotherhood has been designated a terrorist organisation in Egypt (as it has been in Jordan, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Russia), its supporters are still a major problem.

Of course, some protesters are genuinely unhappy with the poor economic situation, which the Egyptian government is well aware of and is doing its best to improve, and the reason for the deals the government has made recently with France and Saudi Arabia (despite the unpopularity of the latter).

parking lot at a Stockholm strip mall, early 1960s


Having mentioned Stockholm, here is a pic from the time the American mall concept hit Europe, with a real mixed bag of cars in the parking lot.  One notes in particular the Edsel in the foreground centre.

Italy post and passenger bus stamp 1972


Raritan Valley Bus, New Jersey, late 1940s


The company still operates, website

terror alert in Stockholm after ‘seven or eight’ ISIS militants enter Sweden to ‘target civilians’ in the city


"Sweden has the second highest number of ISIS fighters per capita in the European Union [after Belgium] with 300 people having left the country to fight for the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria since 2013."

Who is the least bit surprised?  Let these people flood into your country as Sweden has for the last two decades and this is what you get. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, it will require deaths before the government is compelled to do something about the problem.

Daily Mail (UK) article 

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Japanese sailing vessel art, 19th century


That could be a poem, but we can't read it.

early motor bus in Florida


No other details.

Cleveland, Ohio, transportation parade poster, 1936


'I like a book with good pictures'


Monza Grand Prix poster, Italy, 1922


book covering 60 years of Yves Broncard's railway photos


Those who read the French publication La Vie du Rail will have seen the Yves Broncard credit line plenty of times and as the title of this recent book indicates, it is a collection of scenes taken by the now 86-year-old since the end of the 1940s.  Like the magazine, the book is primarily about France, but there are short excursions further afield including across La Manche/English Channel and the Pyrénées to Spain.

French railways have featured plenty of variety and plenty of changes in that time, from the TGV high speed passenger trains to the metre-gauge local interest lines, often called tramways, which now are nearly all gone.  The variety that Yves Broncard has sought to capture hasn't just been the trains, but also the atmosphere provided by people and things surrounding them, including station personnel, crossing keepers, mécaniciens, and, of course, passengers; plus typical town and countryside ambience.

There's probably about half and half in coverage of steam locomotives and their replacements, and about 60% b/w, 40% color.  The book is large format, and quite a few pictures are spread across the gutter although mostly with them the fold isn't in too irksome a place.  208 pages, hardcover with jacket.

racing car Citroen 8 CV de serie 'petite rosalie', 1933




A joint ad for Yacco oil. "The Petite Rosalie chassis is strictly identical to those of cars delivered daily to customers."

Sunday, April 24, 2016

SNCF borrowing poster, 1962


Fiat 50NC bus


A 1970s model?  Seen in Tahiti.

from Europe to Egypt via Romania and Greece: Romanian Maritime Service


Age uncertain, but pre-1930s.

the old metre-gauge tramway in Brest, France


This existed from 1898 to 1944 when the Allies bombarded the city because of its German U-Boot base, destroying nearly all of the old town.  A new system was opened in 2012, see earlier post.

Norwegian court decides mass-murderer Anders Breivik's prison violated his human rights


He got a computer, a PlayStation, and his own kitchen—but that was not enough for the Norway court that called his prison conditions ‘degrading.’

Full story

In 2011 Breivik decided that the way to protest Muslim behaviour was to punish the Norwegians he saw responsible for encouraging it—by behaving exactly like a Muslim terrorist.  A bomb in the government quarter of Oslo killed 8 and then he went to a socialist youth camp on an island and slaughtered 69 of the attendees by shooting them.  The only difference between him and a Muslim nut is that he didn't shout ‘allahu akbar’ and didn't have a shoot-out with the police; otherwise the end result was the same.

No-one should have any sympathy for him.

gridlock

Presumably the consequence of traffic lights failure.

Italian 2-6-0 steam locomotive


One of 60 of the 51.7 tonne 880 class built between 1916 and 1922 for light traffic needs, seen here in 1973 at Borgosesia.

'if only I had a transpress nz book'