passenger car taillights of a steam passenger train at Oberhof, Thuringen, Germany

In the medium background the locomotive has entered the tunnel in this location. A scene from a Plandampf excursion in the early1990s.

'I love to read a good real book'

cars and buses in Torvet (the market square) Sorø, Denmark, 1933

Present day Google Earth view

freight cars loaded with copper at the railway pier of Antofagusta, Chile, circa 1910

British LNER A3 Class 4-6-2 type steam locomotive art

By Rob Rowland - website

"British A3 Class Tracery emerges from the south portal of Victoria Street Tunnel, Weekday Cross, Nottingham. (aided in parts by a photograph by Rob Hancock)."

Says wikipedia about the Class:

"The outcome of the various experiments and modifications made to the A1s in the late 1920s was a new Class A3 "Super Pacific", the first example of which was number 2743 Felstead. This locomotive appeared in August 1928 with 220 psi (1.52 MPa) boiler, 19-inch (483 mm) cylinders, increased superheat, long-travel valves, improved lubrication and modified weight distribution. Another new development was the changeover from right- to left-hand drive, less convenient for a right-handed fireman, but more so for sighting signals, resulting in the modification of all earlier locomotives.

"Twenty-seven A3s were built from new, until 1935, with little variation except for a new type of boiler with a "banjo dome", an oval steam collector that was placed on top of the rear boiler ring. The first banjo dome was hidden beneath the casing of Cock o' the North of 1934; it was subsequently used in the A4 streamliners. The last nine A3 Pacifics were constructed with the device in 1935, and it became a standard fitting on all LNER large, wide-firebox boilers that were applied to new locomotives until 1949. It was also applied to replacement boilers on the A3s.

"Although all of the original Class A1 locomotives were eventually rebuilt to Class A3 specifications, it was a drawn-out process that lasted until 1949; 60068 Sir Visto was the last locomotive to be converted. The changeover to left-hand drive took longer, and continued into the Fifties."

Ljubljana trolleybus stamp, Slovenia

There were 53 trolleybuses in the fleet. The first were made by Fiat, the second lot by Oerlikon in Switzerland; because of the cost of the Swiss vehicles, the third lot were built domestically on a FAP chassis and the electrical elements were Swiss. The trolleybus era began in 1951 and ended in 1971.

DHL cargo jet breaks up after hard landing in Costa Rica

 

NZR rail ferries poster, 1966

The car looks loosely based on a Chrysler Valiant but is generic rather than an actual one on the market at that time.  For lots more, see our books, especially the top two at right.

Beechcraft T-6C Texan II's

 
The two (of a fleet of 11) belong to RNZAF's central flying school. They are powered by 1 x Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6A-68 turboprop (rated at 820 kwh).

More info

VR Class Dr 12 diesel locomotive, Finland

A total of 42 of this Co-Co type were built and entered service between 1959 and 1963 on Finland's 5 ft broad gauge. The prime mover was a MAN V8V22/30 rated at 1,900 hp (1,400 kW). The Dr 12 was known as the Hr 12 until 1976.

They were built by 2 manufacturers, Valmet and Lokomo, both based in Tampere. All with even road numbers were produced by Valmet, while all odd numbers were produced by Lokomo. They were withdrawn in the early 1990s and one is now preserved -- it was used at the VR Group's 150th anniversary in August 2012 on the Hanko – Hyvinkää line (above pic). Hyvinkää is the location of the Finnish Railway Museum.

More

Isle of Man railway cavalcade

 

1966 Ikarus-180 articulated city bus Bulgaria, O scale model

More pics and details

heritage PCC car on the Embarcadero, San Francisco

See earlier posts. (Geoff Churchman pic)

the Taupo Totara Timber Company's Mallet art

A painting by the late Peter Baker from a 1967 calendar. The Taupo Totara Timber Co. Mallet No. 7 was a 2-4-4-2 tender locomotive built in 1912 by the American Locomotive Company at Schenectady, New York, It is now preserved at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway south of Auckland as GVR No. 4 and it is NZ's only Mallet Compound Steam Engine. It last worked in 2001 and has been stored since.

For lots more, see our books.

not a UFO or anything abnormal

What about a Chinese lantern, flock of Canada geese, a meteor or a comet?

'do you want to read a good real book?'

 

BAe Jetstream 31-3102

"The small twin-turboprop airliner British Aerospace Jetstream 31 for 18/19 passengers first flew on 28 March 1980, and was certificated in the UK on 29 June 1982. The new version proved to be as popular as Handley Page hoped the original model would be, and several hundred 31s were built during the 1980s."

More

Swiss 6-car TEE train set of SBB Historic

Seen in action last year. This has been made multi-voltage so it can travel to Benelux that uses different electric overhead systems to that used in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. See earlier posts. (Still from an SBB Historic video)

More on SBB Historic activities on this page

this won't have been an official statement on the roadside speed radar

Usually you just get 'slow down'.

cars in Nogales, Mexico, 1950s - 1960s

 

Nogales, Mexico, is literally on the other side of the border fence with Nogales, Arizona, see earlier posts.

this Brazilian city's contractors don't know how railways work

(Screenshot from this short video)

Here is a Portuguese-language article which says contractors were dispatched, but the locals removed the patch and allowed the train to pass; the person who made the mistake was fired.

another way of making a point to the roading authority

1965 Ford Torino

This was built by Ford's Italian division, designed by Michelotti, and sold mostly there (about 10,000) and in Netherlands-Belgium-Luxembourg. It lasted from 1965 until the Anglia (meaning English) was discontinued in 1967.

late 1950s Hillman Minx in Japan

Mt Fuji in the distance.

traffic in greater L.A., 1940s

 

New York Central steam passenger trains in the Mohawk River Valley circa 1907

Between Albany and Syracuse.

candid safety message on the back of a bus, Western Australia

Apparently this was real and not Photoshopped.

Pacific Electric car near the Hollywood bowl, greater L.A., 1952

Pacific Electric interurban car #5175 passes the entrance to the Hollywood Bowl along North Highland Avenue on 27 December 1952.

Lots more on the Pacific Electric Historical website

US Mail Highway Post Office #1

From the look of it, a White bus converted.

Czech 2-8-2 steam locomotive from 1922

Loco 423.009 built by Adamovské strojírny / Škoda plants is seen in Marienbad (Marianske Lazne), one of 20 of this series.

Specifications are on this webpage

More info here

'I like to find out what good real books say'

1933 Tatra bus in Bratislava, Slovakia, 1947

Seen with a wood gas generator installed. This was one of two built -- technical details are here

1983 Volvo Turbo 244

"Turbo" was something of a buzzword in the 1980s; one of us remembers buying a vacuum cleaner that had turbo in the name!

More pics here

1924 Stewart truck

via Barrett-Jackson.com

More info on Stewart

1931 Stewart truck

British Railways 'warship'

Unit D503 in the days of green livery plus an apron of yellow.

From keymodelworld.com

"THE D600 CLASS OF diesel-hydraulics, all of which were named after warships, were one of the earliest attempts to find a satisfactory solution to the requirement for a mid-power locomotive. Although intended to become one of the diesel standard classes, their design satisfied no one, and production was soon halted in favour of a new revolutionary model, which was to become the ‘Warship’ that we all know and love today.

"In the years following the austerity of the Second World War all four of the British railway companies were examining ways of improving efficiency by replacing steam with more modern forms of traction. The London Midland & Scottish, the Southern and the London and North Eastern all took their inspiration from the USA where there was already widespread use of diesel-electric locomotives while the Great Western decided to examine the possibilities of gas-turbine propulsion – a radical new source of power undergoing rapid development in the aviation sector.

"Following nationalisation in 1948, diesel development was largely in the hands of former LMS men, which led to development of the successful English Electric prototypes 10000-10001 into locomotives such as the Class 37 and the Class 40. Such locomotives did not find universal favour, however, with the primary cause for concern being their very low power to weight ratio – particularly in relation to the Class 40s which had to use a 16 wheel 1-Co-Co-1 chassis to convey the massive bulk of the design without exceeding axle load limits.

"Engineers on the Western Region were convinced that a better solution was to be found in Europe where the idea of lightweight high-speed power units driving hydraulic transmission was gaining ground. Further advantages could also be gained by fitting such engines into lightweight bodywork with pre-stressed sides, which therefore left the maximum horsepower available for working a train."

Read the rest

buses in the Wanaka Transport Museum

The 1954 Leyland Comet 90 in the middle has an interesting livery, probably not that of a municipality; was someone influenced by Southern Pacific Railroad's Daylight?

cars in Upper Queen Street, Auckland, 1958

Also from the Slides Worth Seeing FB page is this view of Auckland before the skyscrapers with the tram tracks still in place, even though they had ended two years earlier. The MLC building in the distance is still there, but now dwarfed. A new Chevrolet Bel Air can be seen parked on the left. (Pic credited to JBL Tucker)

Present day Google Maps reference

1966 Chrysler Valiant VC and Ford Consul in Cashel Street, Christchurch, 1967

 (From the Slides Worth Seeing FB page.)

making a point to the roads authority

Seen in Sussex Inlet, Australia.