The Soviet Union's huge steam locomotive: The AA20

 

Mack bus of the Pacific Electric in Los Angeles, circa 1945

The bus is older, however, probably early 1930s.

1974 Datsun Sports 260Z

1973 Lincoln Continental Mark IV & Town Car

traffic in Germany, 1930s

 

1972 Lincoln Continental

1973 Holden Kingswood

 In A/NZ slang a "hoon" is someone who drives irresponsibly or recklessly.

a mug for real book lovers

1972 Commer van

1949 Nash Ambassador Six 2-door Brougham

 

'a good real book is much better than a little screen'

1935 Ford Woody wagon

 

on the bridge of the container ship 'Aotea' looking at a sunrise

For details, see the book All at Sea by Emmanuel Makarios.

1931 Duesenberg 401 2410

In some ways the American equivalent of a Bentley.

a pony trap at the north portal of the Seatoun tunnel, Wellington, circa 1908

 
There wouldn't have been too many motor cars at that stage.  For lots more see the book Wellington Transport Memories.

1931 Bentley 8-litre tourer

 

1930 Packard Eight convertible

1971 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe

1966 Buick Riviera

1970s Skoda Karosa SL11 bus

Info

Extreme train for railway tracks replacement

 

see-through jet engine

 

1912 Fiat 12/15 hp (a.k.a. Zero)

Info

"I like to read a good real book in the quietness of the forest'

Diesel Locomotive Repair and Startup on a 1949 EMD F7A

 

how a diesel-electric locomotive works

For newcomers :-)
 

luxurious Talgo train begins operation between Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt

CAIRO – 23 December 2022: Egypt will start the operation of the first luxurious train (Talgo train) round trips this Saturday.

The train will depart at 2:00 PM from Ramses Railway station in downtown Cairo for Alexandria’s Sidi Gaber station.

Starting on Sunday, December 25, 2022, two trains will depart from Misr station in Alexandria and Sidi Gaber station at 5:55 AM and 6:05 AM, respectively, per week. They go to Ramses Railway station, where two trips will return heading for Alexandria’s stations.

On August 9, 2022, Egypt and Spain's Talgo signed a contract for the latter to supply seven luxurious sleeper trains, which will be a total of 126 railcars, and provide maintenance and spare parts for 15 years.

Every train will consist of 10 second-class passenger railcars, five first-class passenger railcars, two dining cars, and a power car. The contract also provides that Talgo and Egypt's Semaf Locomotives join forces on localizing sleeper train production.

This signing is the second protocol in the field of localizing the mobile unit industry in Egypt, after the contract to localize 320 subway vehicles with 40 trains, which was previously signed with the Hyundai Rotem and Nerk companies union to localize the metro train industry, with the aim of meeting the expected increase in the number of passengers in the coming years. (from EgyptToday.com)

Happy Christmas steam train

Happy Christmas to our customers and readers

It's been yet another year of worldwide absurdity caused by politicians and it's no wonder they are so much despised. But it's now time to focus instead, if only briefly, on the things that are cause for happiness and pleasure.  

We also plea for positive steps by all governments towards genuine, lasting peace and prosperity.

Next year we plan to revive to some extent our retail operation, but the main activity, as it has been now by some 5 years, will continue to publishing services, whether for digital, print publications or both.

Lake Maggiore steamer poster, 1899

This lake straddles Switzerland and Italy.  The name of the ship is not given.

1925 Hupmobile

two ex-NZR vintage DA locos and a passenger excursion train just north of Waikanae NZ

A photo from December 2019 by Geoff Churchman. In the distance is Kapiti Island. This trip was organised by Steam Inc. of Paekakariki. For lots more, see the book Wellington Transport Memories.

'My Russian van Is a better Off-Roader than even a modern Toyota Collab'

 A 1992 UAZ 4523741 Buhanka

1929 Studebaker Erskine 50 pickup

1932 Marmon sixteen

scenes of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DDR) in the 1960s

 Still plenty of steam at that time.

'take the bus and not the car home'

Vincent van Gogh's "Les roulottes, campement de bohémiens"

In British English, Roulotte gets translated as a caravan, in American English as a trailer. This depicts a Gypsy camp near Arles (1888).

'would you like to read my good real book with me?'

the scenic Colombo to Badulla railway, Sri Lanka

From the BBC website

"The 291km track takes in a mix of deep gorges, craggy cliffs, cascading falls, lakes and rivers from Sri Lanka's west coast into its mountainous interior. It twists and turns through 46 tunnels, snaking past high montane canopy with bright red rhododendrons and wild ferns, a fragment of the native hill country forest cover left untouched by British colonisers. On a bright day, sun-drenched hills stretch down to the glistening southern coastline from the train window as far as the eye can see.

"This slow, 10-hour long journey might be inconvenient for the modern-day traveller, but it's so enchantingly scenic that it's become a bucket list adventure for many visitors."

Full article

Southern Pacific class M6 2-6-0 "Mogul"

Built by Baldwin in 1901.

Info

Soviet speeding trucks safety poster, 1955

Soviet DR1 diesel-electric locomotive art

Unit DR08, one of the first batch of 8 from 1963. Art by Aleksandr Zhuravlev

More

Banff by Canadian Pacific Railway poster 1936

See earlier posts. 

1951 Magirus Deutz f125 firetruck

Russian 2-6-0 from 1845

A "serie D"

cars in Adolf-Hitler-Platz, Warsaw, Poland, early 1940s

Warsaw was under German occupation from September 1939 until late 1944.

Russian 0-10-0

Class Er, this was built by MAVAG of Hungary in 1949, one of 2716 that were built in Soviet satellite countries for the 5 ft gauge Soviet system after WW2.

Data and details are here

'in winter I like to read a good real book by the fire'

Puget Sound Electric Railway car art

by J. Craig Thorpe -- details of the scene here

This interurban railway ran for 38 miles between Tacoma and Seattle, Washington between 1902 and 1928. The railway's reporting mark was "PSE". 

Portions of the right-of-way still exist as multi-use trail through Milton, Washington, as well as from Pacific to Tukwila, Washington.

More

sextant

This is a traditional maritime navigation instrument which today has been made redundant by GPS, although ships' officers are still expected to know how to use one.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica it determines "the angle between the horizon and a celestial body such as the Sun, the Moon, or a star, used in celestial navigation to determine latitude and longitude. The device consists of an arc of a circle, marked off in degrees, and a movable radial arm pivoted at the centre of the circle. A telescope, mounted rigidly to the framework, is lined up with the horizon. The radial arm, on which a mirror is mounted, is moved until the star is reflected into a half-silvered mirror in line with the telescope and appears, through the telescope, to coincide with the horizon. The angular distance of the star above the horizon is then read from the graduated arc of the sextant. From this angle and the exact time of day as registered by a chronometer, the latitude can be determined (within a few hundred metres) by means of published tables.

"The name comes from the Latin sextus, or one-sixth, for the sextant’s arc spans 60°, or one-sixth of a circle. Octants, with 45° arcs, were first used to calculate latitude. Sextants were first developed with wider arcs for calculating longitude from lunar observations, and they replaced octants by the second half of the 18th century."

Fiat railcars at New Plymouth NZ, 1975

Pretty much the only thing that still exists in this Norm Daniel pic is the Tasman Hotel in the background (now called Richmond Estate). The red railcar was headed for Taumarunui over the Stratford-Okahukura Line, and the blue one, named the Blue Streak, to Wellington.  There is still a single track line to the port through here.

For lots more, see our books.

1966 Isuzu Elfin pickup

NZR 4-6-2 A#422

A cigarette card from 1913 and a photo of the loco of unknown date.  This was one of 50 of this class built over 1909-1914 by A. & G. Price of Thames, NZ (another 8 were built by NZR's Addington Workshops).  For lots more, see the book New Zealand Railway Memorabilia.

St Petersburg, Russia, railway station ambience