Sunday, January 6, 2013

Highlands of the Hudson, New York Central System

A poster circa 1940. Obviously this is the tail end of a train although such shapes were by then well-established as the front ends of trains too.

Newfoundland Railway steam, Canada, 1950s


The Newfoundland Railway began life in 1898 and reached a total track length of 906 miles (1,458 km) in the rare for North America 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) or cape gauge. It was merged into Canadian National in 1949, upon Newfoundland becoming a province of Canada that year. It was eventually given Steven Joyce style treatment in 1988.  This pic shows Shell Bird Island on the Humber River.

'Heavy Weather on Crossing to France' by Jack L. Gray


"Heavy Weather on Crossing to France" (John Paul Jones's Ranger) by Jack Lorimer Gray (1927-1981, Canadian).  This was apparently painted for a poster for the 1959 movie John Paul Jones. (Rehs Gallaries Inc)

California Zephyr vista domes 1950s-1960s

With Western Pacific F units in the Sierra Nevada range, the actual bridge not specified
 
Introduced in 1949, the train was collectively operated by different railroads along its a 2,438-mile (3,924 km) route between Chicago and Emeryville (San Francisco).  Since 1971 it has been an Amtrak service (without the vista domes) and is arguably the most scenic in the US, particularly west of Denver.  See earlier posts.

1961 Hillman Super Minx

 

Launched in 1961 as a separate model to the Hillman Minx, this lasted until 1967.  Both were then replaced by the Hillman New Minx until 1970.

"Hey Daddy, can I take the car for a joyride like the Hyundai kid?"

Grand Harbour, Malta, 1960s


The ship's name is alas not given.  A Ford Taunus Transit van is in the lower right.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

1952 Hillman Minx adverts


A product of the British Rootes group, the Hillman Minx was sold in NZ throughout its British post-WW2 production until 1970.  These marketing pieces were obviously intended for the American market where the car was sold for a while in the early 1950s, but reaction to it there wasn't enthusiastic.

Romanian trolleybus stamp, 1963


custom towtruck


No details - from a viral e-mail.

bookshops diminish in the UK


Apparently the number of high street bookshops in the UK is now less than half the 4,000 there were in 2005.  This isn't a surprise as in 2010 one of our distributors there went into voluntary liquidation (costing us a bit) and last year the UK dropped below the US as our second biggest export market.

Is it all due to online retailers, or it is distraction generally from small screens? Daily Telegraph article