Bentley versus steam train race, March 1930

"Babe Barnato gaining with his Bentley versus the Blue Train in March 1930."  A reference to Joel Woolf Barnato (27 September 1895 – 27 July 1948), and his races against the Train Bleu in France between Calais and the French Riviera in the early 1930s. The illustration on the stamp looks like a railcar.

peasant versus train race, Yugoslavia, circa 1937

The caption says that after mocking the oldest railway in the country, an employee challenged the peasant, named Yoyin Milovich, to run faster than the train between Bar and Sutorman. Milovich accepted. And Milovich won.

That loco looks a fairly old one so maybe the outcome is believable. Published in the French magazine Le Pelerin.   The area is today in Montenegro.

Iraq railway stamps

anniversary stamp from 2010 of IRR

steam train on a bridge stamp (with a DC3 about to crash?) from 1949

Baghdad photo taken from an American helicopter on 20 June 2003

The Iraqi Republic Railways or IRR system today comprises 1,905 km (1,184 miles) in standard gauge with one international interchange, with the Chemins de Fer Syriens (CFS) at Rabiya. The first railway in what is now Iraq opened in 1914, shortly before the beginning of WW1 which involved the British versus the then Ottoman Empire.

Lines in 2'6" (760 mm) and metre gauge have also been built there (when were they removed?)

Since 1980 there have been wars - the Iraq versus Iran war, two Gulf Wars and the Al Qaeda led Muslim insurgency over the past 10 years - which won't have helped transport infrastructure there generally. However, a high speed line between Baghdad and Basra is contemplated.

Matewan, West Virginia, railway depot, 1930s

Two views of the original depot looking from both directions Present day view

This yard scene shows the major industry of West Virginia, coal.  Trains still carry it, but not nearly as much as in the past.

Today a replica of the Matewan train station building has been placed nearby to serve as a visitor center and museum.

Matewan was the setting for one of the largest and most violent industrial actions in American history -- miners versus the mine companies.  It was turned into this critically acclaimed movie from 1987: