The transport system now known as the
London Underground began in 1863 with the
Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. Over the next forty years, the early
sub-surface lines reached out from the urban centre of the capital into the surrounding rural margins, leading to the development of new commuter suburbs. At the turn of the nineteenth century, new technology—including
electric locomotives and improvements to the
tunnelling shield—enabled new companies to construct a series of "tube" lines deeper underground. Initially rivals, the tube railway companies began to co-operate in advertising and through shared branding, eventually consolidating under the single ownership of the
Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), with lines stretching across London.
In 1933, the UK Government amalgamated the UERL and the Metropolitan Railway as a single organisation, named the
London Passenger Transport Board. The London Underground has since passed through a series of administrations, expanding further by the construction of new extensions and through the acquisition of existing main line routes, culminating in its current form as part of
Transport for London, the capital's current transport administration, controlled by the
Greater London Authority. (Full article...)
Image 18Traffic congestion persists in
São Paulo, Brazil, despite the no-drive days based on license numbers.
Image 19German soldiers in a railway
car on the way to the front in August 1914. The message on the car reads Von München über Metz nach Paris ("From Munich via Metz to Paris"). (from Rail transport)
Image 20Bronocice pot with the earliest known image of a wheeled vehicle in the world, found in
Poland (from Transport)
Image 21Interior view of a high-speed bullet train, manufactured in China (from Rail transport)
Image 22First powered and controlled flight by the
Wright brothers, December 17, 1903 (from Aviation)
Image 33Bardon Hill box in
England (seen here in 2009) is a
Midland Railway box dating from 1899, although the original mechanical lever frame has been replaced by electrical switches. (from Rail transport)
Image 34A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in
Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Rail transport)
Image 52The
Great North Road near High gate on the approach to London before
turnpiking. The highway was deeply rutted and spread onto adjoining land. (from Road transport)
Image 54The
Cessna 172 is the most produced aircraft in history (from Aviation)
Image 55A 16th-century minecart, an early example of unpowered rail transport (from Rail transport)
Image 56Passengers waiting to board a tube train on the
London Underground in the early 1900s (sketch by unknown artist)
Image 57An ambulance from World War I (from Transport)
Image 58A replica of a "Little Eaton Tramway" wagon; the tracks are plateways. (from Rail transport)
Image 59Modes of road transport in Dublin, 1929 (from Road transport)
Image 60A cast iron fishbelly edge rail manufactured by Outram at the Butterley Company for the
Cromford and High Peak Railway in 1831; these are smooth edge rails for wheels with flanges. (from Rail transport)
Image 65Tunnels, such as the
Tampere Tunnel, allow traffic to pass underground or through rock formations. (from Transport)
Image 66According to
Eurostat and the
European Railway Agency, the fatality risk for passengers and occupants on European railways is 28 times lower when compared with car usage (based on data by EU-27 member nations, 2008–2010). (from Rail transport)
Image 670-Series
Shinkansen, introduced in 1964, triggered the intercity train travel boom. (from Rail transport)
A roundhouse is a building used by
railroads for servicing
locomotives. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular structures that were traditionally located surrounding or adjacent to
turntables. The defining feature of the traditional roundhouse was the turntable, which facilitates access when the building is used for repair facilities or for storage of
steam locomotives. Early steam locomotives normally travelled forwards only; although reverse operations capabilities were soon built into locomotive mechanisms, the controls were normally optimized for forward travel, and the locomotives often could not operate as well in reverse. Some
passenger cars, such as
observation cars, were also designed as late as the 1960s for operations in a particular direction. A turntable allowed a locomotive or other
rolling stock to be turned around for the return journey.
... that when Charles P. Gross became the chairman of the New York City Board of Transportation, the mayor told him that "if you think war is Hell, then you have something waiting for you on this job"?
... that United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg wrote an essay in 2000 on
Bernie Sanders, his future competitor in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries?
... that a section of Mississippi Highway 489 was designated as the Jason Boyd Memorial Highway to commemorate the
MDOT superintendent who was killed while removing debris from the road?