Snowdon Summit #2
Once upon a time, there was a grand summit building atop the summit of Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa.) It was built in the 1930s by the noted Welsh architect, Clough Williams-Ellis, whose Portmeirion village is famous the world over. By the 1990s had become something of a disreputable place and the…
The problem of space travel…
SpaceX’s Starship – the biggest rocket ever to date – lifted off successfully yesterday but was remotely denontaed after it endured at least a minute and half out of control – at one point it actually faced the other direction – and despite being turned back the other way it…
Rails – to the Moon
Sylvester Marsh was a New England entrepreneur whose proposed mountain line received considerable ridicule when the idea was put forward in the late 1850s – for it was seen as a ‘railway to the moon!’ People thought the idea most inconceivable and it was a struggle for Marsh to get…
Snowdon summit
Wales’ highest railway station is at the summit of Snowdon (3560 feet/1085 metres) where for many years there was essentially a proper station with ticket office and waiting rooms, plus semaphore signals and point rodding, levers, etc, all the ‘mod cons’ needed to make the site every inch a true…
New cableway for Piz Gloria
The Schilthornbahn has been in operation for 55 years. The first stage from Stechelberg to Mürren/Birg opened on 20th June 1965. That to the summit of the Schilthorn opened in 1967 and it was soon made famous because of 007! The summit facilities had been left incomplete due to shortage…
Whatever happened to Star Tram?
This is the one where streetcar enthusiasts get mighty disappointed its not a new tramway scheme of any sort! In fact Star Tram (sometimes called Space Tram) was a project with the purpose of making it easier to get into space. Rockets are terribly expensive (although Elon Musk’s reusable SpaceX…
Post Office Tower
Today is the anniversary of the topping out of the BT (or Telecom) Tower and for some its still known as the Post Office Tower. Besides the images showing early designs for the tower itself, the structure was going to be known as the Museum Radio Tower. The rather grandiose…
Pilatus Bahn 130
The Pilatus Bahn at 130. Switzerland’s famous rack railway and the steepest example in the world opened to the public on 4th June 1889. The line uses a unique patent of rack rail devised by Eduard Locher who realised the normal types of rack railway would not be able to…
Eiffel Tower anniversary #2
Its the Eiffel Tower’s 130th anniversary! On Sunday 31st March 1889 the Eiffel Tower was opened for the first time. Gustave Eiffel himself lead politicians and officials to the very top of his stupendous monument. La Tour Eiffel was built for the 1889 Paris Exposition as a means of celebrating…
Eiffel Tower anniversary
Its the Eiffel Tower’s 130th anniversary! On this day in history 130 years ago the Eiffel Tower was opened for the first time with Eiffel himself leading politicians and Government officials to the top, a walk taking over an hour. The occasion marked the completion of the main structure. The…