Edinburgh-based Gravitricity are starting work on a scaled down demonstrator tower to test the response of their design for a gravity driven energy storage system. It’s not exactly a ‘new’ idea – I keep thinking of my dad’s fabulous 18th century grandfather clock – but it is...
The historic control tower at the aviation base on Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor not only survived the Japanese attack on 7th Dec 1941, it is still standing and looking good as new. Some would say even better, thanks to a collaboration between the...
In 2026 the United States will be celebrating its Semiquincentennial or 250th birthday. The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on July 4, 1776. More recently, in July 2016, the US Congress signed into law the United States Semiquincentennial Commission Act, which created the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission and...
The Canadian War Museum will be reopening to visitors next week after months of COVID-19 lockdown. Museum officials and fans are delighted that after missing key events, like the anniversary of VE Day in May and its own 15th anniversary celebrations, the museum will finally open on...
The WWII Tank Landing Craft, LCT 7074, a veteran of D-day, has finally made the journey from Portsmouth Naval Base to her new home on Southsea where she will be the newest addition to the D-Day Story museum. The newly renovated 59-metre long, 300-ton ship was moved...
Havila Voyages, the new operator on the Norwegian ‘Hurtigruten’ Coastal Service route in Norway, is building four new ships with eco-friendly hybrid propulsion systems. The first two ships will go into service next year. There’s been something of a sea-change in Norwegian coastal waters. The legacy operator,...
The UK Government yesterday launched a consultation on automated systems capable of taking vehicle control to make driving safer and easier. The consultation is to help shape how innovative new systems could be used in future on GB roads. The call for evidence will look at the...
Istanbul Airport has opened a new airport museum available to all international passengers. A growing number of international gateway airports around the world, such as San Francisco, Amsterdam & Paris, have become annexes to their national and local arts & culture museums, showcasing their national heritage to...
The HMS Victory conservation project has reached a major milestone with the completion of her new support system. As I wrote 18 months ago (Review: HMS Victory. Take a look, there’s a good explanatory video), the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) and BAE Systems have...
Long overdue, the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) and Mary Rose are collaborating on ticketing. It was always ludicrous that a visit to the Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth meant dealing with two separate ticketing systems. Ludicrous but understandable. The two organisations that share the Historic...
RMS Titanic, Inc (RMST), the company that has been recovering artifacts from the wreck of the Titanic since 1987, says it plans to make a ninth dive to the wreck in 2021, in a bid to recover the Marconi Wireless Telegraph from the Titanic’s radio room. The...
Hunter’s Yard runs a rental fleet of traditional wooden sailboats on the Norfolk Broads in Eastern England with a loyal base of customers who share a common appreciation for the historic vessels and their way of life. Sailors on the Broads have traditionally used long poles called...
Zeleros Hyperloop, based in Valencia, has completed a financing round worth more than €7 million to support the development of its hyperloop design. The company is working on its own version of Elon Musk’s hyperloop concept – trains travelling at supersonic, even hypersonic, speed in near-vacuum tubes,...
SWAROVSKI OPTIK are today launching a revolutionary optical device that pairs with a phone app to identify and catalogue wildlife. Swarovski is well known around the world as a costume jewelry manufacturer, but they also put their glass grinding skills to other uses and the Optik division,...
This is a niche blog about technically-minded travel. It reflects my own interests in the mechanical, technical, historical, engineering, transport and military world.
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