Brittany Ferries intend to use a Ground Effect Vehicle (GEV) – what the Russians called an “ekranoplan” when they developed the concept in the 1960s – on some cross channel routes. The ferry operator has announced that it is exploring the potential for a new sustainable version...
The Royal Mail has announced a trial of the first out-of-sight, autonomous scheduled drone flights between the UK mainland and an island. The trial will use Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flights initially to deliver Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), COVID testing kits and other mail to the Isles...
Italy’s Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, has announced the winner of a technical tender to design and build a new stage floor for the 2,000 year old Colosseum. The original wooden arena floor covered an underground network of rooms and corridors, which housed the waiting animals, gladiators...
London City Airport has just become the world’s first major international airport to be controlled remotely from an entirely digital control tower. Its new 50 metre (164 feet) Air Traffic Control (ATS) tower allows controllers 115 km (70 miles) away in Swanwick, Hampshire, to control all movements...
Britain’s original Formula 1 team, British Racing Motors (BRM), is marking its 70th anniversary by building three authentic ‘new’ 1950s V16 F1 race cars, and you’ll be able to see the first later this year. On 14th July 1951, a new team, BRM, entered two astonishing cars...
The French seaside town and ferry port was expecting its famous mechanical dragon to be operating in the build up to Christmas and New Year, but COVID-19 struck again and so the Compagnie du Dragon has been using the downtime for a bit of maintenance. I got...
Filming starts next month on the next big-budget war movie, Devotion, which tells the real life story of U.S. Navy pilots Tom Hudner and Jesse Brown. The History The duo came from completely different, post-World War II, backgrounds. Tom was a white New Englander from a wealthy...
Last week the U.S. National Park Service announced $2,208,110 in grants from the American Battlefield Protection Program to protect 169.03 acres of America’s Civil War battlefields. Unlike the UK, where so many of our battlefield sites are already lost to history, or under threat from developers (See...
The light installation Een Spoor van Water (A Trail of Water) by artist Matthias Oostrik was unveiled this week under a railway bridge in the Dutch city of Assen. Each passing train activates a unique light composition, incorporated into the paving and plant beds underneath. While I...
When 33 single-handed yachtsmen and women set off from Les Sables d’Olonne in France tomorrow, to race non-stop around the world for the Vendée Globe trophy, there’s a good chance they will do so quicker and safer than ever before. That will be down to state-of-the-art technology...
The Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) has announced the 27th and 28th vehicles to be added to the National Historic Vehicle Register. The HVA established the National Historic Vehicle Register in partnership with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Heritage Documentation Programs and Library of Congress, respectively, to...
Everybody dreads their driving test, but every country has its own version with a huge range of standards and idiosyncrasies, so ours/yours may not be the worst. Here in the UK, our new drivers are clearly daunted by the test. UK driving test pass rates have plummeted...
A Swedish shipping company, Wallenius Marine, is developing a car transporter* ship, Oceanbird, with telescopic aerofoil sails. When launched, it will be the world’s largest sailing ship. The design is elegantly simple; take a pretty standard car transporter hull with the boxy shape and loading ramp at...
Work is complete on 516 Arouca, which at 516 metres long is now the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world*. 516 Arouca hangs 175 metres (574 ft) over the Paiva river in the eastern part of Arouca UNESCO Global Geopark, Portugal. It connects the escarpment of...
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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