The Indian Government has approved plans for a huge National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) at Lothal in Gujarat, an inland archaeological port site from the Harappan era (aka the Indus Valley Civilisation), now 30 miles from the sea. It is being billed as the biggest maritime heritage...
The Fontinettes Boat Lift (Ascenseur à bateaux des Fontinettes) in Arques, Pas-de-Calais. is a magnificent piece of 19th century engineering and architecture. It was built in the late 19th century at Fontinettes* to replace a set of five locks on the Neuffossé canal which linked/s the canalised...
The Musée des Arts et Métiers (Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Paris is almost the French equivalent of the Science Museum in London, and it is absolutely packed with the most fascinating historic, scientific, mechanical, experimental and industrial exhibits. Be prepared to allocate plenty of time...
The 100-year-old American steam logging locomotive, Mount Emily Shay No.1, travelled by flatcar to its new home, the Oregon Rail Heritage Center, on Thursday (15 Feb). The historic locomotive had been in the care of the Oregon Historical Society (OHS) for more than six decades when, in...
Blenheim Palace, home to the Dukes of Marlborough since 1705, has started its annual deep clean, which, it turns out, is quite a complex process requiring more than a can of Pledge (other multi-surface cleaners are available) and a feather duster! The deep clean includes everything from...
The sole surviving Alvis Grand Prix racing car, once abandoned in a scrapyard in Coventry, is being revived by The Alvis Car Company, and will be making its first public appearance tomorrow (14 April) in Chiba City, Japan at Automobile Council 2023. Its unveiling comes 96 years...
Love this! It reminds me of a ‘Bee Hotel’! The Pingtan Book House in China’s Hunan province* is designed to provide space for children to read and play. The design, by Hong Kong based Condition_Lab, has just been awarded ‘highly commended’ in the Cultural Building of the...
The Norfolk Southern Corporation is donating its complete collection of historical documents and archives from predecessor company Norfolk and Western Railway to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC). The collection dates from the 1840s and includes thousands of photographs and glass plate negatives, as well...
This is NOT a question grounded in any kind of reality, it’s a purely hypothetical question. What if there was a restorable airframe, and if a suitable power plant could be found, and if there was the funding, facilities, expertise and willingness to restore any WW2 era...
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...
On Tuesday night, the world’s largest steam locomotive, Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. X4014, returned to life¹, and yesterday it made its first test run in preparation for a steam locomotive “race” starting tomorrow. Both of Union Pacific’s historic steam locomotives – Big Boy No. 4014 and...
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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