TransportationHistorian

TransportationHistorian, 17 days ago to Indiana

A century ago, this photo was taken in Haubstadt, #Indiana. This town had both a #train station and #electric #interurban service, with a population of less than 700.
Now it has over 1,600 people, but has no service of any kind. The station and several of the buildings in this photo are now gone or empty.
Even major cities with populations in the hundreds of thousands sometimes lack basic #rail service. It's painful how much we've lost.

#history #transit #transport

TransportationHistorian, 2 months ago to ilaughed

I did manage to get a single #photo of the #eclipse during totality. You can't see the sky around it due to the camera compensating for the brightness of the sun, but you can see the moon blocking out the sun.

#photography #SolarEclipse

TransportationHistorian, 3 months ago to Ohio

I found an old photograph online that I think is kinda cool from June 1895 of an #interurban line being built in the middle of the street. I believe this is from #Westerville, #Ohio on South State Street.

#history #rail #streetcar #train

TransportationHistorian, 4 months ago to Indiana

Senate Bill 52 in #Indiana has passed the Senate and is moving to the House. The bill will temporarily ban any dedicated lanes, specifically bus only lanes, from being constructed, and it will ban the no right turn on red signs in downtown #Indianapolis. This bill will increase congestion, increase #pedestrian fatalities, and undermine local governments' power. All for the misguided idea of improving traffic flow.

#HoosierMast #politics #PublicTransport #StrongTowns #urbanism #uspol #uspolitics

TransportationHistorian, 4 months ago to random

Every day that passes, the urge to buy a paint can from the local paint store and start painting crosswalks and bike lanes everywhere grows.

TransportationHistorian, 4 months ago to tech

I'm not sure why some #tech companies still think the #future of #transportation is everyone having flying #cars. Every year tech companies show off prototype #aircraft as flying cars. We already have small planes and helicopters which are pretty much the same thing minus being able to drive.

Not to mention the fact that flying is (understandably) heavily regulated. I highly doubt the FAA is ever gonna allow thousands of heavy aircraft to be flown by the common person.

#transport #urbanism

TransportationHistorian, 5 months ago to history

1/3

I found an interesting article from the 1920s discussing #interurban service in a town of 5,000.

"The new train schedule of the [interurban] has given [citizens] something to think about ... The schedule provides everything that anyone could ask for in [convenience] ... With service that is almost half hourly during certain portions of the day, there leaves but little if any room for the necessity of a bus line over the route..."

#histodon #history #PublicTransport #rail #trains #transit

TransportationHistorian, 5 months ago to Indiana

Proposed bills in #Indiana would make dedicated #bus lanes illegal and remove many of #indianapolis's no right turn on red signs installed to help improve #pedestrian #safety.

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/two-proposed-bills-could-impact-marion-county-motorists-public-transportation-indy-go-traffic-new-indiana-laws-2024/531-70da9822-44a2-4a3d-be4b-99536390062e

#HoosierMast #politics #PublicTransit #PublicTransport #StrongTowns #urbanism #uspol #uspolitics

TransportationHistorian, 5 months ago to Columbus

The fact that #Columbus, OH, a city with a very similar population size to Amsterdam, still doesn't have any passenger #rail while Amsterdam has trams, subways, commuter trains, intercity trains, and international trains, says a lot about the staggering difference in the design and priorities of these cities.

#StrongTowns #urbanism

TransportationHistorian, 5 months ago to Trains

#Trains are cool, but they're even cooler when they're running passenger services in the #snow.

What I would give to be able to take a #train ride home for the #Holidays.

#Christmas #PassengerRail #rail #transport #winter

TransportationHistorian, 6 months ago to FormulaE

This is an illustration of the outside the #armynavy game in 1955. For decades, the Pennsylvania Railroad used to run special services to and from the army-navy game in Philadelphia, utilizing a nearby yard as a makeshift station. This occurred almost every year from 1936 to 1975. With the exception of 1975, this special service was always lead by fully-electric GG1 locomotives as pictured below.

#electric #history #histodon #rail #sports #sustainability #train #trains

TransportationHistorian, 7 months ago to FormulaE

2,798 miles.

There was once 2,798 miles of fully #electric #interurban #track in #Ohio. That's more miles than than the current interstate highways in Ohio, and more miles than any other state had.

Not a single town with a population over 10,000 (and many even smaller towns) did not have an interurban line, and many were also served by traditional #rail.

And we lost it all.

#history #PublicTransport #train #trains

TransportationHistorian, 8 months ago to random

If we could simply go out and work on our #transportation problems, we could fix the vast majority of them tomorrow. We could implement cheap, temporary solutions until a proper #redesign could be done. We could reprogram signals, paint crosswalks, and create protected bike lanes, everywhere, if only it were legal to do so.

But, it is far too complicated, expensive and difficult to do anything in the current system. So, we continue to let our #cities and designs fail us.

#StrongTowns #urbanism

TransportationHistorian, 8 months ago to outside

Why have we basically made it #illegal to be a kid in #public?

#Kids cannot be outside without their parents constantly watching them, they cannot play on the #street (because we made them too dangerous) or even sidewalks in some #cities, and even loitering (existing in public) is illegal in many places. We've made kid-friendly #transportation such as bicycles, skateboards, and rollerblades illegal in many places. It's no wonder why kids are rarely found #outside anymore.

#urbanism #law

arstechnica, 8 months ago to random

This autonomous cargo train wants to fix the problem of underused rails

The ARPA-E backed train from Parallel Systems is now in its second generation.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/09/this-autonomous-cargo-train-wants-to-fix-the-problem-of-underused-rails/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

TransportationHistorian, 9 months ago to history

I keep making posts way too late at night, but here's a special one for those of you who also stay up late.

#city #history #image #latenight #night #postcard #PublicDomain #Ohio #streetcar #tram #urban

TransportationHistorian, 9 months ago to Indiana

A while ago I went to see some of the locomotives restored by the #FortWayneRailroad Historical Society in #Indiana, and I took some #pictures. The first #photograph is of steam #locomotive #NKP765 just after it returned from a passenger run. The second locomotive is the newly restored #NKP358. This might even have been its first time in public since #restoration.

#train #trains #rail #railroad #railway #photography #preservation #HoosierMast

A photograph taken from directly in front of diesel locomotive Nickel Plate Road No. 358 sitting in a maintenance shed. The locomotive dominates the photo. The locomotive features a black and dark yellow color scheme. A few people can be seen at the edges of the photo as well as the roof of the maintenance shed. Several cables and hoses are visible at the front of the locomotive near the coupler.

notjustbikes, 9 months ago to random

My latest video is now live on YouTube.

After 5 years in the Netherlands we still love it here. Here are some examples of the great urbanism we've seen all over the country, even in towns and small cities.

https://youtu.be/ztpcWUqVpIg

TransportationHistorian, 10 months ago to Indiana

Fort Wayne, IN is really interesting and has been making some cool changes over the last few years in #downtown.

This is Columbia Street, which has been closed off to motor vehicles. This intersection has been raised to sidewalk level, forcing drivers to slow down.

Fort Wayne has also brought in rental bikes and scooters, as well as more bike lanes (although they aren't protected) and bike trails.

#urbanism #walkability #pedestrian #urban #strongtowns #FortWayne #Indiana #city #carfree

TransportationHistorian, 10 months ago to Indiana

Got to ride on one of #Indiana Rail Experience's #trains. It was a short #ride, but it was pretty comfortable, and the scenery was beautiful. There were areas where passengers could stand near an opening and look down the side of the #train. Sitting at a table on a train is so much nicer than a cramped car. Indiana Rail Experience runs several #excursion trains throughout the year, which you can check out at indianarailexperience.org.

#rail #railway #railroad #vacation #trip #photo #photography

Several passenger cars are waiting for passengers to board on a hazy day. Two staff members are waiting to assist passengers board the train.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Paul Revere dining car waits for passengers to board on a hazy day.
A zoomed in shot along the side of a passenger train. The rivets in the side of the train are prominent. A railroad crossing is visible just past the end of the train.

TransportationHistorian, 10 months ago to random

I think I'm going to go crazy if I see another sidewalk which just stops for five feet because the city only put in sidewalks to meet standards and didn't even think about someone actually using it.

Two seconds of actual thought would fix this problem.

#urbanism #walkablecities #walkable #walking #strongtowns #pedestrian