The remains of a Dudley, Stourbridge & District electric tramcar at the Black Country Living Museum. It is thought to be that system's no. 36, but this is unconfirmed. 8th October 2016.

So, one of these devices [ as well as ゼルダの伝説 ムジュラの仮面 ] had made its way into my personal inventory.

 

As you can see, the on/off button is now located at the bottom of the new 3DSXL, just below the blue light in the photo. To the left of the on/off switch is where one can find the stencil. The game cartridges are now inserted through the slot, which is also found along the underside to help make room for the new ZL and ZR trigger buttons. The switch to a microSD internal memory card is another transition (just need to figure out where the input is for that thing). Let's not forget the C-stick (a feature that should've been included a long time ago).

 

Features include:

 

Face-tracking 3D

Games leap to life with 'super-stable 3D.' The face-tracking feature uses the system’s inner cameras to adjust images based on your viewing angle, so you can enjoy total immersion in your games.

 

New controls

The C stick brings new control possibilities (like intuitive camera control) to compatible games.

 

And, new ZL and ZR buttons give you more options than ever.

 

Built-in amiibo support

Tap an amiibo™ figure to the near-field communication (NFC) reader on the lower screen to enjoy amiibo features in compatible games.

 

Get bonus items and content, customize your character, and more when you use amiibo figures (like Mario!) with amiibo-compatible games.

 

More power

Improved CPU performance means faster loading times, so you spend more time playing. Many games will look and play better than ever—and several upcoming games will be built from the ground up to take advantage of this power boost.

 

Play even more games

You can still play all Nintendo 3DS games and nearly all games from previous systems such as Nintendo DS and DSi. And, some future titles will be exclusively playable on the New Nintendo 3DS XL.

 

Easy data sharing

You can transfer your photos, music, and other files between a PC and your system’s microSDHC** card via a wireless network. No need to remove the microSDHC card!

 

Better browsing

The new-and-improved Internet browser lets you watch videos and surf the Web with ease. You can even use the ZL/ZR buttons to switch tabs or zoom in with the C stick.

 

Improved camera

Enjoy better results when you take photos in low-light situations.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the horizontal integration facility at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 2:49am launch on March 2, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA image use policy.

On Saturday, October 7, more than 1,700 of Rochester Regional Health’s friends and employees gathered at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center for the system’s signature celebration.

NASA astronauts Eric Boe, Josh Cassada, Suni Williams, Nicole Mann, and Michael Fincke pose for a picture after a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard was rollout out to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test mission, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Mann, Fincke, and Boeing Astronaut Chris Ferguson are assigned to fly on Starliner’s Crew Flight test and Williams and Cassada are assigned to the first operational mission of the spacecraft. The Orbital Flight Test with be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 6:36 a.m. EST launch on Dec. 20, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

youtu.be/CW6XmnLG3_0

 

Postojna Cave (Slovene: Postojnska jama; German: Adelsberger Grotte; Italian: Grotte di Postumia) is a 24,340 m long karst cave system near Postojna, southwestern Slovenia. It is the second-longest cave system in the country (following the Migovec System as well as one of its top tourism sites. The caves were created by the Pivka River.

 

The cave was first described in the 17th century by the pioneer of study of karst phenomena, Johann Weikhard von Valvasor.[4] In 1818, when the cave was being prepared for a visit by Francis I, the first Emperor of the Austria-Hungary, a new area of the cave was discovered accidentally by local Luka Čeč.

 

First tourist guide and electric lighting

In 1819, Archduke Ferdinand visited the caves, this is when the caves became officially known as a tourist destination. Čeč became the first official tourist guide for the caves when the caves were opened to the public. Electric lighting was added in 1884, preceding even Ljubljana, the capital of Carniola, of which the cave was part at the time, and further enhancing the cave system's popularity.

 

Cave rails

In 1872, cave rails were laid along with first cave train for tourists. At first, these were pushed along by the guides themselves, later at the beginning of the 20th century a gas locomotive was introduced.

 

Blackening of the entrance

During World War II, German occupying forces used the cave to store nearly 1,000 barrels of aircraft fuel, which were destroyed in April 1944 by Slovene Partisans. The fire burned for seven days, destroying a large section of the cave and blackening the entrance.

 

After World War II

After 1945, the gas locomotive was replaced by an electric one. About 5.3 kilometres (3.3 mi) of the cave system are open to the public.

 

21st-century tourism

In June 2015 the cave administration reported that cave divers managed to explore a further underwater section of the cave leading towards Planina Cave, thus lengthening the cave system from 20,570 m (67,490 ft) to 24,120 m (79,130 ft). The cave also houses the world’s only underground post office.

Wikipedia

The new Alexander Dennis 'SuperLo' Enviro500 on display at Union Station Bus Terminal. With a lower height, these buses can fit in more of the system's terminals.

Here we go again back to Fifty Years ago this week and starting off with a trip to the Isle of Wight and a visit to Bembridge and Britten-Norman's BN-2 Islander production line where a real mixture was found including 4X-AYC

www.flickr.com/photos/29288836@N00/49304884467/in/photoli...

along with numerous primer painted examples with Class B registration marks and some simply with a construction number only.

There also was their BN-3 Nymph G-AXFB, a foray into the single engine monoplane market that came to naught

 

Back to the mainland and at Gatwick a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer G-APHX was present (see Keith Harper's photo of her:

www.flickr.com/photos/egbj/8297415247/in/photolist-9xuJ65...)

On the 24th of April 1970, Heathrow produced a West German Luftwaffe Hansa Jet 16+06 - a strange looker with their unique forward swept wings

(see Ken Meegan's shot of her now preserved:

www.flickr.com/photos/namcys11/49516838403/in/photolist-2...)

plus an Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 CCCP-65639

 

A day later Pakistan International's Boeing 720 AP-ATQ (recorded incorrectly by me as AP-APQ) - check out Carl Ford's image of her:

(www.flickr.com/photos/53277566@N06/16407342111/in/photoli...) was present along with an Olympic Airways Boeing 707.

Alitalia's DC-8 I-DIWA was also in (see Manuel's vintage photo of her:

www.flickr.com/photos/10264618@N03/2127784514/in/photolis...)

 

A USAF C-47 was seen dropping into Northolt which I found out years later was an HQ USAFE VC-47 0-51116 and apparently 1970 was the last year USAF C-47's were seen in Europe

 

On the 28th April, Belgian Air Force C-119 Flying Boxcar CP-30/OT-CBJ was a nice find while passing through Gatwick and then later, seen passing overhead Heathrow, USAF MAC's Lockheed

C-141A Starlifter 65-9400 routed Clacton-Woodley-Strumble for the USA

Also in at LHR that day were a pair of Scandinavian Airline System's DC-8's LN-MOG and SE-DBB.

 

Czechoslovakian CSA's ILyushin Il-62 OK-ZBC arrived and another aging piston treat was Martinair's lovely old Douglas

DC-6 PH-MAM (see Ken Fielding's great photo of her:

www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding/17013455367/in/photolis...)

and a Yugoslavian Ilyushin IL-18 YU-AIB

 

A day later Dutch MS.760 Paris PH-MSV arrived from Germany on a medical task carrying a donor kidney, yet another PanAm 747 N733PA arrived and last but not least,

West German Luftwaffe's Lockheed Jetstar 11+01 arrived and parking Northside.

 

The latter I managed to get a reasonable photo of courtesy of some fellow ATC colleagues and a BAA Austin Champ:

www.flickr.com/photos/29288836@N00/15094146398/in/photoli...

 

50Y_015

 

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test mission, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Orbital Flight Test with be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 6:36 a.m. EST launch on Dec. 20, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft lands at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA image acquired August 29, 2012

 

Ok, so maybe it's just me. But the superposition of younger craters on older craters (in this case two smaller craters upon the rim of an older crater) can result in landforms that appear to resemble more familiar shapes to human eyes. More generally, the Law of Superposition allows scientists to determine which surface features pre- and postdate others, leading to a better understanding of the geological history of different regions of Mercury's surface.

 

This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 200-meter/pixel morphology base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are imaged in this mode each week.

 

The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MESSENGER acquired 88,746 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is now in a yearlong extended mission, during which plans call for the acquisition of more than 80,000 additional images to support MESSENGER's science goals.

 

Go here to read more about the MESSENGER mission: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/index.html

 

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

 

NASA image use policy.

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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Editor's Note: I'm posting this archive image from 2008 in honor of the Mercury MESSENGER mission -- this image is from one of three "fly-bys" that MESSENGER used for a gravity assist. We should start seeing some new images starting around April 4.

 

On Mar. 17, 2011, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft successfully achieved orbit around Mercury. This marks the first time a spacecraft has accomplished this engineering and scientific milestone at our solar system's innermost planet.

 

APL engineers will be focused on ensuring the spacecraft’s systems are all working well in Mercury’s harsh thermal environment. Starting on Mar. 23, the instruments will be turned on and checked out, and on Apr. 4 the mission's primary science phase will begin.

 

Congratulations, MESSENGER! Hope to have some great images to post in the coming year.

   

MESSENGER successfully flew by Mercury on Oct. 6, 2008, using the planet's gravity to alter the probe’s path and help put it on track to become, in March 2011, the first spacecraft ever to orbit the innermost planet in the solar system. This image, acquired about 89 minutes before the craft’s closest approach to Mercury, resembles the optical navigation images taken leading up to the flyby. The resolution of this image is slightly better than that obtained by the final optical navigation image set, and the surface visible is newly imaged terrain that was not previously seen by either Mariner 10 or during MESSENGER’s first flyby. However, the added resolution is not the main scientific advancement that will be provided by this image. This WAC image is one of 11 viewed through different narrow-band color filters, the set of which will enable detailed color studies of this newly imaged area. In addition, the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) acquired a high-resolution mosaic of most of this thin crescent view of Mercury at a resolution better than 0.5 kilometers/pixel (0.3 miles/pixel) that will enable the MESSENGER team to explore this newly imaged region of Mercury’s surface in more detail.

 

Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

 

Original image:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/multimedia/flyby2_20...

CSX GE B30-7 5541 was presenting itself as the Pride of the Fleet as it worked Baltimore's Bayview yard on a dingy day in 1992.

 

Built for Chessie System's Chesapeake & Ohio 8259 in 1979, chances are that it never saw another paint booth after it emerged from Erie during the Carter Administration.

 

It eventually did receive CSX's "Bright Future" YN2 paint, which it carried to the scrapyard.

64 Megapixel Medium Format

3 frames per second

 

official site:

us.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-S/Leica-S-System?/s...

Makemake, second brightest dwarf planet of the Kuiper belt, has a moon. Nicknamed MK2, Makemake's moon reflects sunlight with a charcoal-dark surface, about 1,300 times fainter than its parent body. Still, it was spotted in Hubble Space Telescope observations intended to search for faint companions with the same technique used to find the small satellites of Pluto. Just as for Pluto and its satellites, further observations of Makemake and orbiting moon will measure the system's mass and density and allow a broader understanding of the distant worlds. About 160 kilometers (100 miles) across compared to Makemake's 1,400 kilometer diameter, MK2's relative size and contrast are shown in this artist's vision. An imagined scene of an unexplored frontier of the Solar System, it looks back from a spacecraft's vantage as the dim Sun shines along the Milky Way. Of course, the Sun is over 50 times farther from Makemake than it is from planet Earth. via NASA ift.tt/26DRj0x

RD21597c(vid). In October 2003 I went on a trip to the Harzer Schmalspurbahn, a metre gauge network in the Harz Mountains which are situated in the former East Germany. It was organised by Ffestiniog Travel, the Travel Agency arm of the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway in Porthmadog, North Wales.

 

On the first day we had the exclusive use of a vintage diesel railcar to take us to Nordhausen where we would be based for the rest of the weekend; this video clip from the footage I shot that day shows the railcar emerging from the system’s only tunnel and then one of the 2-10-2 tank engines departing from the station at Drei Annen Hohne bound for Wernigerode.

 

Thursday, 16th October, 2003. Copyright © 2020 Ron Fisher.

The MATA Trolley is a heritage streetcar transit system in Memphis, Tennessee. It began operating on April 29, 1993. Service was suspended in June 2014, following fires on two cars. After nearly four years and repeated postponements, the reopening of the Main Street Line took place on April 30, 2018, while the system's two other lines remained suspended (still as of 2024), but with reopening of both planned. However, all service was suspended again in August 2024 in response to a recommendation by the state department of transportation after an issue arose with braking of the trolley cars. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 365,400.

 

The last line of Memphis’ original streetcar network closed on June 15, 1947.

 

Since opening the system has been extended twice and by 2004 consisted of three lines, operated by the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). These lines are the Main Street Line, the Riverfront Loop and the Madison Avenue Line; however, service on the last two lines remains indefinitely suspended in May 2024.

Boeing and NASA teams arrive at Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA image captured March 29, 2011

 

Early this morning, at 5:20 am EDT, MESSENGER captured this historic image of Mercury. This image is the first ever obtained from a spacecraft in orbit about the Solar System's innermost planet. Over the subsequent six hours, MESSENGER acquired an additional 363 images before downlinking some of the data to Earth. The MESSENGER team is currently looking over the newly returned data, which are still continuing to come down.

 

The dominant rayed crater in the upper portion of the image is Debussy. The smaller crater Matabei with its unusual dark rays is visible to the west of Debussy. The bottom portion of this image is near Mercury's south pole and includes a region of Mercury's surface not previously seen by spacecraft.

 

Over the next three days, MESSENGER will acquire 1185 additional images in support of MDIS commissioning-phase activities. The year-long primary science phase of the mission will begin on April 4, and the orbital observation plan calls for MDIS to acquire more than 75,000 images in support of MESSENGER's science goals.

 

On March 17, 2011 (March 18, 2011, UTC), MESSENGER became the first spacecraft to orbit the planet Mercury. The mission is currently in its commissioning phase, during which spacecraft and instrument performance are verified through a series of specially designed checkout activities. In the course of the one-year primary mission, the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation will unravel the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the science questions that the MESSENGER mission has set out to answer.

 

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

 

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

 

To learn more about MESSENGER go to: messenger.jhuapl.edu/

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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We are all made of tiny balls — trillions upon trillions of chondrules that formed before the planets.

 

“In our understanding of how Earth came to be, there may be nothing as important as the mystery of the chondrule." — SciAm March 2021

 

Meteorite by Tim Gregory is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. It describes in sculpted prose how scientists have explored the mysteries of our solar system’s formation and dated the age of the Earth using the ancient time capsules that routinely rain on Earth — meteorites. Here are some of my favorite passages:

 

“Asteroids are not fragments of a shattered planet; they are fragments that never formed a planet in the first place.” (49)

 

“Billowing through the protoplanetary disc as a mass of brightly glowing droplets of lava, clouds of freshly sintered chondrule grains swarmed for five million years. Trillions upon trillions of chondrules, in numbers that far exceed the number of stars in the observable Universe, spiraled as gravitational vortices, and coalesced to build the asteroids and the planets. What a sight it must have been.” (p.140)

 

"The CAIs and chondrules (the circular grains) beautifully preserve pieces of cosmic sediment that formed in the collapsing nebula of our Solar System. The white CAIs are crystals formed directly from the nebular gas; they would resemble snowflakes growing out of thin air. They hold an exotic blend of oxygen isotopes unknown on Earth. Our sun has the exact same blend of oxygen isotopes. The CAIs formed next to the sun at 1,400°F like primordial white Sun snow. Stellar gusts from the surface of the sun blew the CAIs far outward to the colder distal regions of the protoplanetary disc. Scientist Sorby deduced their origin and called them “drops of fiery rain” in 1877. These small spheres formed separately over 5 million years, and they agglomerated over time."

 

"Some of the grains come from other solar systems that popped like supernova firecrackers in our midst. The diamond and silicon carbide grains “crystallized around other stars. They are pieces of bona fide stardust. Some pre-date the solar system by over three billion years! Tiny pieces of rock that are seven billion years old! The mind boggles. We call these most remarkable motes of cosmic sediment ‘pre-solar’ grains.” (p.179)

 

“Draped like glowing tapestries, the ejecta from a supernova explosion decorate the ocean of interstellar space.” (161)

 

“There is an epic written inside every piece of meteorite.” (130)

 

P.S. The oldest rock ever dated is the CAI called “SJ101” – 4.567 billion years old!

 

Here are my photos of my chondrites, including some 5x macro zooms from my collection to bring it to life. And here are the author's favorite meteorite photos and thin slices. His book is available at Amazon

 

And from the current SciAm, March 2021:

“Understanding chondrule formation could reveal our solar system’s earliest moments. And now, with fresh or prospective results from missions such as Hayabusa2 as well as other avenues of research, chondrule-obsessed scientists are on the cusp of answering the long-standing question of where they—and perhaps we—came from. “They are stained- glass windows to the earliest time period of the solar system,” says Harold Connolly, a cosmochemist and chondrule expert at Rowan University. “They are witnesses to processes that operated in the early solar system. The question is, What did they witness?”

 

For chondrules to form, dust must have been heated to temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees°C by some process in the early solar system, before rapidly cooling over just days or even hours. This process, whatever it was, most likely occurred throughout the solar system; that seems to be the only way to account for the large abundance of chondrules.

 

Hayabusa2 is not the only sample-return mission with extraterrestrial gifts in store for chondrule scientists. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to re- turn to Earth in September 2023 with recently acquired samples of another asteroid, called Bennu, that are expected to be chondrule-rich.”

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rollout out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test mission, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Orbital Flight Test with be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 6:36 a.m. EST launch on Dec. 20, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

A potent storm system brings strong winds to the Bay Area. High wind warnings were in effect for many Bay Area locations. This is one of the strongest southerly winds I've seen since at least 2010 for San Jose, CA. Talk about so many storms this month! This was storm #3, the last storm of this 2nd storm series/'atmospheric river' event this month...

 

This stormy period was forecast to occur in a time period of January 18-23, 2017. An atmospheric river had already drenched the state earlier this month. A series of 3 strong storms were set to sweep across the state beginning Wednesday and continuing thru next Monday, dropping widespread heavy rainfall and bringing strong gusty southerly winds to nearly the entire state...

 

(Footage filmed early Sunday morning, January 22, 2017)

 

Weather scenario/forecast:

Bay Area residents were bracing for the worst and most powerful storm of this storm series... As the Bay Area endures its wettest January in 15 years, another potent winter storm with significant rainfall and high winds was expected to hit the region late Saturday night into early Sunday. The system's strong cold front was to push thru the area in the time period, resulting in strong to very strong southerly winds ahead of and along with the frontal passage. Wind speeds in excess of 40-50 mph were possible with gusts likely exceeding 60+ mph! The strongest winds were likely to be along the coast and in higher elevations. However, the strong winds were felt throughout the entire Bay Area. By Sunday, spotty showers were in the forecast across the region that can later develop into thunderstorms in the afternoon. The spotty showers and t-storms were to persist into Monday, eventually drying out by Tuesday or so.

Metrocars 4006 and 4059 approach Percy Main, working 09.25 St. James - Pelaw (train 127).

 

Between 12th September and 3rd December 2022 (inclusive) no trains were running between Pelaw and South Shields, while "Metro Flow" work was being undertaken to double the system's remaining single track sections by taking over the adjacent Network Rail freight line to Jarrow Oil Terminal. In addition, on this day no trains were running between Pelaw and South Hylton as a result of industrial action by the RMT union, which meant the relevant workstation at Tyneside signalling centre was not staffed.

 

When the Tyne and Wear Metro first opened, yellow was a very dominant colour. While most metalwork and woodwork at stations was painted dark brown, wall panels were off-white (pale cream) with a yellow band, and doors and other fancy bits were yellow. Station signs were also yellow (with black lettering). Other colours subsequently replaced the dark brown at many locations, although the Sunderland extension abandoned the use of yellow and off-white, opting for pastel and brighter versions of a number of different colours for the panelling.

 

Almost thirty years after the first section opened, new station colours began to appear at refurbished stations (so none on the Sunderland line), still using off-white (pale cream) for panels but now painting things black and using black station signs (with white lettering, albeit with the addition of the Metro logo as a yellow square). Percy Main station gained new shelters as part of its refurbishment, and illustrates very well how the black and off-white scheme was applied to the modern stations. Yellow is still Nexus's "Metro" colour, however (red is used for buses, blue for the Shields Ferry, and lilac for National Rail). The railway here is situated on an embankment, and when this section of line was converted to Metro operation (between August 1980 and November 1982) the original station buildings were demolished and basic replacement shelters (and steps and ramps as necessary) were built - unlike most on the north side of the North Tyne Loop, which retained their buildings.

 

This was a weekend visit to the north-east for a family get-together for a significant birthday. Unbroken sunshine was forecast for the Saturday morning (when I had nothing planned), but the RMT strike meant very few mainline trains were running - so again I turned my attention to the Metro, where the first of the replacement trains for the original units is now on test at the manufacturer's test facility.

 

To see my non-transport pictures, visit www.flickr.com/photos/137275498@N03/.

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken, right, who are assigned to fly on the crewed Demo-2 mission, watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft on the Demo-1 mission from firing room four of the Launch Control Center, Saturday, March 2, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Thursday, July 29, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 2:53 p.m. EDT Friday, July 30, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

The Backworth system’s loco-shed was situated alongside Eccles colliery. On 25th June 1971, Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Austerity 0-6-0 saddle tank '49' (W/No.7098 built in 1943) and Hunslet Austerity No.48 (W/No.2864 built in 1943) are in residence. By this time the shed’s requirement was to provide four locos in steam daily, this being reduced to just two towards the end of steam traction on the remnants of the once extensive system. Backworth had been one of the two last outposts of steam traction in the North East, but in January 1976 diesels were introduced and the steam locos were put into store to await scrapping or preservation. In 1977, traffic to Weetslade coal preparation plant ended and the line to Burradon was subsequently lifted. The line to Seghill disposal point was also abandoned at this time and stone tipping then took place in a field at the start of the line to Burradon, the track being slewed to enable this to commence. The end was now in sight and Eccles colliery, the last of the highly productive former Backworth Coal Company’s pits to be worked, closed in May 1980, with all rail traffic ceasing on 17 July 1980. This brought not only an end to the Backworth Railway but also to deep mining in the Backworth area, after an unbroken history of more than 167 years.

 

© Gordon Edgar collection - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

In the late 1970s the Mikoyan OKB began development of a hypersonic high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Designated "Izdeliye 301" (also known as 3.01), the machine had an unusual design, combining a tailless layout with variable geometry wings. The two engines fueled by kerosene were located side by side above the rear fuselage, with the single vertical fin raising above them, not unlike the Tu-22 “Blinder” bomber of that time, but also reminiscent of the US-American SR-71 Mach 3 reconnaissance aircraft.

 

Only few and rather corny information leaked into the West, and the 301 was believed not only to act as a reconnaissance plane , it was also believed to have (nuclear) bombing capabilities. Despite wind tunnel testing with models, no hardware of the 301 was ever produced - aven though the aircraft could have become a basis for a long-range interceptor that would replace by time the PVO's Tupolew Tu-28P (ASCC code "Fiddler"), a large aircraft armed solely with missiles.

 

Despite limitations, the Tu-28P served well in its role, but the concept of a very fast interceptor aircraft, lingered on, since the Soviet Union had large areas to defend against aerial intruders, esp. from the North and the East. High speed, coupled with long range and the ability to intercept an incoming target at long distances independently from ground guidance had high priority for the Soviet Air Defence Forces. Even though no official requirement was issued, the concept of Izdeliye 301 from the Seventies was eventually developed further into the fixed-wing "Izdeliye 701" ultra-long-range high-altitude interceptor in the 1980ies.

 

The impulse for this new approach came when Oleg S. Samoylovich joined the Mikoyan OKB after having worked at Suchoi OKB on the T-60S missile carrier project. Similar in overall design to the former 301, the 701 was primarily intended as a kind of successor for the MiG-31 Foxhound for the 21st century, which just had completed flight tests and was about to enter PVO's front line units.

 

Being based on a long range cruise missile carrier, the 701 would have been a huge plane, featuring a length of 30-31m, a wing span of 19m (featuring a highly swept double delta wing) and having a maximum TOW of 70 tons! Target performance figures included a top speed of 2.500km/h, a cruising speed of 2.100km/h at 17.000m and an effective range of 7.000km in supersonic or 11.000km in subsonic mode. Eventually, the 701 program was mothballed, too, being too ambitious and expensive for a specialized development that could also have been a fighter version of the Tu-22 bomber!

 

Anyway, while the MiG-31 was successfully introduced in 1979 and had evolved in into a capable long-range interceptor with a top speed of more than Mach 3 (limited to Mach 2.8 in order to protect the aircraft's structural integrity), MiG OKB decided in 1984 to take further action and to develop a next-generation technology demonstrator, knowing that even the formidable "Foxhound" was only an interim solution on the way to a true "Four plus" of even a 6th generation fighter. Other new threats like low-flying cruise missiles, the USAF's "Project Pluto" or the assumed SR-71 Mach 5 successor “Aurora” kept Soviet military officials on the edge of their seats, too.

 

Main objective was to expand the Foxhound's state-of the-art performance, and coiple it with modern features like aerodynamic instability, supercruise, stealth features and further development potential.

 

The aircraft's core mission objectives comprised:

- Provide strategic air defense and surveillance in areas not covered by ground-based air defense systems (incl. guidance of other aircraft with less sophisticated avionics)

- Top speed of Mach 3.2 or more in a dash and cruise at Mach 3.0 for prolonged periods

- Long range/high speed interception of airspace intruders of any kind, including low flying cruise missiles, UAVs and helicopters

- Intercept cruise missiles and their launch aircraft from sea level up to 30.000m altitude by reaching missile launch range in the lowest possible time after departing the loiter area

 

Because funding was scarce and no official GOR had been issued, the project was taken on as a private venture. The new project was internally known as "Izdeliye 710" or "71.0". It was based on both 301 and 701 layout ideas and the wind tunnel experiences with their unusual layouts, as well as Oleg Samoylovich's experience with the Suchoi T-4 Mach 3 bomber project and the T-60S.

 

"Izdeliye 710" was from the start intended only as a proof-of-concept prototype, yet fully functional. It would also incorporate new technologies like heat-resistant ceramics against kinetic heating at prolonged high speeds (the airframe had to resist temperatures of 300°C/570°F and more for considerable periods), but with potential for future development into a full-fledged interceptor, penetrator and reconnaissance aircraft.

 

Overall, “Izdeliye 710" looked like a shrinked version of a mix of both former MiG OKB 301 and 701 designs, limited to the MiG-31's weight class of about 40 tons TOW. Compared with the former designs, the airframe received an aerodynamically more refined, partly blended, slender fuselage that also incorporated mild stealth features like a “clean” underside, softened contours and partly shielded air intakes. Structurally, the airframe's speed limit was set at Mach 3.8.

 

From the earlier 301 design,the plane retained the variable geometry wing. Despite the system's complexity and weight, this solution was deemed to be the best approach for a combination of a high continuous top speed, extended loiter time in the mission’s patrol areas and good performance on improvised airfields. Minimum sweep was a mere 10°, while, fully swept at 68°, the wings blended into the LERXes. Additional lift was created through the fuselage shape itself, so that aerodynamic surfaces and therefore drag could be reduced.

 

Pilot and radar operator sat in tandem under a common canopy with rather limited sight. The cockpit was equipped with a modern glass cockpit with LCD screens. The aircraft’s two engines were, again, placed in a large, mutual nacelle on the upper rear fuselage, fed by large air intakes with two-dimensional vertical ramps and a carefully modulated airflow over the aircraft’s dorsal area.

 

Initially, the 71.0 was to be powered by a pair of Soloviev D-30F6 afterburning turbofans with a dry thrust of 93 kN (20,900 lbf) each, and with 152 kN (34,172 lbf) with full afterburner. These were the same engines that powered the MiG-31, but there were high hopes for the Kolesov NK-101 engine: a variable bypass engine with a maximum thrust in the 200kN range, at the time of the 71.0's design undergoing bench tests and originally developed for the advanced Suchoj T-4MS strike aircraft.

With the D-30F6, the 71.0 was expected to reach Mach 3.2 (making the aircraft capable of effectively intercepting the SR-71), but the NK-101 would offer in pure jet mode a top speed in excess of Mach 3.5 and also improve range and especially loiter time when running as a subsonic turbofan engine.

 

A single fin with an all-moving top and an additional deep rudder at its base was placed on top of the engine nacelle. Additional maneuverability at lower speed was achieved by retractable, all-moving foreplanes, stowed in narrow slits under the cockpit. Longitudinal stability at high speed was improved through deflectable stabilizers: these were kept horizontal for take-off and added to the overall lift, but they could be folded down by up to 60° in flight, acting additionally as stabilizer strakes.

 

Due to the aircraft’s slender shape and unique proportions, the 71.0 quickly received the unofficial nickname "жура́вль" (‘Zhurávl' = Crane). The aircaft’s stalky impression was emphasized even more through its unusual landing gear arrangement: Due to the limited internal space for the main landing gear wells between the weapons bay, the wing folding mechanisms and the engine nacelle, MiG OKB decided to incorporate a bicycle landing gear, normally a trademark of Yakovlew OKB designs, but a conventional landing gear could simply not be mounted, or its construction would have become much too heavy and complex.

 

In order to facilitate operations from improvised airfields and on snow the landing gear featured twin front wheels on a conventional strut and a single four wheel bogie as main wheels. Smaller, single stabilizer wheels were mounted on outriggers that retracted into slender fairings at the wings’ fixed section trailing edge, reminiscent of early Tupolev designs.

 

All standard air-to-air weaponry, as well as fuel, was to be carried internally. Main armament would be the K-100 missile (in service eventually designated R-100), stored in a large weapons bay behind the cockpit on a rotary mount. The K-100 had been under development at that time at NPO Novator, internally coded ‘Izdeliye 172’. The K-100 missile was an impressive weapon, and specifically designed to attack vital and heavily defended aerial targets like NATO’s AWACS aircraft at BVR distance.

 

Being 15’ (4.57 m) long and weighing 1.370 lb (620 kg), this huge ultra-long-range weapon had a maximum range of 250 mi (400 km) in a cruise/glide profile and attained a speed of Mach 6 with its solid rocket engine. This range could be boosted even further with a pair of jettisonable ramjets in tubular pods on the missile’s flanks for another 60 mi (100 km). The missile could attack targets ranging in altitude between 15 – 25,000 meters.

 

The weapon would initially be allocated to a specified target through the launch aircraft’s on-board radar and sent via inertial guidance into the target’s direction. Closing in, the K-100’s Agat 9B-1388 active seeker would identify the target, lock on, and independently attack it, also in coordination with other K-100’s shot at the same target, so that the attack would be coordinated in time and approach directions in order to overload defense and ensure a hit.

 

The 71.0’s internal mount could hold four of these large missiles, or, alternatively, the same number of the MiG-31’s R-33 AAMs. The mount also had a slot for the storage of additional mid- and short-range missiles for self-defense, e .g. three R-60 or two R-73 AAMs. An internal gun was not considered to be necessary, since the 71.0 or potential derivatives would fight their targets at very long distances and rather rely on a "hit-and-run" tactic, sacrificing dogfight capabilities for long loitering time in stand-by mode, high approach speed and outstanding acceleration and altitude performance.

 

Anyway, provisions were made to carry a Gsh-301-250 gun pod on a retractable hardpoint in the weapons bay instead of a K-100. Alternatively, such pods could be carried externally on four optional wing root pylons, which were primarily intended for PTB-1500 or PTB-3000 drop tanks, or further missiles - theoretically, a maximum of ten K-100 missiles could be carried, plus a pair of short-range AAMs.

 

Additionally, a "buddy-to-buffy" IFR set with a retractable drogue (probably the same system as used on the Su-24) was tested (71.2 was outfitted with a retractable refuelling probe in front of the cockpit), as well as the carriage of simple iron bombs or nuclear stores, to be delivered from very high altitudes. Several pallets with cameras and sensors (e .g. a high resolution SLAR) were also envisioned, which could easily replace the missile mounts and the folding weapon bay covers for recce missions.

 

Since there had been little official support for the project, work on the 710 up to the hardware stage made only little progress, since the MiG-31 already filled the long-range interceptor role in a sufficient fashion and offered further development potential.

A wooden mockup of the cockpit section was presented to PVO and VVS officials in 1989, and airframe work (including tests with composite materials on structural parts, including ceramic tiles for leading edges) were undertaken throughout 1990 and 1991, including test rigs for the engine nacelle and the swing wing mechanism.

 

Eventually, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 suddenly stopped most of the project work, after two prototype airframes had been completed. Their internal designations were Izdeliye 71.1 and 71.2, respectively. It took a while until the political situation as well as the ex-Soviet Air Force’s status were settled, and work on Izdeliye 710 resumed at a slow pace.

 

After taking two years to be completed, 71.1 eventually made its roll-out and maiden flight in summer 1994, just when MiG-31 production had ended. MiG OKB still had high hopes in this aircraft, since the MiG-31 would have to be replaced in the next couple of years and "Izdeliye 710" was just in time for the potential procurement process. The first prototype wore a striking all-white livery, with dark grey ceramic tiles on the wings’ leading edges standing out prominently – in this guise and with its futuristic lines the slender aircraft reminded a lot of the American Space Shuttle.

 

71.1 was primarily intended for engine and flight tests (esp. for the eagerly awaited NK-101 engines), as well as for the development of the envisioned ramjet propulsion system for full-scale production and further development of Izdeliye 710 into a Mach 3+ interceptor. No mission avionics were initially fitted to this plane, but it carried a comprehensive test equipment suite and ballast.

 

Its sister ship 71.2 flew for the first time in late 1994, wearing a more unpretentious grey/bare metal livery. This plane was earmarked for avionics development and weapons integration, especially as a test bed for the K-100 missile, which shared Izdeliye 710’s fate of being a leftover Soviet project with an uncertain future and an even more corny funding outlook.

 

Anyway, aircraft 71.2 was from the start equipped with a complete RP-31 ('Zaslon-M') weapon control system, which had been under development at that time as an upgrade for the Russian MiG-31 fleet being part of the radar’s development program secured financial support from the government and allowed the flight tests to continue. The RP-31 possessed a maximum detection range of 400 km (250 mi) against airliner-sized targets at high altitude or 200 km against fighter-sized targets; the typical width of detection along the front was given as 225 km. The system could track 24 airborne targets at one time at a range of 120 km, 6 of which could be simultaneously attacked with missiles.

 

With these capabilities the RP-31 suite could, coupled with an appropriate carrier airframe, fulfil the originally intended airspace control function and would render a dedicated and highly vulnerable airspace control aircraft (like the Beriev A-50 derivative of the Il-76 transport) more or less obsolete. A group of four aircraft equipped with the 'Zaslon-M' suite would be able to permanently control an area of airspace across a total length of 800–900 km, while having ultra-long range weapons at hand to counter any intrusion into airspace with a quicker reaction time than any ground-based fighter on QRA duty. The 71.0, outfitted with the RP-31/K-100 system, would have posed a serious threat to any aggressor.

 

In March 1995 both prototypes were eventually transferred to the Kerchenskaya Guards Air Base at Savasleyka in the Oblast Vladimir, 300 km east of Mocsow, where they received tactical codes of '11 Blue' and '12 Blue'. Besides the basic test program and the RP-31/K-100 system tests, both machines were directly evaluated against the MiG-31 and Su-27 fighters by the Air Force's 4th TsBPi PLS, based at the same site.

 

Both aircraft exceeded expectations, but also fell short in certain aspects. The 71.0’s calculated top speed of Mach 3.2 was achieved during the tests with a top speed of 3,394 km/h (2.108 mph) at 21,000 m (69.000 ft). Top speed at sea level was confirmed at 1.200 km/h (745 mph) indicated airspeed.

Combat radius with full weapon load and internal fuel only was limited to 1,450 km (900 mi) at Mach 0.8 and at an altitude of 10,000 m (33,000 ft), though, and it sank to a mere 720 km (450 mi) at Mach 2.35 and at an altitude of 18,000 m (59,000 ft). Combat range with 4x K-100 internally and 2 drop tanks was settled at 3,000 km (1,860 mi), rising to 5,400 km (3,360 mi) with one in-flight refueling, tested with the 71.2. Endurance at altitude was only slightly above 3 hours, though. Service ceiling was 22,800 m (74,680 ft), 2.000 m higher than the MiG-31.

 

While these figures were impressive, Soviet officials were not truly convinced: they did not show a significant improvement over the simpler MiG-31. MiG OKB tried to persuade the government into more flight tests and begged for access to the NK-101, but the Soviet Union's collapse halted this project, too, so that both Izdeliye 710 had to keep the Soloviev D-30F6.

 

Little is known about the Izdeliye 710 project’s progress or further developments. The initial tests lasted until at least 1997, and obviously the updated MiG-31M received official favor instead of a completely new aircraft. The K-100 was also dropped, since the R-33 missile and later its R-37 derivative sufficiently performed in the long-range aerial strike role.

 

Development on the aircraft as such seemed to have stopped with the advent of modernized Su-27 derivatives and the PAK FA project, resulting in the Suchoi T-50 prototype. Unconfirmed reports suggest that one of the prototypes (probably 71.1) was used in the development of the N014 Pulse-Doppler radar with a passive electronically scanned array antenna in the wake of the MFI program. The N014 was designed with a range of 420 km, detection target of 250km to 1m and able to track 40 targets while able to shoot against 20.

 

Most interestingly, Izdeliye 710 was never officially presented to the public, but NATO became aware of its development through satellite pictures in the early Nineties and the aircraft consequently received the ASCC reporting codename "Fastback".

 

Until today, only the two prototypes have been known to exist, and it is assumed – had the type entered service – that the long-range fighter had received the official designation "MiG-41".

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 (Pilot, weapon system officer)

Length (incl. pitot): 93 ft 10 in (28.66 m)

Wingspan:

- minimum 10° sweep: 69 ft 4 in (21.16 m)

- maximum 68° sweep: 48 ft 9 in (14,88 m)

Height: 23 ft 1 1/2 in (7,06 m )

Wing area: 1008.9 ft² (90.8 m²)

Weight: 88.151 lbs (39.986 kg)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed:

- Mach 3.2 (2.050 mph (3.300 km/h) at height

- 995 mph (1.600 km/h) supercruise speed at 36,000 ft (11,000 m)

- 915 mph (1.470 km/h) at sea level

Range: 3.705 miles (5.955 km) with internal fuel

Service ceiling: 75.000 ft (22.500 m)

Rate of climb: 31.000 ft/min (155 m/s)

 

Engine:

2x Soloviev D-30F6 afterburning turbofans with a dry thrust of 93 kN (20,900 lbf) each

and with 152 kN (34,172 lbf) with full afterburner.

 

Armament:

Internal weapons bay, main armament comprises a flexible missile load; basic ordnance of 4x K-100 ultra long range AAMs plus 2x R-73 short-range AAMs: other types like the R-27, R-33, R-60 and R-77 have been carried and tested, too, as well as podded guns on internal and external mounts. Alternatively, the weapon bay can hold various sensor pallets.

Four hardpoints under the wing roots, the outer pair “wet” for drop tanks of up to 3.000 l capacity, ECM pods or a buddy-buddy refueling drogue system. Maximum payload mass is 9000 kg.

  

The kit and its assembly

The second entry for the 2017 “Soviet” Group Build at whatifmodelers.com – a true Frankenstein creation, based on the scarce information about the real (but never realized) MiG 301 and 701 projects, the Suchoj T-60S, as well as some vague design sketches you can find online and in literature.

This one had been on my project list for years and I already had donor kits stashed away – but the sheer size (where will I leave it once done…?) and potential complexity kept me from tackling it.

 

The whole thing was an ambitious project and just the unique layout with a massive engine nacelle on top of the slender fuselage instead of an all-in-one design makes these aircraft an interesting topic to build. The GB was a good motivator.

 

“My” fictional interpretation of the MiG concepts is mainly based on a Dragon B-1B in 1:144 scale (fuselage, wings), a PM Model Su-15 two seater (donating the nose section and the cockpit, as well as wing parts for the fin) and a Kangnam MiG-31 (for the engine pod and some small parts). Another major ingredient is a pair of horizontal stabilizers from a 1:72 Hasegawa A-5 Vigilante.

 

Fitting the cockpit section took some major surgery and even more putty to blend the parts smoothly together. Another major surgical area was the tail; the "engine box" came to be rather straightforward, using the complete rear fuselage section from the MiG-31 and adding the intakes form the same kit, but mounted horizontally with a vertical splitter.

 

Blending the thing to the cut-away tail section of the B-1 was quite a task, though, since I not only wanted to add the element to the fuselage, but rather make it look a bit 'organic'. More than putty was necessary, I also had to made some cuts and transplantations. And after six PSR rounds I stopped counting…

 

The landing gear was built from scratch – the front wheel comes mostly from the MiG-31 kit. The central bogie and its massive leg come from a VEB Plasticart 1:100 Tu-20/95 bomber, plus some additional struts. The outriggers are leftover landing gear struts from a Hobby Boss Fw 190, mated with wheels which I believe come from a 1:200 VEB Plasticart kit, an An-24. Not certain, though. The fairings are slender MiG-21 drop tanks blended into the wing training edge. For the whole landing gear, the covers were improvised with styrene sheet, parts from a plastic straw(!) or leftover bits from the B-1B.

 

The main landing gear well was well as the weapons’ bay themselves were cut into the B-1B underside and an interior scratched from sheet and various leftover materials – I tried to maximize their space while still leaving enough room for the B-1B kit’s internal VG mechanism.

The large missiles (two were visible fitted and the rotary launcher just visibly hinted at) are, in fact, AGM-78 ‘Standard’ ARMs in a fantasy guise. They look pretty Soviet, though, like big brothers of the already not small R-33 missiles from the MiG-31.

 

While not in the focus of attention, the cockpit interior is completely new, too – OOB, the Su-15 cockpit only has a floor and rather stubby seats, under a massive single piece canopy. On top of the front wheel well (from a Hasegawa F-4) I added a new floor and added side consoles, scratched from styrene sheet. F-4 dashboards improve the decoration, and I added a pair of Soviet election seats from the scrap box – IIRC left over from two KP MiG-19 kits.

The canopy was taken OOB, I just cut it into five parts for open display. The material’s thickness does not look too bad on this aircraft – after all, it would need a rather sturdy construction when flying at Mach 3+ and withstanding the respective pressures and temperatures.

  

Painting

As a pure whif, I was free to use a weirdo design - but I rejected this idea quickly. I did not want a garish splinter scheme or a bright “Greenbottle Fly” Su-27 finish.

With the strange layout of the aircraft, the prototype idea was soon settled – and Soviet prototypes tend to look very utilitarian and lusterless, might even be left in grey. Consequently, I adapted a kind of bare look for this one, inspired by the rather shaggy Soviet Tu-22 “Blinder” bombers which carried a mix of bare metal and white and grey panels. With additional black leading edges on the aerodynamic surfaces, this would create a special/provisional but still purposeful look.

 

For the painting, I used a mix of several metallizer tones from ModelMaster and Humbrol (including Steel, Magnesium, Titanium, as well as matt and polished aluminum, and some Gun Metal and Exhaust around the engine nozzles, partly mixed with a bit of blue) and opaque tones (Humbrol 147 and 127). The “scheme” evolved panel-wise and step by step. The black leading edges were an interim addition, coming as things evolved, and they were painted first with black acrylic paint as a rough foundation and later trimmed with generic black decal stripes (from TL Modellbau). A very convenient and clean solution!

 

The radomes on nose and tail and other di-electric panels became dark grey (Humbrol 125). The cockpit tub was painted with Soviet Cockpit Teal (from ModelMaster), while the cockpit opening and canopy frames were kept in a more modest medium grey (Revell 57). On the outside of the cabin windows, a fat, deep yellow sealant frame (Humbrol 93, actually “Sand”) was added.

 

The weapon bay was painted in a yellow-ish primer tone (seen on pics of Tu-160 bombers) while the landing gear wells received a mix of gold and sand; the struts were painted in a mixed color, too, made of Humbrol 56 (Aluminum) and 34 (Flat White). The green wheel discs (Humbrol 131), a typical Soviet detail, stand out well from the rather subdued but not boring aircraft, and they make a nice contrast to the red Stars and the blue tactical code – the only major markings, besides a pair of MiG OKB logos under the cockpit.

 

Decals were puzzled together from various sheets, and I also added a lot of stencils for a more technical look. In order to enhance the prototype look further I added some photo calibration markings on the nose and the tail, made from scratch.

  

A massive kitbashing project that I had pushed away for years - but I am happy that I finally tackled it, and the result looks spectacular. The "Firefox" similarity was not intended, but this beast really looks like a movie prop - and who knwos if the Firefox was not inspired by the same projects (the MiG 301 and 701) as my kitbash model?

The background info is a bit lengthy, but there's some good background info concerning the aforementioned projects, and this aircraft - as a weapon system - would have played a very special and complex role, so a lot of explanations are worthwhile - also in order to emphasize that I di not simply try to glue some model parts together, but rather try to spin real world ideas further.

 

Mighty bird!

Mid-fifties Soviet architecture surface vestibule of metro station Ploshchad Vosstaniya on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line (Line 1), Ploshchad Vosstaniya, Saint Petersburg, Russia

 

Some background information:

 

The Saint Petersburg Metro is the underground railway system of the city of Saint Petersburg. It has been open since 15th November 1955. Formerly known as the V.I. Lenin Order of Lenin Leningrad Metropoliten, the system exhibits many typical Soviet designs and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world, maybe only excelled by the Moscow Metro. Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is also one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the deepest by the average depth of all the stations. The system's deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, is located 86 metres below ground. Serving 2.1 million passengers daily (resp. 763.1 million passengers per year), the Saint Petersburg Metro is the 19th busiest metro system in the world.

 

Ploshchad Vosstaniya is a metro station on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line of Saint Petersburg Metro. It is one of the system's original stations, opening on 15th November 1955. It is a deep underground pylon station at 58 metres (190 feet) depth. The main surface vestibule is situated on Ploshchad Vosstaniya (in English: "Uprising Square"), which gives its name to the station. The metro station Ploshchad Vosstaniya is connected to the metro station Mayakovskaya of the Nevsko-Vasileostrovskaya Line via a transfer corridor and a set of escalators. St.Petersburg-Glavny, also known as Moskovsky railway station (where all trains to or from Moscow depart or arrive), is located on the other side of the square, right opposite the metro station. Moskovsky railway station is one of Saint Petersburg’s six main railway stations.

 

In Saint Petersburg’s history, the question of building an underground transport system arose several times, the first time in 1820, when the idea was hatched to build an underground road in a tunnel. By the end of the 19th century, certain interested parties began discussing the possibility of opening the Russian Empire's first metropolitan railway system. Almost all pre-revolutionary designs featured the concept of an elevated metro system, similar to the Paris or Vienna metros. However, as was later discovered through the experience of operating open (ground-level) metro lines in the city, such schemes would likely have resulted in a poor metro service. Unfortunately, at the time, Russian engineers did not have sufficient expertise or technical resources for the construction of deep underground tunnels through the bedrock located far beneath St Petersburg. Hence, it was finally Moscow that got the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union in 1935.

 

In 1938 the question of building a metro for Saint Petersburg (by then renamed to Leningrad), resurfaced again. The initial project was designed by the Moscow institute 'Metrogiprotrans', but on 21st January 1941, "Construction Directorate № 5 of the People's Commissariat" was founded as a body to specifically oversee the design and construction of the Leningrad Metro. By April 1941, 34 shafts for the initial phase of construction had been finished. During the Second World War construction works were frozen due to severe lack of available funding, manpower and equipment. At this time, many of the metro construction workers were employed in the construction and repair of railheads and other objects vital to the besieged city.

 

In 1946 Lenmetroproyekt was created, to finish the construction of the metro first phase. A new version of the metro project, devised by specialists, identified two new solutions to the problems to be encountered during the metro construction. Firstly, stations were to be built at a level slightly raised above that of normal track so as to prevent drainage directly into them, whilst the average tunnel width was to be reduced from the 6 metres (20 feet) standard of the Moscow Metro to 5.5 metres (18 feet).

 

On 3rd September 1947, construction in the Leningrad subway began again and eight years later, on 7 October 1955, the electricity was turned on in the metro l. On 15th November 1955, the subway grand opening was held, with the first seven stations being put into public use. These stations later became part of the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line, connecting the Moscow Rail Terminal in the city centre with the Kirovsky industrial zone in the southwest. Subsequent development included lines under the Neva River in 1958, and the construction of the Vyborgsky Radius in the mid-1970s to reach the new housing developments in the north. In 1978, the line was extended past the city limits into the Leningrad Oblast.

 

By the time of the USSR's collapse, the Leningrad Metro comprised 54 stations and 94.2 kilometres (58.5 miles) of track. But development even continued in the modern, post-Soviet period. Today, the Saint Petersburg metro comprises five lines with altogether 69 stations and 118,6 kilometres (74 miles) of track. However, the present state is not meant to be the end of the story. Plans have been made to extend the Saint Petersburg Metro to nine lines with altogether 126 stations and 190 kilometres (118 miles) of track. But delays due to the difficult geology of the city's underground and to the insufficient funding have cut down these plans to 17 new stations and one new depot until 2025. At the same time, there are several short and mid-term projects on station upgrades, including escalator replacements and lighting upgrades.

 

On 3rd April 2017, a terrorist bombing caused an explosion on a train between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologicheski Institut stations, on the Line 2. 14 people died and over 50 sustained injuries, while Russian president Vladimir Putin was in the city, when the attack happened. On the same day, Russia's National anti-terrorist unit defused another explosive device at Ploshchad Vosstaniya station (which you can see on this picture).

 

Saint Petersburg (in Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг) is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with currently 5.3 million inhabitants, part of the Saint Petersburg agglomeration with a population of 6.2 million (2015). An important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it has a status of a federal city. Saint Petersburg is also the fourth-largest city in Europe, only excelled by Istanbul, London and Moscow. Other famous European cities like Paris, Berlin, Rome and Madrid are smaller. Furthermore, Saint Petersburg is the world’s northernmost megapolis and called "The Venice of the North", due to its many channels that traverse the city.

 

Situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27th May 1703. On 1st September 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, on 26 January 1924 to Leningrad, and on 7 September 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. Between 1713 and 1728 and again between 1732 and 1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow, which is located about 625 kilometres (388 miles) to the south-east.

 

Saint Petersburg is also the cultural capital of Russia. "The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments" constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. Many foreign consulates, international corporations, banks and businesses have offices in Saint Petersburg. The multinational Gazprom company has its headquarters in the newly erected Lakhta Center.

Van Damme State Park consists of beach and upland on the Mendocino Coast. Of all the park system's units along the Mendocino coast, Van Damme is perhaps the richest in terms of historical resources connected with the redwood lumber industry. Its story is a prime example of the struggles and eventual failures of a small, independent lumber operation.

 

Location/Directions

The park is located three miles south of the town of Mendocino on Highway 1. The highway runs through the park separating the campground and the Fern Canyon trail head to the east and the beach and parking lot to the west.

 

Seasons/Climate - Recommended clothing

The weather can be changeable; layered clothing is recommended.

  

Facilities - Activities

 

The park features the lush Fern Canyon scenic trail system; the Pygmy Forest where mature, cone-bearing cypress and pine trees stand six inches to eight feet tall; and the bog, or Cabbage Patch, where skunk cabbage grows in abundance. The park's ten miles of trail go along the fern-carpeted canyon of Little River. A paved road is used by joggers and bicyclists. The beach is popular with abalone divers.

 

Kayak Tours

Visitors can get a unique perspective of the coast line by taking the kayak tours, available through a concession agreement, at the Van Damme beach parking lot.

  

About the Park

 

Van Damme State Park was named for Charles Van Damme who was born at Little River in 1881, son of John and Louise Van Damme, early settlers of the region. John Van Damme and his wife were a Flemish couple. The patriarch of the family was born in Bredene, Belgium on May 22, 1832. New research indicates that John Van Damme was born in Bredene, Belgium, not Ostend. "Following the sea" for some years, Van Damme, upon his arrival in Mendocino County, later worked in the lumber mill at Little River. In this settlement all of his children were born, including Charles, whose love for the area prompted his acquiring, after some years as a successful operator of the Richmond-San Rafael ferry line, a plot of ground along the redwood coast. Upon his demise this area became a part of the State Park System in 1934.

 

In those early days lumbering was a major economic factor in the development of the northern coastline. Little River was built as a mill town in 1864 by Ruel Stickney, Silas Coombs and Tapping Reeves after the property, formally called Kents Cove, was purchased from W. H. Kent in 1862. Before long it had attained fame, not only as a lumber port, but as a shipyard as well. Alas, a stand of timber, if logged, does not last forever and by the end of the century, even though logging was periodically moved back into the headwaters of Little River, the mill was forced to close in 1893.

 

What was left of Little River soon deteriorated; the shipyard, the wharf, the town, several chutes for loading lumber and the lumber mill itself. Activity at the port, which once hummed with activity, declined. Little River's school, once attended by nearly 100 students, closed; its weekly steamship service ended, and a shipyard where, in 1874, Captain Thomas Peterson turned out full-size lumber schooners for the coast wide trade, phased out. Only the schooner Little River returned, to be wrecked on the very beach from which it originally departed.

 

Plagued by a lack of sufficient timber reserves, fires, substantial loss of business and trade, deterioration of the port's chutes and wharf, the end of coast wide shipping and the attendant decline in population, Little River reverted to a natural state. Its acquisition by the State Park System in 1934, and the subsequent addition of peripheral lands has preserved some of California's most interesting natural resources.

On a misty day, one of Scandanavian Airline System's Douglas

DC-9-40's noses onto Heathrow's Terminal 2 stands sometime in the late 1960's

 

Behind is a Dassault Mystere 20 executive jet - possibly Norwegian, along with another in the form of a Hawker-Siddeley 125.

 

To the left is another DC-9 from the Spanish carrier Iberia.

 

Scanned Instamatic 25 print

The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.

 

The Underground has its origins in the Metropolitan Railway, opening on 10 January 1863 as the world's first underground passenger railway. It is now part of the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. The first line to operate underground electric traction trains, the City & South London Railway in 1890, is now part of the Northern line.

 

The network has expanded to 11 lines with 250 miles (400 km) of track. However, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London; there are only 33 Underground stations south of the River Thames. The system's 272 stations collectively accommodate up to 5 million passenger journeys a day. In 2020/21 it was used for 296 million passenger journeys, making it one of the world's busiest metro systems.

 

The system's first tunnels were built just below the ground, using the cut-and-cover method; later, smaller, roughly circular tunnels—which gave rise to its nickname, the Tube—were dug through at a deeper level. Despite its name, only 45% of the system is under the ground: much of the network in the outer environs of London is on the surface.

 

The early tube lines, originally owned by several private companies, were brought together under the Underground brand in the early 20th century, and eventually merged along with the sub-surface lines and bus services in 1933 to form London Transport under the control of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). The current operator, London Underground Limited (LUL), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL), the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares. The Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster card, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless bank card payments were introduced in 2014, the first such use on a public transport system.

 

The LPTB commissioned many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. The schematic Tube map, designed by Harry Beck in 1931, was voted a national design icon in 2006 and now includes other transport systems besides the Underground, such as the Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, Thameslink, the Elizabeth line, and Tramlink. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and the Johnston typeface, created by Edward Johnston in 1916.

 

The history of the London Underground began in the 19th century with the construction of the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. The Metropolitan Railway, which opened in 1863 using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, worked with the District Railway to complete London's Circle line in 1884. Both railways expanded, the Metropolitan eventually extending as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80 km) from Baker Street and the centre of London. The first deep-level tube line, the City and South London Railway, opened in 1890 with electric trains. This was followed by the Waterloo & City Railway in 1898, the Central London Railway in 1900, and the Great Northern and City Railway in 1904. The Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) was established in 1902 to fund the electrification of the District Railway and to complete and operate three tube lines, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, which opened in 1906–07. By 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines.

 

Under a joint marketing agreement between most of the companies in the early years of the 20th century, UNDERGROUND signs appeared outside stations in central London. World War I delayed extensions of the Bakerloo and Central London Railways, and people used the tube stations as shelters during Zeppelin air raids by June 1915. After the war, government-backed financial guarantees were used to expand the network, and the tunnels of the City and South London and Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railways were linked at Euston and Kennington, although the combined service was not named the Northern line until later. The Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow (later Uxbridge) and Hounslow. In 1933, the underground railways and all London area tram and bus operators were merged into the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). The outlying branches of the Metropolitan were closed; various upgrades were planned. The Bakerloo line's extension to take over the Metropolitan's Stanmore branch, and extensions of the Central and Northern lines, formed part of the 1930s New Works Programme. The outbreak of World War II in 1939 halted or interrupted some of this work, and many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters.

 

The LPTB was nationalised in 1948, and the reconstruction of the mainline railways was given priority over the maintenance of the Underground. In 1953 an unpainted aluminium train entered service on the District line, and this became the standard for new trains. In the early 1960s the Metropolitan line was electrified as far as Amersham, and steam locomotives no longer hauled passenger trains. The Victoria line, a new tube line across central London, opened in 1968–71 with trains driven automatically. In 1976 the isolated Northern City Line was taken over by British Rail and linked up with the mainline railway at Finsbury Park. In 1979 another new route, the Jubilee line, took over part of the Bakerloo line; it was extended through the Docklands to Stratford in 1999.

 

Under the control of the Greater London Council, London Transport introduced in 1981 a system of fare zones for buses and underground trains that cut the average fare. Fares increased following a legal challenge but the fare zones were retained, and in the mid-1980s the Travelcard and the Capitalcard were introduced. In the early years of the 21st century, London Underground was reorganised in a public–private partnership where private companies upgraded and maintained the infrastructure. In 2003 control passed to Transport for London (TfL), which had been opposed to the arrangement and, following financial failure of the infrastructure companies, had taken full responsibility by 2010. The contactless Oyster card first went on sale in 2003. The East London line closed in 2007 to be converted into a London Overground line, and in December 2009 the Circle line changed from serving a closed loop around the centre of London to a spiral also serving Hammersmith. Currently there is an upgrade programme to increase capacity on several Underground lines, and work concluded in 2021 on a Northern line extension to Battersea.

 

The first underground railways (1863–1905)

In the first half of the 19th century, London had grown greatly and the development of a commuting population arriving by train each day led to traffic congestion with carts, cabs and omnibuses filling the roads. By 1850 there were seven railway termini located around the urban centre of London and the concept of an underground railway linking the City of London with these stations was first proposed in the 1830s. Charles Pearson, Solicitor to the City of London, was a leading promoter of several schemes, and he contributed to the creation of the City Terminus Company to build such a railway from Farringdon to King's Cross in 1852. Although the plan was supported by the City of London, the railway companies were not interested and the company struggled to proceed. In 1854 the Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was granted permission to build an underground line at an estimated cost of £1 million. With the Crimean War under way, the Met found it hard to raise the capital, and construction did not start until March 1860. The railway was mostly built using the "cut-and-cover" method from Paddington to King's Cross; east of King's Cross it was built by tunnelling and then followed the culverted River Fleet in an open cutting to the new meat market at Smithfield. The 3.75-mile (6 km) railway opened to the public on 10 January 1863, using steam locomotives hauling wooden carriages. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, borrowing trains from other railways to supplement the service. In the first twelve months 9.5 million passengers were carried and in the second twelve months this increased to 12 million.

 

The Met's early success prompted a flurry of applications to parliament in 1863 for new railways in London, many competing for similar routes. The House of Lords established a select committee that recommended an "inner circuit of railway that should abut, if not actually join, nearly all of the principal railway termini in the Metropolis". Proposals to extend the Met were accepted, and the committee agreed a proposal that a new company, the Metropolitan District Railway (commonly known as the District Railway), be formed to complete the circuit. Initially, the District and the Met were closely associated and it was intended that they would merge. The Met's chairman and three other directors were on the board of the District, John Fowler was the engineer of both companies. The construction works for the extensions were let as a single contract and the Met initially operated all the services. Struggling under the burden of high construction costs, the District's level of debt meant that merger was no longer attractive to the Met and its directors resigned from the District's board. To improve its finances, the District terminated the operating agreement and began operating its own trains. Conflict between the Met and the District and the expense of construction delayed further progress on the completion of the inner circle. In 1879, the Met now wishing to access the South Eastern Railway via the East London Railway (ELR), an Act of Parliament was obtained to complete the circle and link to the ELR. After an official opening ceremony on 17 September and trial running, a complete Circle line service started on 6 October 1884.

 

The Metropolitan Railway had been extended soon after opening, reaching Hammersmith with the Great Western Railway in 1864 and Richmond over the tracks of the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) in 1877. The Metropolitan & St John's Wood Railway opened as a single track branch from Baker Street to Swiss Cottage, and this was to become the Met's most important route as it expanded north into the Middlesex countryside, where it stimulated the development of new suburbs. Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line eventually extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Baker Street and the centre of London. From the end of the 19th century, the railway shared tracks with the Great Central Railway route out of Marylebone.

 

By 1871, when the District began operating its own trains, the railway had extended to West Brompton and a terminus at Mansion House. Hammersmith was reached from Earl's Court and services reached Richmond, Ealing, Hounslow and Wimbledon. As part of the project that completed the Circle line in October 1884, the District began to serve Whitechapel. As a result of the expansion, by 1898, 550 trains operated daily. Services began running to Upminster in 1902, after a link to the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway had been built.

 

Electric underground railways (1900–1908)

In 1869, a passage was dug through the London Clay under the Thames from Great Tower Hill to Pickle Herring Stairs near Vine Street (now Vine Lane). A circular 7-foot-diameter (2.1 m) tunnel was dug 1,340 feet (410 m), using a wrought iron shield, a method that had been patented in 1864 by Peter William Barlow. A railway was laid in the tunnel and from August 1870 a wooden carriage conveyed passengers from one side to the other. This was uneconomic and the company went bankrupt by the end of the year and the tunnel was converted to pedestrian use, becoming known as the Tower Subway. Construction of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was started in 1886 by James Henry Greathead using a development of Barlow's shield. Two 10-foot-2-inch (3.10 m) circular tunnels were dug between King William Street (close to today's Monument station) and Elephant and Castle. From Elephant and Castle, the tunnels were a slightly larger 10 feet 6 inches (3.20 m) to Stockwell. This was a legacy of the original intention to haul the trains by cable. The tunnels were bored under the roads to avoid the need for agreement with owners of property on the surface. The original intention to cable-haul the trains changed to electric power when the cable company went bankrupt. A conductor rail energised with +500 volts DC conductor rail for the northbound tunnel and −500 volts for the southbound laid between the running rails, though offset from the centreline, powered the electric locomotives that hauled the carriages. The carriages were fitted with small windows and consequently were nicknamed padded cells. By 1907, the C&SLR had extended from both ends, south to Clapham Common and north to Euston.

 

In 1898, the Waterloo & City Railway was opened between London & South Western Railway's terminus at Waterloo station and a station in the City. Operated by the L&SWR, the short electrified line used four-car electric multiple units. Two 11 feet 8+1⁄4 inches (3.562 m) diameter tunnels were dug beneath the roads between Shepherd's Bush and Bank for the Central London Railway (CLR). In 1900 this opened, charging a flat fare of 2d (approximately 96p today), becoming known as the "Twopenny tube" and by the end of the year carrying nearly 15 million passengers. Initially electric locomotives hauled carriages, but the heavy locomotives caused vibrations that could be felt on the surface. In 1902–03 the carriages were reformed into multiple units using a control system developed by Frank Sprague in Chicago. The CLR was extended to Wood Lane (near White City) in 1908 and Liverpool Street in 1912. The Great Northern & City Railway was built to take main line trains from the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at Finsbury Park to the City at a terminus at Moorgate. However the GNR refused permission for trains to use its Finsbury Park station, so platforms were built beneath the station instead and public service on the line, using electric multiple units, began in 1904.

 

District and Metropolitan electrification

On the District and Metropolitan Railways, the use of steam locomotives led to smoke-filled stations and carriages that were unpopular with passengers and electrification was seen as the way forward. Electric traction was still in its infancy and agreement would be needed between the two companies because of the shared ownership of the inner circle. A tender was announced for an electric system, and the largest European and American companies applied to win the contract. When the experts of the London Metro compared the design of the Ganz Works to the offers of the other large European and American competitors, however, they found that the newest type of AC traction technology of the Ganz Works was more reliable and cheaper, and considered its technology as a "revolution in electric railway traction". In 1901 a Metropolitan and District joint committee recommended the Ganz three-phase AC system with overhead wires. Initially this was accepted by both parties, until the District found an investor, the American Charles Yerkes, to finance the upgrade. Yerkes raised £1 million (adjusted for inflation, £115 million) and soon had control of the District Railway. His experiences in the United States led him to favour the classic traditional DC system similar to that in use on the City & South London Railway and Central London Railway. The Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade the DC system was adopted.

 

The Metropolitan electrified its new line from Harrow to Uxbridge and the route to the inner circle at Baker Street,[46] using separate positive and negative conductor rails energised at 550–600 V. The District electrified its unopened line from Mill Hill Park (now Acton Town) to South Harrow and used this line to test its new trains and to train drivers. Electric multiple units began running on the Metropolitan in January 1905 and by March all local services between Baker Street and Harrow were electric. Electric services began on the District Railway in June 1905 between Hounslow and South Acton. In July 1905 the District began running electric trains from Ealing to Whitechapel and on the same day the Met and the District both introduced electric units on the inner circle until later that day an incompatibility was found between the way the shoe-gear was mounted on the Met trains and the District track. The Met trains were withdrawn from the District lines and modified, full electric service starting on the circle line in September. In the same month, after withdrawing services over the un-electrified East London Railway and east of East Ham, the District were running electric services on all remaining routes. The GWR electrified the line between Paddington and Hammersmith and the branch from Latimer Road to Kensington (Addison Road). An electric service with jointly owned rolling stock started on the route in November 1906. In the same year, the Met suspended running on the East London Railway, terminating instead at the District's station at Whitechapel. The Metropolitan Railway beyond Harrow was not electrified so services were hauled by an electric locomotive from Baker Street and changed for a steam locomotive en route.

 

Integration (1902–1933)

Underground Electric Railways Company of London

The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway, was authorised from Charing Cross to Hampstead and Highgate in 1893, but had not found financial backing. Yerkes bought the rights in 1900, and obtained additional approval for a branch from Camden Town to Golders Green. The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway had been authorised to run from Baker Street to Waterloo station. Work began in 1898, and extensions to Paddington station and Elephant & Castle were authorised in 1900, but came to a halt with the collapse of their financial backers in 1901. Yerkes bought the rights to this railway in 1902. The District had permission for a deep-level tube from Earl's Court to Mansion House and in 1898 had bought the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway that had authority for a tube from South Kensington to Piccadilly Circus. The District's plans were combined by Yerkes with those of the Great Northern and Strand Railway, a tube railway with permission to build a line from Strand to Finsbury Park, to create the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway. In April 1902, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) was established, with Yerkes as chairman, to control these companies and manage the planned works.

 

On 8 June 1902, the UERL took over the Metropolitan District Traction Company. The UERL built a large power station that would be capable of providing power for the District and underground lines under construction. Work began in 1902 at Lots Road, by Chelsea Creek, and in February 1905 Lots Road Power Station began generating electricity. For the three lines similar electric multiple units were purchased, known as "Gate Stock" as access to the cars was via lattice gates at each end operated by gatemen. As on the District Railway the track was provided with separate positive and negative conductor rails, in what was to become a London Underground standard. A number of the surface buildings, with an exterior of glazed dark red bricks, were designed by Leslie Green and 140 electric lifts were imported from America from the Otis Elevator Company. A length of the Baker Street & Waterloo between Baker Street and Kennington Road (now Lambeth North) opened in March 1906, and the line reached Edgware Road the following year. It was named the 'Bakerloo' in July 1906, called an undignified "gutter title" by The Railway Magazine. The Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (the Piccadilly) opened from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith in December 1906, the Aldwych branch opening the following year. "Moving staircases" or escalators were first installed at Earl's Court between the District and Piccadilly line platforms, and at all deep level tube stations after 1912. The last, the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead (the Hampstead) opened in 1907, and ran from Charing Cross to Camden Town, before splitting into two branches going to Golders Green and Highgate (now Archway).

 

London Underground

To promote travel by the underground railways in London a joint marketing arrangement was agreed that included maps, joint publicity and through ticketing. UNDERGROUND signs were used outside stations in Central London. The UERL acquired London bus and tram companies in 1912 and the following year the City & South London and Central London Railway joined the company. That year the Great Northern & City was taken over by the Met. Suggestions of merger with the Underground Group were rejected by the Metropolitan, a press release of November 1912 noting its interests in areas outside London, its relationships with main line railways and its freight business. Further coordination in the form of a General Managers' Conference faltered after the Metropolitan withdrew in 1911 when the Central London Railway, without any reference to the conference, set its season ticket prices significantly lower than those on the Met's competing routes. The UERL introduced station name boards with a red disc and a blue bar and the Met responded with station boards showing a blue bar on a red diamond.

 

In 1913 the Bakerloo line reached Paddington, and the following year the Hampstead line was extended south of its Charing Cross terminus to an expanded interchange station (currently known as Embankment) with the Bakerloo and District lines. The Bakerloo line was extended north to Queen's Park to link up with the London & North Western Railway's new electric line from Euston to Watford Junction. The start of World War I in 1914 delayed construction, trains reaching Queen's Park in 1915 and Watford Junction in 1917. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was started in 1913 and, also delayed by the war, was completed in 1920. The war saw growth in traffic and a shortage of men, so women were recruited as temporary replacements in traditional men's jobs such as guards, clerks, painters and cleaners. London saw its first air raids in 1915, and people used the tube stations as bomb shelters.

 

After the war new trains were purchased to run on the Metropolitan, District, Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines, the Piccadilly line trains having air-operated sliding doors. In the 1920s, taking advantage of government backed financial guarantees for capital projects that promoted employment, there were major extensions of the City & South London and the Hampstead lines. The tunnels of the City & South London Railway were rebuilt to have the same diameter of the other tubes, and then extended north from Euston to a junction with the Hampstead line at Camden Town, and south to Morden. The Hampstead line was extended to the north from Golders Green to Edgware and south to another junction with the City & South London at Kennington, this opening in 1926. Although physically connected, the lines were still officially named the City Railway and Hampstead & Highgate line. The lines were to be known as the Edgware, Highgate and Morden and the Morden-Edgware until finally renamed the Northern line in 1937. Also during the 1920s the original tube gate stock was replaced with 1,460 cars of Standard Stock with air-operating sliding doors, except for the Central line where the cars were refurbished. Busy central London stations were modernised with escalators replacing lifts.

 

Unlike other railway companies in the London area, the Met was able to develop land for housing. After World War I they promoted housing estates near the railway with the "Metro-land" brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Taking advantage of the Treasury guarantees electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth and a short branch opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925. In the 1920s more powerful electric and steam locomotives were purchased and Metropolitan Railway stations were redesigned by their architect Charles W Clark.

 

With finance guaranteed by the government the Piccadilly lines and Metropolitan were extended in the early 1930s. The Metropolitan opened a line from Wembley Park to Stanmore, and the Piccadilly line was to extend north from Finsbury Park to Cockfosters and west from Hammersmith and took over the District line Harrow and Hounslow branches. Several stations were rebuilt in a Modernist style influenced or designed by Charles Holden, who called them his 'brick boxes with concrete lids'. Piccadilly line trains took over the District service to South Harrow in 1932, reaching Uxbridge the following year. Piccadilly trains reached Cockfosters and Hounslow West in 1933, although District line services to Hounslow continued until 1964.

 

London Passenger Transport Board (1933–1947)

In 1933, Harry Beck's diagrammatic tube map appeared for the first time. On 1 July 1933, the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), was created as a public corporation and the Metropolitan, the UERL underground railways, tramway companies and bus operators were merged into one organisation. On the former Metropolitan Railway the Brill Branch closed in 1935, followed by the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936. It was proposed to electrify to Amersham with additional tracks from Harrow to Rickmansworth and to extend the Bakerloo line to Stanmore to relieve the bottleneck on the Metropolitan from Baker Street to Finchley. Before any work was started on the Met, the 1935–1940 New Works Programme was announced. This included extending the Central line to Stratford and then onto Epping and Ongar and the Northern line was to be extended north to High Barnet, Alexandra Palace and Bushey Heath and link up with the isolated Great Northern & City Railway, renamed the Northern City Line, which was to be extended beyond Finsbury Park to link up at Highgate.

 

New trains were delivered before the outbreak of World War II in 1939, including 573 cars for the District and Metropolitan lines and 1,121 new cars (1938 Stock) for the tube lines. Following the outbreak of war, services on the Northern line between Strand (now Charing Cross) and Kennington were suspended as the tunnels under the Thames were blocked as a defence against flooding. The Metropolitan Pullman cars were placed into store and first class was removed from London Underground services. The New Works Programme continued, albeit at a reduced pace, the Bakerloo line taking over the Stanmore branch from the Metropolitan in November 1939. The Northern line reached Mill Hill East in May 1941, but by then work on the other Northern and Central line extensions had been suspended. The bombing of London and especially the Blitz led to the use of many tube stations as air-raid shelters, with 175,000 people arriving every night in August 1940. Six stations were breached by a direct hit, and in March 1943, 173 people died in a crowd crush accident at the unfinished Bethnal Green station. In the 1940s a depot built for the Northern line extension and an unfinished stretch of the Central line extension, the underground section between Newbury Park and Leytonstone, was turned into an aircraft factory. The closed Brompton Road station was used as an anti-aircraft control room. The closed Down Street station was used by Winston Churchill and the War Cabinet and the Railway Emergency Committee.

 

Before the war, the Olympia exhibition centre had been served by the Metropolitan line and by a service from Earl's Court to Willesden Junction. Following bombing in 1940 passenger services over the West London Line were suspended. This left the exhibition centre without a railway service, so after the war the station was renamed Kensington (Olympia) and served by a District line shuttle from Earl's Court. The Central line extensions in east and west London were completed, tube trains running to Epping from 1949.

 

Nationalisation (1947–2000)

Britain's railways were nationalised on 1 January 1948, and London Transport placed under the authority of the British Transport Commission (BTC). The BTC prioritised the reconstruction of the main line railways over the maintenance of the Underground and most of the unfinished plans of the 1935–40 New Works Programme were shelved or postponed. For the tube lines new cars (1949 Stock) were built to run with the 1938 stock. Some of the cars on the District line were in need of replacement, and in 1953 an unpainted aluminium train (R Stock) entered service, and this became the standard for new trains, and was followed by 1959 tube stock. After experiments with an AEC lightweight diesel multiple unit in 1952, steam trains were removed from the Central line following the electrification of the Epping–Ongar section in 1957.

 

Between 1963 and 1970, London Transport reported directly to the Minister of Transport, before control passed to the Greater London Council. Electrification work on the Metropolitan line, suspended due to the war, had restarted in 1959. The line was electrified to Amersham and the unpainted aluminium (A Stock) replaced steam trains, British Rail providing services for the former Metropolitan line stations between Amersham and Aylesbury.

 

Victoria line and Jubilee line

The Victoria line was recommended in a 1949 report as it would reduce congestion on other lines. After some experimental tunnelling in 1959, construction began in 1963 and, unlike the earlier tubes, the tunnels did not have to follow the roads above. The line was originally approved to run from Walthamstow to Victoria station, the extension to Brixton being authorised later. As part of the works, Oxford Circus station was rebuilt to allow interchange with the Central and Bakerloo lines. Cross platform interchanges were built at Euston, Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park. After running trains from Walthamstow, first to Finsbury Park and then to Warren Street in 1968, the line to Victoria was officially opened in March 1969. The extension to Brixton opened in 1971. Designed for automatic train operation, access to the platforms was by using magnetically encoded tickets collected by automatic gates.

 

The Moorgate tube crash occurred on 28 February 1975 on the isolated Northern City Line when a southbound train failed to stop at the Moorgate terminus and crashed into the wall at end of the tunnel, killing forty-four people. No fault was found with the train equipment, the subsequent report found that there was insufficient evidence to determine the cause. Following the incident, a system that stops a train automatically if the driver fails to brake was introduced at dead-ends on the London Underground. The Northern City Line was connected to British Rail tracks at Finsbury Park in the 1970s. The last tube train ran in October 1975, and British Rail services began in 1976. In 1977, the Piccadilly line was extended from Hounslow to Heathrow Airport, and in 1986 a platform serving Terminal 4 opened on a loop line.

 

The Fleet line through central London was first proposed in 1965, taking over the Bakerloo line's Stanmore branch at Baker Street and then running via Fleet Street to Lewisham. To simplify planning the construction was divided into stages, and the first stage from Baker Street to Charing Cross had all the necessary approvals by 1971. Work began the following year and tunnelling had been completed in 1976. After the line had been renamed the Jubilee line in honour of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee in 1977, the line opened in April 1979 using trains that had been running on the Bakerloo line.

 

1980s

In 1981, the Greater London Council (GLC) introduced the 'Fares Fair' scheme, a system of fare zones for bus and underground trains, cutting the average fare by 32 per cent. This was challenged in court, the GLC lost and fares doubled in 1982. The fare zones were retained and fares dropped slightly the following year. In 1983 the Travelcard allowed travel within the specified zones on buses and underground trains, and was followed in Capitalcard in 1985 that included British Rail services. In 1984 control of London Buses and the London Underground passed to London Regional Transport (LRT), which reported directly to Secretary of State for Transport.

 

By the early 1980s, the pre-war trains had been replaced by new unpainted aluminium trains. One person operation had been planned in 1968, but conflict with the trade unions delayed introduction. The Metropolitan, East London, District and Circle lines were converted in 1985–86, the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Bakerloo lines following in 1987–88. One Person Operation was introduced on the Central and Northern lines after they received new trains in the early 1990s.

 

King's Cross fire

The King's Cross fire killed 31 people in November 1987 when a lit match set fire to a wooden escalator. In the subsequent report London Underground was strongly criticised for its attitude to fires and its publication led to resignations of senior management in both London Underground and London Regional Transport and to the introduction of new fire safety regulations. A Fire Safety Code of Practice was drawn up for rolling stock and this led to internal refurbishment of the trains that included replacing the interior panelling and fitting or improving the public address systems.

 

1990s

At the same time, the exterior of the trains were painted as it had proved difficult to remove graffiti from unpainted aluminium. The first refurbished trains were presented to the media in September 1989, and the project launched in July 1991. In 1994 LRT took over control of the Waterloo and City line. The Epping–Ongar branch of the Central line and the Aldwych branch of the Piccadilly line closed in the same year. To link the growing Docklands area with central London, several options were considered, and an extension of the Jubilee line was chosen. Approved in 1993, the stations were built to be fully accessible and with platform edge doors. There was pressure on London Transport to get the line open in time for the opening of the Millennium Dome on 1 January 2000 and the extension opened in stages from Stratford, with through running from 22 November 1999, when the Charing Cross terminus closed.

 

Transport for London (from 2000)

Transport for London (TfL) was created in 2000 as part of the Greater London Authority by the Greater London Authority Act 1999. TfL eventually replaced London Regional Transport, and discontinued the use of the London Transport brand in favour of its own brand. The transfer of responsibility was staged, with transfer of control of London Underground delayed until July 2003, when London Underground Limited became an indirect subsidiary of TfL.

 

Public–private partnership

In 1999, before control was passed to TfL, London Underground was split up so that a public–private partnership (PPP) arrangement could be put in place, with London Underground remaining a public company running the trains while private companies were responsible for upgrading the railway. Three packages of 30-year franchises were drawn up, covering the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines (JNP), the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria and Waterloo and City lines (BCV) and the sub-surface lines, the Metropolitan, District, Circle, East London and Hammersmith & City lines (SSL). In 2003 the BCV and SSL contracts were won by Metronet (a consortium of Balfour Beatty, WS Atkins, Bombardier, EDF Energy and Thames Water), while JNP was won by Tube Lines; these were known as the "infracos" (infrastructure companies). In 2003, overall control of the system passed to TfL, which had been opposed to the arrangement. Metronet went into administration in 2007, and TfL took over responsibilities, and TfL also took over Tube Lines in 2010.

 

Creation

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was sceptical about the practicality of the PPP plan, and brought in the American Bob Kiley as London's Transport Commissioner to repeat his success with the New York City Subway using public bond finance. Taking office in 2000 as London's first directly elected mayor, it was difficult for Livingstone to block the PPP process, which was entirely in the national Government's hands as it still owned London Underground, which was not transferred to local control until July 2003. Kiley was fired from the board of London Regional Transport (of which he had been chairman) in 2001 over his attempts to block the PPP scheme. Livingstone mounted a legal challenge, but eventually dropped it as it was unlikely to succeed, and Tube Lines and Metronet reached financial close on the contracts in December 2002 and March 2003 respectively. It was later revealed that the legal challenge had cost £4.2 million directly, as well as £36 million reimbursed to the bidders for costs incurred because of the six-month delay. In April 2005 TfL criticised Metronet, saying it had given capital construction work to its shareholders, whilst Tube Lines, which had competitively tendered its work, was performing much better. TfL also said that new technology promised by Metronet had yet to be seen — "We were supposed to be getting private sector expertise and technology with the PPP (Public Private Partnership) but instead they are just using the same old kit."

 

In March 2005, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, charged with ensuring value for money in public spending, published a report concluding that it was "impossible to determine" whether the PPP was better value than a publicly run investment programme, primarily because of the untested periodic review structure of the 30-year contracts. These were to be revised every 7.5 years, meaning that the ultimate price for the promised £15.7 billion of investment was still unknown. It noted that using public bond finance would have saved £90 million a year in financing costs, even though the Government guaranteed repayment of 95% of costs in the event of premature termination, and the contracts placed limits and exemptions on financial risk transferred to the infrastructure companies. The system still received an annual public subsidy of £1 billion, but its spending was now determined entirely by the infracos' interpretation of their 2000-page PPP contracts. Although the private operators were expected to receive at least 18–20% returns on capital (for Metronet), for the type of risk associated with major upgrades, most of the work was low-risk maintenance and replacement. The public-sector procurement option (using private companies for specific major projects) would also have saved the £455 million cost of concluding the PPP contracts, not to mention the five years' delay the contract negotiations caused.

 

Performance

In April 2005, Bob Kiley pressed for an urgent review of the PPP, describing its performance as "bordering on disaster". A week later the chief executive of Metronet was sacked, after complaints that it had made £50m profit despite being behind on all its major works. By April 2005, it had started work on only 13 station refurbishments (instead of 32 as scheduled), and was more than a year behind on the refurbishment of 78 District line trains. It was also behind on its track replacement programme, having completed 28 km instead of the scheduled 48 km.

 

In March 2005, the House of Commons Transport Select Committee noted that "Availability is the most important factor for Tube travellers. All the infracos needed to do to meet their availability benchmarks was to perform only a little worse than in the past. On most lines, they did not even manage that."

 

Metronet was also declared at fault by an accident investigators' report into a May 2004 derailment at White City, for failing to implement sufficient safety checks despite being ordered to do so by TfL.

 

TfL takes over infracos

Metronet, using its shareholders as its main contractors, was unable to meet its targets and track replacement and station refurbishments fell behind schedule. With increased costs it went into administration in 2007 and TfL took over responsibilities.

 

The UK government tried to find another private firm to fill the vacuum left by the liquidation of Metronet. However, only TfL expressed a viable interest in taking over Metronet's responsibilities. The case for PPP was also weakened in 2008 when it was revealed that the demise of Metronet had cost the UK government £2bn. The five private companies that made up the Metronet alliance had to pay £70m each towards paying off the debts acquired by the consortium. But due to a deal struck with the government in 2003, when the PPP scheme began operating, the companies were protected from any further liability. The UK taxpayer therefore had to foot the rest of the bill. This undermined the argument that PPP would place the risks involved in running the network into the hands of the private sector.

 

By 2010, Tube Lines was behind schedule on the Jubilee line upgrade and after conflict arose over costs of future work in that year's PPP review, TfL bought Tube Lines for £310m ($458m).

 

Despite the collapse of the PPP, substantial investment to upgrade and modernise the Tube has taken place - with new trains (such as London Underground S7 and S8 Stock), new signalling, upgraded stations (such as King's Cross St Pancras) and improved accessibility (such as at Green Park).

 

Recent history

The Oyster card, a stored-value contactless smart card that can be used on Transport for London services instead of a ticket, first went on sale in 2003. The scheme was originally managed as a PPP by TranSys; TfL bought the rights to the Oyster card name in 2008.

 

On 7 July 2005 three bombs exploded on underground trains, two on the Circle line at Aldgate and Edgware Road and the third on the Piccadilly line between King's Cross and Russell Square. Later the same day a bomb exploded on a bus in Woburn Place. Four suicide bombers had killed themselves and fifty-two other people, and it took over a month before underground services had been restored.

 

In 2007 the East London line, operated as an isolated shuttle since 1939, closed so that it could be converted into a London Overground line. In December 2009 the Circle line changed from serving a closed loop around the centre of London on the north side of the River Thames to a spiral serving Hammersmith.

 

On the Jubilee line a seventh car was added to all trains, in 2006 and a new signalling system allowing automatic operation was commissioned in 2011. On the Victoria line, new trains were introduced between July 2009 and June 2011, and a new signalling system has allowed 33 trains per hour from January 2013. The sub-surface (Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City) lines have been upgraded, with new air-conditioned S Stock. Also, the sub-surface track, electrical supply and signalling systems are also being upgraded in a programme allowing an increased peak-hour capacity by the end of 2018. A single control room for the sub-surface network is to be established in Hammersmith and an automatic train control (ATC) system will replace signalling equipment installed from the 1940s.

 

During the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Underground saw record ridership levels, with over 4.3 million people using the Tube on some days. This record was subsequently beaten in future years, with 4.82 million riders in December 2015. In 2013, the Underground celebrated its 150th anniversary, with celebratory events such as steam trains and installation of a unique Labyrinth artwork at each station.

 

In the 2010s, the Crossrail project was built at a cost of £18.8bn to connect two mainline railways with a new east west tunnel under central London, similar to Paris' Réseau Express Régional. Designed to increase rail capacity and reduce cross London journey times, the line opened as the Elizabeth line in May 2022. Although not part of the Underground, the line connects with many Underground stations, with the project rebuilding and expanding several central Underground stations including Tottenham Court Road.

 

The Tube was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. After growing concern that amongst the outbreak and despite government advice on social distancing, tube services were still crowded. All Night Overground and Night Tube services, as well as all services on the Waterloo & City line, were suspended from 20 March, and 40 tube stations were closed on the same day. The Mayor of London and TfL urged people to use public transport only if absolutely essential, so that it could be used by critical workers. London Underground brought in new measures on 25 March to combat the spread of the virus by slowing the flow of passengers onto platforms, which included the imposition of queuing at ticket gates and turning off some escalators. Even with these measures in place there was still criticism that, especially in the rush hour, some stations and trains were experiencing crowding; however, statistics showed that the tube was experiencing some of the lowest passenger journey numbers since the 1800s.

 

The Northern Line Extension opened in September 2021, extending the Northern line from Kennington to Battersea Power Station via Nine Elms. The extension was privately funded, with contributions from developments across the Battersea Power Station, Vauxhall and Nine Elms areas.

 

Goods traffic

Goods trains ran over Metropolitan tracks from 1866 when the Great Northern Railway (GNR) and then the Midland Railways began a service to south of the Thames via Farringdon and Snow Hill tunnel. Goods depots were opened in the Farringdon area, accessed from the City Widened Lines. The GWR opened Smithfield Market Sidings in 1869, the GNR opened its depot in 1874, and the Midland in 1878. The Midland also negotiated running rights over the District Railway from the London & South Western Railway at Hammersmith to South Kensington in 1876 and in 1878 it opened coal depots at Kensington High Street and West Kensington.

 

Goods traffic was to play an important part of Metropolitan traffic on the extension line out of Baker Street. In 1880, the Met started conveying coal from Finchley Road to Harrow. Goods and coal depots were provided at most of the stations on the extension line as they were built. Goods for London were initially handled at Willesden, with delivery by road or by transfer to the Midland. In 1909, the Met opened Vine Street goods depot near Farringdon with a regular service from West Hampstead. Coal for the steam locomotives, the company's electric power station at Neasden and local gasworks were brought in via Quainton Road. Milk was delivered to the London suburbs and foodstuffs from Vine Street to Uxbridge. Fish to Billingsgate Market via the Met and the District joint station at Monument caused some complaints, leaving the station approaches in an "indescribably filthy condition". The District suggested a separate entrance for the fish, but nothing was done. The traffic reduced significantly when road transport was introduced from to Marylebone, but the problem remained until 1936, being one reason the LPTB gave for abolishing the carrying of parcels on trains. The LPTB was also not interested in running the Metropolitan goods services. Vine Street goods station closed in 1936, and the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) took over all freight traffic from in 1937.

 

When the Northern line was extended over the lines of the LNER to High Barnet and Mill Hill East in 1940, the stations retained their goods service. Starting at midnight trains would leave Highbury every five to ten minutes and access the line from Finsbury Park via Highgate High Level. The Central line stations also kept their goods service, worked from Temple Mills and accessed via Leytonstone, the Hainault loop stations being served via Woodford.

 

Goods services were withdrawn in the 1950s and '60s. The GNR goods depot on the City Widened Lines closed in 1956 and Smithfield Market was last served by train in 1962. Goods yards on the Uxbridge branch closed in 1964, and Northern line stations saw their last goods train in the same year. The closure of West Kensington yard the following year meant the withdrawal of goods trains from District and Piccadilly tracks. On the Central line, Hainault loop stations lost their goods service in 1965, and in 1966 the rest of the line followed.

I've dipped into the archives from the recent past for this one. These trams are standing at the Póvoa de Varzim terminus of the Porto Metro system's line B (Red Line). This metro line was opened in 2005 and was built on the trackbed of part of the former metre-gauge network that used to serve this region of northern Portugal.

The Hispasat AG1 communications satellite completes the integration phase of testing in OHB System's cleanroom in Bremen, Germany. Hispasat AG1 will provide Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and the Americas with faster multimedia services through its reconfigurable Redsat payload.

 

AG1 is now at the IABG (Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft) in Ottobrunn, Germany, undergoing environmental impact testing. There it will be placed in the thermal-vacuum chamber and its systems tested under ultra-high and low temperatures to simulate the conditions in space.

 

AG1 is the first satellite to use Europe’s new SmallGEO platform, developed through a public–private partnership between ESA and OHB. SmallGEO will strengthen the position of European industry in the commercial telecommunications market, expanding the current range of available products.

 

Credit:OHB

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

When, towards late 1945, the Einheits-Chassis for the German combat tanks (the "E" series of medium and heavy tanks) reached the front lines, several heavily armed anti-aircraft turrets had been developed, including the 30mm Kugelblitz, based on the outdated Panzer IV, the "Coelian" turret with various armament options for the Panzer V Panther hull, and there were twin 55 mm as well as single and even 88mm cannon systems for the new E-50, E-75 and E-100 chassis'.

 

With these new weapons for medium- and high-altitude targets, Firepower was considerably increased, but the tank crews still had to rely on traditional visual tracking and aiming of targets. One potential solution in which the German Heeresleitung was highly interested from the start was the use of the Luftwaffe’s new radar technology for early target identification and as an aiming aid in poor weather conditions or even at night. The German Luftwaffe first introduced an airborne interception radar in 1942, but these systems were bulky and relied upon large bipolar antenna arrays. These were not suitable for any use in a ground vehicle, lest to say in a tank that would also carry weapons and ammunition.

 

A potential solution appeared in late 1944 with the development of the FuG 240 "Berlin". It was an airborne interception radar, too, but it was the first German radar to be based on the cavity magnetron, which eliminated the need for the large multiple dipole-based antenna arrays seen on earlier radars, thereby greatly increasing the performance of the night fighters. The FuG 240 with a rotating dish antenna was introduced by Telefunken in April 1945, primarily in Junkers Ju 88G-6 night-fighters, behind a plywood radome which considerably improved aerodynamics. This so greatly reduced drag compared to the late-model Lichtenstein and Neptun systems that the fighters regained their pre-radar speeds and made them competitive again. The FuG 240 was effective against bomber-sized targets at distances of up to 9 kilometers (5.5 mi), or down to 0.5 kilometer, which eliminated the need for a second, short-range radar system.

Right before the FuG 240's roll-out with the Luftwaffe, the Heer insisted on a ground-based derivative for its anti-aircraft units. Political pressure from Berlin convinced the RLM to share the new technology, and Telefunken was ushered to adapt the radar system to an armored ground vehicle in February 1945.

 

It soon became clear that the FuG 240 had several drawbacks for this task. On one side, ground clutter and the natural horizon limited the system's range and low-level effectiveness, but its 9 km range in free space made high altitude surveillance possible – just enough for the effective interception of Allied bombers that attacked important point targets. Furthermore, the whole system, together with its power supply and a dirigible dish antenna, took up a lot of space, so that its integration into a tank-based anti-aircraft vehicle like an SPAAG as an autonomous, stand-alone solution was ruled out.

 

A workable solution eventually came as a technical and tactical compromise: the army’s anti-aircraft tanks were to be grouped together in so-called Panzer-Fla-Züge, which consisted of several (typically four) SPAAGs and an additional, dedicated radar surveillance and command unit, so that the radar could guide the tank crews towards incoming targets – even though the gun crews still had to rely on visual targeting.

 

Two respective guidance vehicles developed, a light and a heavy one. The light one, intended against low-flying targets like the Ilyushin Il-2 on the Eastern front, became the 8x8 Funkmess-/Flak-Kommandowagen Sd.Kfz. 234/6. The heavy variant, with a bigger antenna and a more powerful emitter, became the Mittlerer Funkmess-/Flak-Kommandopanzer Sd.Kfz. 282. In contrast to the light and compact Sd.Kfz. 234/6, the Sd.Kfz. 282’s complete radar and observation system was installed in a new turret, so that it could be simply mounted onto the new E-50 Einheitspanzer battle tank hull.

This new, box-shaped turret had been developed by Rheinmetall, together with Telefunken, and was based on the turret design for the new 55 mm twin anti-aircraft cannon. It had a maximum armor of 60mm at the front and held all of the radar equipment, christened "Basilisk", after the monster from medieval mythology with a petrifying sight. The turret held a crew of three: a commander, a radar operator, and an observer for the optical rangefinder. The rest of the crew, the driver and a radio operator, sat in the hull. No armament was fitted, even though a light machine gun could be mounted on the roof for self-defense, even though it could not be operated from the inside. A heavier armament was not deemed necessary since the vehicle would stay close to the heavily armed tanks/SPAAGs it would typically accompany.

 

The Basilisk radar’s rotating dish antenna had a diameter of 90 cm (35 ½ inches) and was installed at the turret's front under a hard vinyl cover. Power of the modified FuG 240 was 25kW, with a search angle of +80/− 5° and a frequency range: 3,250–3,330MHz (~10 cm). Range was, due the bigger antenna and a higher emitter output, increased to 0.5–11.0 kilometer, even though only under ideal conditions. Power came from a dedicated generator that was connected to the E-50’s V-12 Maybach HL 234 gasoline engine.

 

Beyond the radar system, the vehicle was furthermore equipped with a powerful visual coincidence range finder in the turret, combined with an analogue computer, the Kommandogerät (KDO) 40 Telemeter. This system had been introduced in 1941 as a guidance tool for stationary anti-aircraft units equipped with the 88 mm and the 105 mm Flak, but it had so far – due to its size and bulk – only been deployed on an unarmored trailer

The KDO 40 and similar sights worked as follows: Light from the target entered the range finder through two windows located at either end of the instrument. At either side, the incident beam was reflected to the center of the optical bar by a pentaprism, and this optical bar was ideally made from a material with a low coefficient of thermal expansion so that optical path lengths would not change significantly with temperature. The reflected beam first passed through an objective lens and was then merged with the beam of the opposing side with an ocular prism sub-assembly to form two images of the target which were viewed by the observer through the eyepiece. Since either beam entered the instrument at a slightly different angle the resulting image, if unaltered, would appear blurry. Therefore, in one arm of the instrument, a compensator was integrated which could be adjusted by the operator to tilt the beam until the two images matched. At this point, the images were said to be in coincidence. The degree of rotation of the compensator determined the range to the target by simple triangulation, allowing the calculation of the distance to the observed object.

 

Fixed target reading with the device mounted in the Sd.Kfz. 282 turret was possible on targets from 3,000 to 20,000 m. Aerial courses could be recorded at all levels of flight and at a slant range between 4,000 and 18,000 m - enough for visual identification beyond an anti-aircraft group's effective gun ranges and perfectly suitable for long range observation, so that the Sd.Kfz. 282 also had excellent reconnaissance and observation capabilities. The rangefinder’s optical bar had a massive span of 400 cm (157.5 in) and went right through the turret, just above the radar device installation. The whole device, together with its armored fairing, was 4,60 m (15 ft 1 in) wide, so that it protruded from the turret on both sides over the lower hull. The odd and unwieldy installation quickly earned the vehicle nicknames like "Hirsch (stag)", "Zwo-Ender" (a young stag with just two antlers) or “Ameise” (ant). None of these were official, though. In order to protect the Telemeter on the way, the turret was normally turned by 90° and hidden under a tarpaulin, in order not to give away any details of the highly classified equipment.

 

However, development of the Einheitspanzer family lagged behind schedule, and in early 1945 no E-50 chassis was available for the highly specialized Sd.Kfz. 282 – battle tanks and SPGs were in higher demand. As an alternative, the turret was quickly adapted for different tank hulls, namely the Sd.Kfz. 171, the Panzer V ‘Panther’ medium tank and the heavy Sd.Kfz. 181 ‘Tiger I’. Tests with both hulls in spring 1945 were successful, but only the lighter ‘Panther’ hull was chosen because it was lighter overall, more mobile and available in sufficient numbers for a quick roll-out. In this configuration, the system received the designation Sd.Kfz. 282/1, while the original Sd.Kfz. 282 designation was reserved for the originally planned E-50 chassis variant.

 

The first vehicles reached, together with the new FlaK tanks, the front units in September 1945. Operating independently, they were primarily allocated to the defense of important production sites and the city of Berlin, and they supported tank divisions through early warning duties and visual long-range reconnaissance. Operationally, the Sd.Kfz. 282’s sensor setup with its combined visual and radar input turned out to be surprisingly successful. The combination of the Basilisk radar with the KDO 40 rangefinder allowed a time from initial target acquisition to the first AA shot of less than 20 seconds, which was impressive for the time – typically, simple visual target acquisition took 30 seconds or more. First shot hit probability was appreciably improved, too, and even quick passes of aircraft at low altitudes could be precalculated, if the radar was not obstructed.

However, the radar remained capricious, its performance rather limited and the unarmored antenna fairing at the turret’s front was easily damaged in combat, even by heavy machinegun fire. But the Sd.Kfz. 282 offered, when the vehicle was placed in a location with a relatively free field of view (e. g. on a wide forest clearance or in an open field), a sufficient early warning performance against incoming bombers at medium to high altitudes, and it also appreciably mobilized the bulky but valuable KDO 40 device. It now could easily be moved around and keep up with the pace of motorized battle groups that the Panzer-Fla-Züge units were supposed to protect.

 

Until the end of hostilities, probably thirty Sd.Kfz. 282/1s were completed from newly built (Ausf. F, recognizable through the simpler all-metal wheels) or from refurbished earlier Panzer V chassis of various types before production switched in early 1946 to the E-50 chassis which had eventually become available in sufficient numbers.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Five (commander, radar operator, observer, driver, radio-operator/hull machine gunner)

Weight: 41.2 tonnes (40.4 long tons; 45.3 short tons)

Length (hull only): 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in)

Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) hull only

4,60 m (15 ft 1 in) overall

Height: 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)

Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels

Fuel capacity: 720 litres (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)

 

Armor:

15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.15 in)

 

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 48 km/h (30 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (160 mi)

Power/weight: 15.39 PS (11.5 kW)/tonne (13.77 hp/ton)

 

Engine:

Maybach HL230 P30 V-12 petrol engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)

ZF AK 7-200 gear; 7 forward 1 reverse

 

Armament:

1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun in the front glacis plate with 2.500 rounds

Optional MG 34 or 42 machine gun with 1.500 rounds on the turret

  

The kit and its assembly:

Another submission to the “Recce & Surveillance” group build at whatifmodellers.com in July 2021, and actually a good occasion to tackle a project that I had on my list for some years. A long while ago I bought a resin conversion set with a (purely fictional) Heer ‘46 anti-aircraft surveillance radar system, based on an E-50 chassis. Unfortunately, I cannot identify the manufacturer, but this 1:72 conversion set was/is nicely molded, with delicate details, no bubbles or flash and it even came with a commander figure for an optional open hatch on top as well as a pair of delicate brass antennae.

 

Even though I could have mounted this replacement turret onto a Trumpeter or Modelcollect E-50/75 chassis, I rather decided to create an earlier (1945 time frame) interim vehicle on a late Panzer V ‘Panther’ basis, mostly because it would be more compact and I doubt that brand new E-50/75s would have been “wasted” on second line/support vehicles like this mobile surveillance/commando post for anti-aircraft units?

 

The Panther chassis is the old Hasegawa kit for an Ausf. G tank from 1973, chosen because of its good fit, simplicity and the vinyl tracks, which I prefer. However, the kit clearly shows its age and some weak/soft details (e. g. the gratings on the engine deck), but it was enough for my plans and easy to handle.

 

Both turret and hull were built separately and basically OOB, combined with an adjusted turret ring. The Kdo 40’s “antlers” are to be glued directly to the turret’s flanks, but I reinforced the connections with wire. I also replaced the set’s brass antennae with heated sprue material and used a surplus PE detail set from a Modelcollect E-50/75 to hide the crude engine openings and change the overall look of the Panther a little. Some storage boxes as well as spare track links were added to the flanks, stuff collected from the scrap box.

To emphasize the refurbished character of the vehicle I left away the Panther’s side skirts – these were easily lost in battle, anyway, and probably have rather been allocated to battle tanks than to 2nd line support vehicles, despite leaving the Panther’s lower hull under the mudguards vulnerable.

  

Painting and markings:

Even though the paint scheme on this model is based on German standard colors, it is a little special. Late in real-world WWII some Panzer Vs received a unique, uniform RAL 6003 (Olivgrün) factory finish instead of the usual all-over RAL 7028 (Dunkelgelb) or the bare oxide red primer finish, onto which the frontline units would add individual camouflage, depending on the theatre of operations and whatever paint or application tool was at hand. This special green livery was adopted for the model, including the new turret. The individual camouflage consists of diagonal stripes in Dunkelgelb and Rotbraun (RAL 8017), added on top of the green basis with rather sharp and straight edges and only to the vertical surfaces. The practice to leave out the horizontal surfaces was called “Sparanstrich” (literally “economy paintwork”), an attempt to save the more and more scarce paint.

This rather odd style was actually applied to several late war Panther tanks – even though I am personally not certain about this pattern’s effectiveness? Maybe a kind of dazzle effect was sought for?

 

The basic green became a modern-day RAL 6003 from the rattle can (which is very close to FS 34102, just a tad lighter), applied in a rather cloudy fashion on top of an initial coat of Oxide Red primer (RAL 3009) overall, also from the rattle can. On top of that the stripes were painted with a brush, partly masked but mostly free-handedly. For some variation I used this time Tamiya XF-60 (a rather pale interpretation of Dunkelgelb which IMHO lacks a greenish hue and rather looks like a desert sand tone) and XF-64 (a rich whole milk chocolate tone) to create the additional camouflage, not fully opaque so that the impression of thinly/hastily applied paint was reinforced.

Once dry, the whole surface received a very dark brown washing with thinned acrylic paint and surface details were emphasized through dry-brushing with earth brown and beige.

For a different look (and to break up the tank’s bulky outlines) I applied camouflage nets to the model, realized with gauze bandages drenched in Tamyia XF-62 (Olive Drab) and mounted into place around the turret and at the front of the hull while still slightly wet.

 

Decals were puzzled together from various German tank sheets. The kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish, what also fixed the cammo nets in place. The originally shiny black vinyl tracks were also painted/weathered, with a wet-in-wet mix of grey, iron, black and red brown (all acrylics). Once mounted into place, mud and dust were simulated around the running gear and the lower hull with a greyish-brown mix of artist mineral pigments.

  

Not a spectacular build, but I am happy that I eventually had the opportunity and motivation to tackle this project that had been lingering for years in the The Stash™. The result looks really good – the anonymous resin set is/was excellent, and combined with the Panther hull, the whole thing looks very credible. I am only a bit sad that the odd, almost artistic camouflage got a little lost under the cammo nets and the equipment on the hull, and the dust/dirt on the lower areas blurs the three basic colors even more. Well, you cannot have everything at once, and I might re-use this scheme on a “cleaner” future build.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Friday, March 1, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 2:49am launch on March 2, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. (Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)

 

NASA image use policy.

Certainly, it was Storm's type of weather! A band of showers were approaching from the west. By the way, Storm is my car shown here if you guys were wondering lol. The weather may get even more interesting soon as a low-pressure system closes in... Pic taken from around San Jose, CA right by the Reid-Hillview Airport. Anyway, who's ready to storm chase? (Tuesday early evening, March 9, 2021; 5:02 p.m.)

 

*Weather forecast/update: Interesting weather was in store for the state… A low-pressure area off the coast was dropping southeastward, parallel to the coastline of the state. This day thru Wednesday, NorCal was to see periods of rain & ‘cold’ thunderstorms. This low-pressure system’s center was forecast to drift right over the Bay Area, ushering in an unstable airmass aloft, perfect for t-storm development. Hail, thunder & lightning was especially likely on Wednesday. Skies were forecast to clear out Thursday. Friday & Saturday look sunny with above normal temps. By Sunday afternoon & early Monday, another low-pressure area was to bring a chance of more precipitation to the north state…Is a Miracle March still in the making?

Boeing and NASA teams unload cargo from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 1:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 3, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

In March 2011, MESSENGER became the first spacecraft to orbit the planet Mercury. In July of the same year, the Dawn spacecraft became the first to orbit a main-belt asteroid, Vesta. Both MESSENGER and Dawn are missions in the Discovery program, NASA's lowest-cost category of planetary mission.

 

The image above shows Mercury on the left, and Vesta on the right. Both surfaces are marked by impact craters, but the most immediately noticeable difference is that Vesta has a much more irregular shape. This is a consequence of Mercury's far larger gravity, which has squeezed the planet into a sphere. Vesta's weak gravity is less able to overcome the strength of the rocks. Mercury's mass is about 1300 times greater than that of Vesta.

 

The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MDIS is scheduled to acquire more than 75,000 images in support of MESSENGER's science goals.

 

Dawn Vesta image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

 

MESSENGER Mercury image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

 

NASA image use policy.

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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Boeing and NASA teams unload cargo from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rollout out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test mission, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Orbital Flight Test with be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 6:36 a.m. EST launch on Dec. 20, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Manufacturer: BAE Systems

Operator BAE Systems / Royal Saudi Air Force:

Type: Mk165 Hawk (ZB122)

Event / Location: Delivery Flight / Warton Aerodrome

Several Steam Locomotives can be found in the collection of the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. One of these is Florida East Coast #113, a 4-6-2 Pacific built by the American Locomotive Company in 1913. Its career on the Florida East Coast lasted until 1938 when it was sold off to U.S. Sugar. On the USSC it hauled Cane Trains to and from the company's mill at Clewiston for another 30 years until being retired in the mid 1960s. In 1969 it was donated to the Museum which was based out of Fort Lauderdale not far from Port Everglades at the time. Here she reunited with fellow 4-6-2 #153 which was donated 12 years prior. For another two decades the 113 hauled the Museum's weekend excursion Trains in Lauderdale and later Miami. In he early 1980s she was even given an extensive overhaul. In 1986 she was chosen to lead a one time roundtrip passenger excursion over the Seaboard System's Homestead Branch between the Museum Grounds at Richmond and Homestead Proper for the City's Rodeo Days Celebration. In 1992 her fire was dropped for the final time on account of her deteriorating boiler and damage suffered from Hurricane Andrew. While she remains a static display piece, she was given a cosmetic restoration in 2008. In 2019 she was one of over 40 pieces of equipment put up for sale on Ozark Mountain Railcar by the Museum as part of their effort to transition into a mixed-use events venue. Video from my visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VisfxPXJtO4

After the disaster that was the Grouse I, the URE commissioned EP Industries to design a new system instead of relying on their in-house production and design crews. Using modified plans for the Grouse, EP Industries crafted the Grouse II, a far superior version. The system's limbs remain very similar to the original's, but the torso was completely reworked. In addition, the head was outfitted with better armor and sensor systems, bringing it up to date with the Greco-Roman's Gladius systems. Small changes to the Grouse II's armor and mechanics have made it more agile and sturdy than ever before.

 

Even though the orbital defense force is still made primarily of modified Grouse I's, the Grouse II can be outfitted with a variant version of the original jetpack, allowing for atmospheric and sub-orbital flight.

 

So I fixed up the grouse a bit, mostly making the chest a bit less chubby. I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. As always, fits a fig.

 

Likes and comments are highly appreciated. Thanks for viewing!

The weathered hulk of the Park Royal B44D bodied 1959 British United Traction RETB1/2 trolleybus built by Leyland Motors (UK) that saw its last service runs on the Farmers' trolleybus route in Auckland in September 1980 at the time of the system's closure, captured sitting on a lifestyle property on the Foxton-Foxton Beach Rd. on Friday afternoon, 26 January 2018.

Would appear to be on the move, maybe for scrap.

 

Was acquired by the Foxton Trolleybus Museum in 1993.

Was later sold by Ian Little to the owner of a lifestyle property on the Foxton-Foxton Beach Road (1994? following an electrical fire which rendered it kaput) where it has since languished in open storage and also remained for many years as the only Auckland trolleybus example left in Foxton since the return to Auckland of Park Royal-bodied No. 120 from the Foxton trolleybus museum in February 2009, which since then has seen No. 127 as the sole Auckland example left in the Foxton, albeit not sited at the Foxton museum.

 

Ex Auckland 127 was the latest acquisition for the Foxton Trolleybus Museum in 1993 and it had been sitting intact on an Auckland property since its withdrawal in September 1980 at the closure of the Auckland system, and was being used as a sleepout. Incredibly, on arrival in Foxton after an 11-hour tow south, it needed only a quick check before the poles went up and it could run under power on the Foxton museum system.

 

Auckland No. 127 was the last trolleybus to operate on the pioneer Farmers free bus trolleybus route (of 1938) from Wyndham St. to Hobson St. on the last day of revenue service of the Auckland trolleybus system on Friday, 26 September 1980. It left Hobson St. Special for the City Depot (Gaunt St.) at 9pm.

 

ARA No. 127, working the Farmers Free Bus service, in Queen Street near Victoria Street West, June 25, 1980....

www.flickr.com/photos/lwdemery/14061583027/in/faves-51227...

 

Auckland No. 127 captured on the last day of the Farmers Free Bus service in September 1980......

www.flickr.com/photos/54165483@N07/5966154312/in/photolis...

 

Auckland 127 on the Foxton lifestyle property in 1997.....

www.flickr.com/photos/51227209@N03/5560715850/in/photolis...

  

Milwaukee "Hop" streetcars 03, 02 and 05 rest at the system's carbarn (Operations & Maintenance Building) at Vel Phillips & Clybourn, directly underneath I-794. Not only is this an efficient use of space, but the freeway above provides some protection from the elements, allowing some cars to be stored outside. Despite looking like a full house, service out on the line was being provided by two other cars, I believe 01 and 04 in this case.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), left, Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine watch as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onbaord launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Friday, Dec. 20, 2019, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The uncrewed Orbital Flight Test launched at 6:36 a.m. EST and is Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

After the disaster that was the Grouse I, the URE commissioned EP Industries to design a new system instead of relying on their in-house production and design crews. Using modified plans for the Grouse, EP Industries crafted the Grouse II, a far superior version. The system's limbs remain very similar to the original's, but the torso was completely reworked. In addition, the head was outfitted with better armor and sensor systems, bringing it up to date with the Greco-Roman's Gladius systems. Small changes to the Grouse II's armor and mechanics have made it more agile and sturdy than ever before.

 

Even though the orbital defense force is still made primarily of modified Grouse I's, the Grouse II can be outfitted with a variant version of the original jetpack, allowing for atmospheric and sub-orbital flight.

 

So I fixed up the grouse a bit, mostly making the chest a bit less chubby. I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. As always, fits a fig.

 

Likes and comments are highly appreciated. Thanks for viewing!

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rollout out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test mission, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Orbital Flight Test with be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 6:36 a.m. EST launch on Dec. 20, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Jupiter's (and the solar system's) largest moon Ganymede in front of Jupiter. Color-composite assembled from narrow-angle camera images captured by Cassini on Jan. 2, 2001 in UV, green, and methane-band filters from a distance of 9.15 million km (5.68 million miles). Ganymede is about 1 million km from Jupiter.