Road Trains

Roadtrains Australia

Sent by Jenny, a postcrosser from Victoria, Australia.

Faroe Islands - Atlantic Airways

 

Atlantic Airways, Vágar. 

Sent by Regin, TravBuddy friend from Faroe Islands. 

Atlantic Airways (OMX: FO-AIR) is the national airline of the Faroe Islands, operating domestic helicopter services and international passenger services as well as search and rescue responsibilities from its base at Vágar Airport, on the Faroese island of Vágar.Most of its pilots are members of the Faroese Pilot Association.(Source)

Japan - All Nippon Airways

B787 of All Nippon Airways.

Sent by Taroh, a postcrosser from Japan.

This is from Wikipedia : All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (全日本空輸株式会社 Zen Nippon Kūyu Kabushiki-gaisha^?, TYO: 9202, LSE: ANA), also known as Zennikkū (全日空^?) or ANA, is one of the largest airlines in Japan. It is headquartered at the Shiodome City Center in theShiodome area in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It operates services to 49 destinations in Japan and 31 international routes and employed over 14,000 employees as of May 2009. In May 2010, ANA's total passenger traffic is up year-on-year by 7.8%, and its international services grow by 22% to 2.07 million passengers in the first five months of 2010. ANA's main international hubs are atNarita International Airport outside Tokyo and Kansai International Airport outside Osaka. Its main domestic hubs are at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda), Osaka International Airport Itami, Chūbu Centrair International Airport (near Nagoya), and New Chitose Airport (near Sapporo).

In addition to its mainline operations, ANA controls several subsidiary passenger carriers, including its regional airline, ANA Wingsand charter carrier, Air Japan. Additional smaller carriers include Air Do, a low-cost carrier operating scheduled service betweenTokyo and cities in Hokkaido, AirAsia Japan, a planned low-cost carrier joint venture between Malaysia's AirAsia and ANA, and Allex Cargo (ANA Cargo), the freighter division operated by Air Japan. ANA is also the largest shareholder in Peach, a low-cost carrier joint venture with First Eastern Investment Group. All Nippon Airways is currently an official sponsor of Japan Football Association.

Thailand - Bangkok - Royal Barge Anantanakraj

The Royal Barge Anantanakraj with an escorting barge.

Sent by Leela, a postcrosser from Bangkok, Thailand.

This is from Wikipedia : Thailand's Royal Barge Procession (Thai: กระบวนพยุหยาตราชลมารค; RTGS: Krabuan Phayuhayattra Chonlamak) is a ceremony of both religious and royal significance which has been taking place for nearly 700 years. The exquisitely crafted Royal Barges are a blend of craftsmanship and traditional Thai art. The Royal Barge Procession takes place rarely, typically coinciding with only the most significant cultural and religious events. During the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, spanning over 60 years, the Procession has only occurred 16 times.

The Royal Barge Procession, in the present, consists of 52 barges: 51 historical Barges, and the Royal Barge, the Narai Song Suban, which King Rama IX built in 1994. It is the only Barge built during King Bhumibol's reign. These barges are manned by 2,082 oarsmen. The Procession proceeds down the Chao Phraya River, from the Wasukri Royal Landing Place in Khet Dusit, Bangkok, passes the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the Grand Palace, Wat Po (Thai: วัดโพธิ์), and finally arrives at Wat Arun (Thai: วัดอรุณ, Temple of the Dawn).

Germany - Brockenbahn

Brockenbahn or Brocken Railway.

Sent by Helga, a postcrosser from Apen, Germany.

This is from Wikipedia : The Brocken Railway (German: Brockenbahn) is one of three tourist metre gauge railways which together with the Harz Railway and Selke Valley Railway form the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways railway network in the Harz mountain range of Germany.

It runs from the station of Drei Annen Hohne at 542 m (1,778 ft), where it joins the Harz Railway, via Schierke and the Bode River valley to the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain of the Harz at 1,141 m (3,743 ft) and part of the Harz National Park.

The Brocken Railway leaves Drei Annen Hohne station (542 m above NN), like the Harz Railway, in a southwesterly direction. Before exiting the station, however, it crosses the road to Schierke/Elend and then enters the Harz National Park. It then heads west to Schierke station (688 m), where until 1963, there was a siding to Knaupsholz granite quarry at about the half-way point. The line then runs for some distance along the valley of the Cold Bode, which lies south and far below the line. Next the 971 m high mountain, the Wurmberg, appears on the left, and the train crosses the Brocken Road for the first time.

After a tight left hand bend before the Eckerloch Bridge and another right-hander, the line reaches Goetheweg station (956 m), which is now only used as a locomotive depot. Then the line runs directly to the Brocken, encircling it in a spiral 1 ½ times, during which it crosses the Brocken Road again, and then finally ends after 18.9 km at Brocken station (1,125 m).

As early as 1869 there was a design for the construction of a railway to the Brocken, but it was turned down. A resubmission in 1895 succeeded, however, and, on 30 May 1896, the construction permit was issued once Prince Otto of Stolberg-Wernigerode had allocated the requisite land. The first section of the Brocken Railway, from Drei Annen Hohne to Schierke, was opened on 20 June 1898 and construction work for the remaining section up to the Brocken was begun on 4 October 1898. Initially services to the Brocken only ran between 30 April to 15 October; during the winter trains terminated at Schierke station. At the end of the Second World War significant damage occurred to the track, mainly through bombs and grenades, in the course of fighting in the Harz, which had been declared a fortress. The section to the Brocken was only reopened, therefore, in 1949.


The operator of the Brocken Railway until 5 August 1948 was the Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway Company (NWE), after which it belonged from the Association of Publicly-Owned Companies (VVB), part of Saxony-Anhalt's transport services, and, from 11 April 1949 to the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany. Only after the German winter sports championships in 1950, which took place in Schierke, did winter trains run up to the Brocken summit. A railway station at Eckerloch was also built for the championships which was closed again after they had ended. The location of the former sidings at Eckerloch station can still be easily seen.

Goods trains continued to work the Brocken Railway right up to 1987, although since the construction of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961 the Brocken and its station had been part of the out-of-bounds area and thus not accessible to the public. Up to that time the trains transported coal, oil and building materials up the mountain for the East German Border Troops and Soviet soldiers who were stationed there.

Passengers services on the Brocken Railway continued to run from Drei Annen Hohne to Schierke; usually only two pairs of passenger train pairs ran each day; however they could only be used with a special pass, because Schierke lay in the border zone with West Germany.

After German reunification the continued operation of the Brocken Railway was initially called into question, however united efforts by railway enthusiasts and politicians under the overall control of the then state Minister for the Economy, Horst Rehberger, helped to give the Brocken Railway a second chance. The German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) were also involived, because the Brocken Railway was needed to haul away the obsolete, military facilities on the Brocken. On 15 September 1991, after being renovated, the Brocken Railway was ceremoniously opened to the public with two steam-hauled trains. The trains were headed by locomotive no. 99 5903, a Mallet locomotive, which had been procured by the NWE in 1897/98, and locomotive no. 99 6001, a prototype developed in 1939 by the firm of Krupp.
Since the privatisation of the narrow gauge lines in the Harz in 1993 the Brocken Railway has been operated by the Harz Narrow Gauges Railways (HSB).

The steam trains on the Brocken Railway have become popular with thousands of tourists every year, offering convenient access to the top of the Brocken.

Up to six pairs of trains run daily to the top of the Brocken during the winter. Of those, four start and end in Wernigerode. During the summer, services are increased to eleven pairs of trains daily. The fastest train takes 49 minutes to reach the summit. The Brocken Railway is the only HSB line whose regular services are exclusively hauled by steam locomotives (specials are also hauled by diesel railbuses and diesel engines of Class 199.8, the latter for clearing snow).

Vietnam - Mekong Delta - Bicycle-Pulled

Bicycle-pulled - a popular vehicle in the Mekong Delta.

Sent by Lyra, a postcrosser from Vietnam.

USA - Pennsylvania - Steamtown National Historic Site

STEAMTOWN NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, Scranton, PA.
Engine #2317 shown here, a 4-6-2 type was formerly owned by the Canadian Pacific R.R. and once pulled intercontinental expresses in Canada. Built in 1923 and based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, this engine and tender weighing nearly 300 tons now thrills visitors with excursions through the lush mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania.

Sent by Dan, a postcrosser from Pennsylvania, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on 62.48 acres (25.3 ha) in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The museum is built around a working replica turntable and a roundhouse that is largely a replica but which includes two authentic sections built in 1902 and 1937. All the buildings on the site are listed with the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Yard-Dickson Manufacturing Co. Site.

Most of the steam locomotives and other railroad equipment at Steamtown NHS were originally collected by F. Nelson Blount, a millionaire seafood processor from New England. In 1964, Blount established a non-profit organization, the Steamtown Foundation, to operate Steamtown, USA, a steam railroad museum and excursion business in Bellows Falls, Vermont. In 1984, the foundation moved Steamtown to Scranton, conceived of as urban redevelopment and funded in part by the city. But the museum failed to attract the expected 200,000 to 400,000 annual visitors, and within two years was facing bankruptcy.

In 1986, the U.S. House of Representatives, at the urging of Scranton native Representative Joseph M. McDade, approved $8 million to begin turning the museum into a National Historic Site. The idea was derided by those who called the collection second-rate, the site's historical significance questionable, and the public funding no more than pork-barrel politics. But proponents said the site and the collection were ideal representations of American industrial history. By 1995, the National Park Service (NPS) had acquired Steamtown, USA and improved its facilities at a total cost of $66 million.

Steamtown National Historic Site has since sold a few pieces from the Blount collection, and added a few others deemed of greater historical significance to the region. Low visitor attendance and the need of costly asbestos removal from many pieces of the collection have spurred discussion about privatizing Steamtown.

Bicycle (2)

Sent by Marianneke, a postcrosser from Amsterdam, Holland.

REO Wolverine Brougham 1928

REO Wolverine Brougham 1928.

Sent by Britta, a postcrosser from Finland.

Bicycle (1)

Just started collecting postcards of bicycle(s). This is our first. Sent by Sabine, a postcrosser from Germany.

Japan - E3type

E3type or E3 Series Shinkansen (high speed train).

Sent by Taroh, a postcrosser from Japan.

This is from Wikipedia : The E3 series (E3系?) is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train type built for Komachi services which commenced on 3 June 1997, coinciding with opening of the new Akita Shinkansen 'mini-shinkansen' line, a regular 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow-gauge line between Morioka and Akita upgraded to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge. Later versions of the E3 series were also introduced for use on Yamagata Shinkansen Tsubasa services. Both 'mini-shinkansen' lines join the Tōhoku Shinkansen, providing services south to Tokyo.

Like the 400 Series Shinkansen, these trains are built to a smaller loading gauge than mainline Shinkansen trains—the width and length of each car is reduced to fit on the narrower clearances of the 'mini-shinkansen'.

USA - Massachusetts - U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides")

U.S.S. CONSTITUTION ("OLD IRONSIDES")
Boston Harbor, Massachusetts
Nicknamed when cannon balls bounced off her oak planking, Old Ironsides was undefeated in 40 historic battles. The ship, built in Boston in 1797, is still a U.S. Navy ship and a living museum of Naval History. Every year on the 4th of July, with decorative flags flying and her cannon booming, the Constitution is towed out into the harbor and turned around to permit even weathering at her permanent dock in Charlestown.

Sent by Dennis, a postcrosser from Los Angeles, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel. Launched in 1797, Constitution was one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed. Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Constitution and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. Built in Boston, Massachusetts at Edmund Hartt's shipyard, her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.

Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of "Old Ironsides" and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping. She continued to actively serve the nation as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons, and circled the world in the 1840s. During the American Civil War she served as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy and carried artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of 1878. Retired from active service in 1881, she served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907. In 1931 she started a three year 90-port tour of the nation, and in 1997 she finally sailed again under her own power for her 200th birthday.

Constitution's mission today is to promote understanding of the Navy’s role in war and peace through educational outreach, historic demonstration, and active participation in public events. As a fully commissioned US Navy ship, her crew of 60 officers and sailors participate in ceremonies, educational programs and special events while keeping the ship open to visitors year-round and providing free tours. The officers and crew are all active-duty US Navy personnel and the assignment is considered special duty in the Navy. Traditionally, command of the vessel is assigned to a Navy Commander. She is berthed at Pier 1 of the former Charlestown Navy Yard, at one end of Boston's Freedom Trail.

Germany - E-Lok 21

E-Lok 21, Year of Construction 1927.

Sent by Fabi, a postcrosser from Germany.

India - Rickshaw in Hampi, Karnataka

A rickshaw in Hampi in Karnataka State, India.

Sent by Kamran, a postcrosser from India.

This is from Wikipedia : Hampi (Kannada: ಹಂಪೆ Hampe) is a village in northern Karnataka state, India. It is located within the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Predating the city of Vijayanagara, it continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple, as well as several other monuments belonging to the old city.

As the village is at the original centre of Vijayanagara, it is sometimes confused with the ruined city itself. The ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as the Group of Monuments at Hampi.

The name is derived from Pampa, which is the old name of the Tungabhadra River on whose banks the city is built. The name "Hampi" is an anglicized version of the Kannada Hampe (derived from Pampa). Over the years, it has also been referred to as Vijayanagara and Virupakshapura (from Virupaksha, the patron deity of the Vijayanagara rulers).

Hampi is identified with the historical Kishkindha, the Vanara (monkey) kingdom mentioned in the Ramayana. The first historical settlements in Hampi date back to 1 CE.

Hampi formed one of the core areas of the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565, when it was finally laid siege to by the Deccan Muslim confederacy. Hampi was chosen because of its strategic location, bounded by the torrential Tungabhadra river on one side and surrounded by defensible hills on the other three sides.

The site is significant historically and architecturally. The topography abounds with large stones which have been used to make statues of Hindu deities. The Archaeological Survey of India continues to conduct excavations in the area, to discover additional artifacts and temples.

Germany - Wuppertal Schwebebahn

WUPPERTAL
Schwebebahn

Sent by Hannah, a postcrosser from Wuppertal in Germany.

This is from Wikipedia : Wuppertal Schwebebahn is a suspended monorail in Wuppertal, Germany. Its full name is the “Eugen Langen Monorail Suspension Railway” (Einschienige Hängebahn System Eugen Langen). Designed by Eugen Langen, who originally planned to build it in Berlin, it was built in 1900, opened in 1901 and is still in use today as a local transport system in the city. It is the oldest monorail system in the world.

The suspension railway travels along a route 13.3 kilometres long, about 12 metres (39 ft 4 in) above the surface of the river Wupper between Oberbarmen and Sonnborner Straße (10 km) and approximately 8 m above the city streets, between Sonnborner Straße and Vohwinkel (3.3 km). At one point the railway crosses the A46 motorway. The entire trip takes about 30 minutes. The Schwebebahn transports 25 million passengers annually (2008).

The Schwebebahn operates within the VRR transport association and accepts tickets issued by the VRR companies.

Taiwan - Wulai

Wulai, Taipei, Taiwan.

Sent by Peng, a postcrosser from Taiwan.

This is from Wikipedia : Wulai Township (traditional Chinese: 烏來鄉; pinyin: Wūlái Xiāng; POJ: U-lâi-hiong; also seen as Ulay) is a rural township in southern Taipei County in north Taiwan (ROC). It sits near the border with Taipei and is famous for its hot springs. The name of the town derives from the Atayal phrase qilux ulay meaning "hot and poisonous".

On 25 December 2010, the entire county will become Xinbei City, and Wulai Township will become Wulai District.

Wulai is a tourist town most renowned for its hot springs, sightseeing, and aboriginal culture.

Other activities include hiking, camping, swimming, fishing, and birdwatching. During the spring, visitors come see the sakura trees bloom.

According to locals, bathing in the odorless hot springs can cure skin diseases (such as ringworm, eczema, and herpes).

Wulai hot springs - visitors often go to the numerous hot spring hotels, public baths, as well as the Wulai river.

Brazil - Electric Tram at Santa Tereza

Rio de Janeiro - Electric tram at Santa Tereza.

Sent by Cláudia, a postcrosser from Brazil.

India - Auto Rickshaw

INDIA
Auto Rickshaw

Sent by Rahgav from India.

"This is a cheap method of transport between attractions. You can find an auto stand at almost every bus stop, and at important places near junctions and residential areas. Make sure you agree on a fare with the driver before the journey. The govt fixed rates starts at Rs 10 for the first 1.25 km and Rs 6 per km thereafter with a premium of 15% at night (7PM-6AM). Pre-paid auto stands are available only in railway stations." (Source)

Poland - Ol49-111 Locomotive

OL49-111 Driving Steam Locomotive.

Sent by przygodanahelu from Poland.

This is from Wikipedia : PKP class Ol49 was a class of steam engine used in Poland by the PKP. A total of 116 were built between 1951 and 1954, 112 for the PKP and four for export to North Korea, by Fablok in Chrzanow.

They replaced the older Ok1 and Ok22.

Several examples are still in use, based out of Wolsztyn, while others have been mounted at various locations across Poland. At least one example has been exported for preservation and can be found in Belgium.

Indonesia - Sidotopo Station

Dipo Lokomotif Sidotopo or Sidotopo Locomotive Depot (Station) in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Sent by Bagus, a friend from Bandung, Indonesia.

This is from Wikipedia : Sidotopo Station (SDT) is a railway station for train porters, as well as park maintenance and train passengers as well as locomotives. Station locations are located in The Village Sidotopo, Semampir, Surabaya. The station is situated at an altitude of +2.5 m asl is not used as a passenger departure station and its management is under the Operational Area VIII Surabaya .