Darienite (https://darienite.com/tag/cameron-on-transportation-history-2019)
Did you know that Bridgeport was once the home of “the car of the future?” It was the Tesla of its era, but only three were ever built.
This mystery vehicle? The Dymaxion Car. The designer? Buckminster Fuller. Best known for pioneering the 1940s architectural design of the geodesic dome, Fuller was already inventing other things a decade earlier.
I love reading timetables. Not the new ones on smartphone apps, but the old printed ones. Reading about a train or plane’s journey on paper is almost like taking the ride itself. Growing up in Canada, I was fascinated with the two major passenger railroads, the quasi-government owned “crown corporation” Canadian National Railroad (CNR) and the private Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR). Both ran transcontinental trains from Montreal and Toronto to Vancouver, a journey of 70-plus hours — if they were on time.
Have you ever flown in a helicopter? They seem such a glamorous (if expensive) way to travel, bypassing the traffic en route to the airport or sightseeing over rugged terrain. But do you know the helicopter had its first flight ever right here in Connecticut. It was the creation of Russian immigrant and inventor Igor Sikorsky, 80 years ago. Sure, Leonardo da Vinci made early drawings of a vertical flying machine, but that was in the 1480s.
Not all national historic sites are cited on mountains or historic battlefields. In nearby Scranton, Pennsylvania, there is a unique national park that celebrates a machine and its effect on this country’s history: Steamtown is all about steam-powered locomotives. When we think of fast trains today we think of sleek, electric-powered bullet trains. But in the early 1900s, the fast trains of the day were all pulled by giant steam engines, some of them weighing almost 150 tons and capable of speeds up to 125 mph. These mega machines were the jumbo jets of their day, pulling long trains over great distances, both freight and passengers.
Rail fans call them “fallen flags.”
They are railroads that no longer exist, like the original New Haven and New York Central railroads. But before I start getting all misty eyed, let’s also pay homage to airlines that have flown away into history. There’s PEOPLExpress, the domestic discount airline that flew out of Newark’s grungy old North Terminal starting in 1981. Fares were dirt cheap, collected on-board during the flight and checked bags cost $3. You even had to pay for sodas and snacks.