Portal:Transport/Did you know/August 2008

August 2008

 * ... that Kristiania Sporveisselskab (pictured) established the first tramway in Oslo, Norway, in 1875?
 * ... that the U.S. and Canadian ships escorting the British merchant ships of  Convoy ON 67 in 1942 had one working radar between them, lacked sufficient binoculars and had never operated together before?
 * ... that New York State Route 192 and its suffixed route, 192A, were two of only three decommissioned routes in Franklin County's section of Adirondack Park?
 * ... that the sinking of the year-old United States cargo ship SS Washingtonian with her $1,000,000 cargo of raw sugar in January 1915 contributed to a 9% rise in the price of sugar in the United States?


 * ... that when the Common Tunnel (pictured) opened in 1928 it made the Holmenkoll Line the first underground railway in Scandinavia?
 * ... that SS Pennsylvanian, an American cargo ship, was one of the first two steamships to travel eastbound through the Panama Canal after it opened in August 1914?
 * ... that the Barcol hardness test was developed during World War II for the U.S. Army Air Corps to check that airplane rivets had not been sabotaged?
 * ... that delay certificates issued by railway companies in Japan and Germany to passengers for tardy trains are considered valid reasons by superiors for reporting late to school or work?


 * ... that U.S. Navy transport ship USS Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280)] successfully avoided a torpedo attack in World War I, only to be sunk by the same method during World War II?
 * ... that the Ekeberg Line used 1,200 volts unlike the rest of the Oslo Tramway, and therefore those trams only went at half power in the city streets?
 * ... that the Polish Club Class glider SZD-59 "Acro" is competitive in both unlimited aerobatics and cross-country flying?
 * ... that the source of the bomb that brought down Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 near 100 Mile House, British Columbia in 1965, taking the lives of all 52 aboard, was never determined?


 * ... that SF Ammonia, which was used to connect Rjukanbanen with Tinnosbanen, Norway, is the last surviving steam powered railway ferry in the world?
 * ...the study of airmail is known as aerophilately?
 * ...that the Challenger accident (pictured) was caused by an o-ring failure?