Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
A diesel-electric locomotive carries its own power station.
A diesel-electric locomotive carries its own power station. The diesel engine drives a generator or alternator, which supplies electric traction motors at the…
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Volkswagen advertised a Beetle by driving it into the sea.
Volkswagen advertised a Beetle by driving it into the sea. A 1972 commercial sent a Beetle into Long Island Sound to demonstrate its tight construction. A…
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Standing on the right side of an escalator so impatient people can walk on the left actually reduces the overall efficiency of the machine.
Standing on the right side of an escalator so impatient people can walk on the left actually reduces the overall efficiency of the machine. The walking lane…
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A ride-hailing trip can add traffic before you get in.
A ride-hailing trip can add traffic before you get in. Drivers travel empty to collect passengers and between fares. If the paid ride replaces transit,…
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Hot air balloons possess absolutely no directional steering mechanisms, making them the only form of human transport where the pilot essentially surrenders completely to the chaotic whims of the wind.
Hot air balloons possess absolutely no directional steering mechanisms, making them the only form of human transport where the pilot essentially surrenders…
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A traffic jam makes you stay alert while taking away control.
A traffic jam makes you stay alert while taking away control. You must watch the car ahead, brake, and react even when you cannot make meaningful progress.…
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An airline reportedly found $40,000 hiding in its salad garnishes.
An airline reportedly found $40,000 hiding in its salad garnishes. American Airlines' famous cost-cutting story involved removing one olive from each…
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A New York street redesign gained bike space—and nearby sales rose.
A New York street redesign gained bike space—and nearby sales rose. The city's study of a Ninth Avenue redesign reported stronger retail-sales growth along…
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Automakers in the 1920s experimented with mounting literal pedestrian catchers on the front bumpers of early cars to scoop up people walking in the street instead of violently running them over.
Automakers in the 1920s experimented with mounting literal pedestrian catchers on the front bumpers of early cars to scoop up people walking in the street…
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A cockpit windshield failure pulled the captain of British Airways Flight 5390 partly out of the aircraft in 1990.
A cockpit windshield failure pulled the captain of British Airways Flight 5390 partly out of the aircraft in 1990. Cabin crew held onto him while the copilot…
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Ford imagined a car that would carry its own nuclear reactor.
Ford imagined a car that would carry its own nuclear reactor. The 1958 Nucleon reached the scale-model stage, with a reactor envisioned at the rear. The…
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Los Angeles once moved huge distances on electric interurban trains.
Los Angeles once moved huge distances on electric interurban trains. Pacific Electric's Red Cars linked communities across a sprawling regional network. As…
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Dean Kamen hyped the invention of the Segway so aggressively in 2001 that tech billionaires genuinely predicted cities would completely redesign their infrastructure just to accommodate the two-wheeled balancing stick.
Dean Kamen hyped the invention of the Segway so aggressively in 2001 that tech billionaires genuinely predicted cities would completely redesign their…
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The Waldorf Astoria rose above a railway siding.
The Waldorf Astoria rose above a railway siding. Track 61 already served the rail complex before the hotel was built over that area. The hotel's arrival…
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High heels were useful to riders before fashion adopted them.
High heels were useful to riders before fashion adopted them. Persian riding footwear used raised heels to help a foot stay in the stirrup. That support…
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A student’s last school year became a railway farewell.
A student’s last school year became a railway farewell. At Kyū-Shirataki in rural Hokkaido, a schoolgirl used the nearly deserted station during her final…
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A bus-tire ritual became part of Soyuz launch folklore.
A bus-tire ritual became part of Soyuz launch folklore. Male crew members have repeated a stop associated with Yuri Gagarin: urinating against a rear tire on…
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Airbus engineers designed a bizarrely shaped cargo plane known as the Beluga solely because they needed a vehicle large enough to transport entire sections of other airplanes across Europe.
Airbus engineers designed a bizarrely shaped cargo plane known as the Beluga solely because they needed a vehicle large enough to transport entire sections of…
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Honda designed a tiny scooter to travel inside a tiny car.
Honda designed a tiny scooter to travel inside a tiny car. The 1981 Motocompo was made to fit in the Honda City's luggage area. Its handlebars and seat folded…
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Chicago engineers spent the mid-nineteenth century physically lifting entire brick buildings, streets, and sidewalks up to fourteen feet in the air using thousands of manual jackscrews.
Chicago engineers spent the mid-nineteenth century physically lifting entire brick buildings, streets, and sidewalks up to fourteen feet in the air using…
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Hong Kong gave a steep neighborhood an outdoor escalator commute.
Hong Kong gave a steep neighborhood an outdoor escalator commute. The Central–Mid-Levels system links covered escalators and moving walkways over roughly 800…
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Wuppertal’s passenger trains hang below their track instead of riding on top.
Wuppertal’s passenger trains hang below their track instead of riding on top. The wheels run on an overhead rail, while the cabins remain upright beneath it.…
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London black cab drivers must memorize 320 standard routes through 25,000 streets and know the exact location of 20,000 landmarks to pass a brutal test known as The Knowledge,…
London black cab drivers must memorize 320 standard routes through 25,000 streets and know the exact location of 20,000 landmarks to pass a brutal test known…
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Camels were successfully introduced to the Australian Outback in the nineteenth century to help explore the vast, arid interior of the continent because they can travel up to 40…
Camels were successfully introduced to the Australian Outback in the nineteenth century to help explore the vast, arid interior of the continent because they…
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