A day out by the sea must have seemed an enticing prospect for the 940 passengers who packed into a special excursion train at Armagh station in Ireland one warm summer’s morning. Such had been the demand for places that a further two coaches were added on the day to the 13 already assigned. This …
Britain’s first major train crash occurred in August 1868 in North Wales. The Irish Mail was a daily express service from London Euston to Holyhead in Anglesey, where many passengers embarked on the ferry to Ireland. The train, which was known for its speed and efficiency, frequently carried some of the country’s wealthiest and most …
The bitter four-year civil war which had torn the American nation apart, pitting North against South, was finally over, and captured Union soldiers who had been held in Confederacy prisons in the South could at last look forward to a reunion with their families. Weakened and exhausted though they were by the harsh conditions of …
The children who attended the Sunday school at St Michael’s Catholic Church in the Philadelphia suburb of Kensington were excited by the prospect of an outing to Fort Washington, outside the city, for a picnic in the park. They were up at dawn and were boarding the special excursion train by 05.00. Already the balmy …
Germany built the biggest and best airships, having honed the technology after constructing huge Zeppelins from the early years of the 20th century. The guiding light was Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who finalized his revolutionary design for a rigid-frame airship in the 1890s. Before World War I Zeppelins were being used for scheduled passenger flights …