Because of its position, Calais has been a major port and an important centre for transport and trading with England since the Middle Ages. Calais came under English control after Edward III of Englandcaptured the city in 1347, followed by a treaty in 1360 that formally assigned Calais to English rule. Calais grew into a thriving centre for wool production, and came to be called the "brightest jewel in the English crown" because of its importance as the gateway for the tin, lead, lace and wool trades (or "staples"). Calais remained under English control until its capture by France in 1558. (Full article...)
Image 22German soldiers in a railway car on the way to the front in August 1914. The message on the car reads Von München über Metz nach Paris ("From Munich via Metz to Paris"). (from Rail transport)
Image 31Bardon Hill box in England (seen here in 2009) is a Midland Railway box dating from 1899, although the original mechanical lever frame has been replaced by electrical switches. (from Rail transport)
Image 32An ambulance from World War I (from Transport)
Image 330-Series Shinkansen, introduced in 1964, triggered the intercity train travel boom. (from Rail transport)
Image 44San Diego Trolley over Interstate 8 (from Road transport)
Image 45Swiss & German co-production: world's first functional diesel–electric railcar 1914 (from Rail transport)
Image 46According to Eurostat and the European Railway Agency, the fatality risk for passengers and occupants on European railways is 28 times lower when compared with car usage (based on data by EU-27 member nations, 2008–2010). (from Rail transport)
Image 60Bronocice pot with the earliest known image of a wheeled vehicle in the world, found in Poland (from Transport)
Image 61The Great North Road near High gate on the approach to London before turnpiking. The highway was deeply rutted and spread onto adjoining land. (from Road transport)
Image 62The Polish transport company Bedmet uses a special vehicle to transport two large silos. (from Road transport)
Image 66A cast iron fishbelly edge rail manufactured by Outram at the Butterley Company for the Cromford and High Peak Railway in 1831; these are smooth edge rails for wheels with flanges. (from Rail transport)
Image 67A 16th-century minecart, an early example of unpowered rail transport (from Rail transport)
The Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz (or Davos Platz [Summer only]) in Switzerland is one of the great train journeys in the world. It is not an "express" in the sense of being a high-speed train (it isn't) but rather in the sense that it provides a one-seat ride from end to end, even though the train travels over several different railroad lines; reputedly it is the slowest "express" in the world. The trip on the Glacier Express is a 7½ hour railway journey across 291 bridges, through 91 tunnels and across the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 metres in altitude. The entire line is metre gauge, and large portions of it use a rack-and-pinion system both for ascending steep grades and to control the descent of the train on the back side of those grades.
... that a section of Mississippi Highway 489 was designated as the Jason Boyd Memorial Highway to commemorate the MDOT superintendent who was killed while removing debris from the road?
... that United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg wrote an essay in 2000 on Bernie Sanders, his future competitor in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries?
... that when Charles P. Gross became the chairman of the New York City Board of Transportation, the mayor told him that "if you think war is Hell, then you have something waiting for you on this job"?