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Blue Train (South Africa)
The ''Blue Train'' travels an approximately journey in South Africa between Pretoria and Cape Town. It is one of the most luxurious train journeys in the world. It boasts butler service, two lounge cars (smoking and non-smoking), an observation car, and carriages with gold-tinted picture windows, in soundproofed, fully carpeted compartments, each featuring its own en-suite (many of which are equipped with a full-sized bathtub). The service is promoted as a "magnificent moving five-star hotel" by its operators, who note that kings and presidents have travelled on it. History The ''Blue Train'''s origins date back to 1923, when the ''Union Express'' commenced between Johannesburg and Cape Town, it was named the ''Union Limited'' in the reverse direction.The rhythm of The Blue Train ''Rail Enthusiast'' issue 26 November 1983 pages 51-55 The ''Union Express'' introduced luxury features such as a dining saloon in 1933 and air-conditioned carriages from Metro-Cammell in 1939. After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karoo
The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold.Potgieter, D.J. & du Plessis, T.C. (1972) ''Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa''. Vol. 6. pp. 306–307. Nasou, Cape Town.''Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa''. (5th Ed. 1993). pp. 78–89. Reader’s Digest Association of South Africa Pty. Ltd., Cape Town. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils. The ǃ’Aukarob formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the interior from Cape Town, and the early adventurers, explorers, hunters, and travelers o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls ( Lozi: ''Mosi-oa-Tunya'', "The Smoke That Thunders"; Tonga: ''Shungu Namutitima'', "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, which provides habitat for several unique species of plants and animals. It is located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and is one of the world's largest waterfalls, with a width of . Archeological sites and oral history describe a long record of African knowledge of the site. Though known to some European geographers before the 19th century, Scottish missionary David Livingstone identified the falls in 1855, providing the English colonial name of Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria. Since the mid 20th century, the site has been an increasingly important source of tourism. Zambia and Zimbabwe both have national parks and tourism infrastructure at the site. Research in the late 2010s found that climate change caused precipitation variability is likely to change the character of the fall. Name orig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozambique to the east. The capital and largest city is Harare. The second largest city is Bulawayo. A country of roughly 15 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona language, Shona, and Northern Ndebele language, Ndebele the most common. Beginning in the 9th century, during its late Iron Age, the Bantu peoples, Bantu people (who would become the ethnic Shona people, Shona) built the city-state of Great Zimbabwe which became one of the major African trade centres by the 11th century, controlling the gold, ivory and copper trades with the Swahili coast, which were connected to Arab and Indian states. By the mid 15th century, the city-state had been abandoned. From there, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe was established, fol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends from north to south and from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926. To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, respectively. To the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNES ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Elizabeth
Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa's second-largest metropolitan district by area size. It is the sixth-most populous city in South Africa and is the cultural, economic and financial centre of the Eastern Cape. The city was founded as Port Elizabeth in 1820 by Sir Rufane Donkin, who was the governor of the Cape at the time. He named it after his late wife, Elizabeth, who had died in India. The Donkin memorial in the CBD of the city bears testament to this. Port Elizabeth was established by the government of the Cape Colony when 4,000 British colonists settled in Algoa Bay to strengthen the border region between the Cape Colony and the Xhosa. It is nicknamed "The Friendly City" or "The Windy City". In 2019, the Eastern Cape Geographical Names Committee recommended ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Blue Train
Blue Train may refer to: Rail * ''Blue Train'' (South Africa), a South African luxury train * Blue Train (Japan), the generic name for sleeping car trains in Japan * The Blue Train (fr. '' Le Train Bleu''), a train that ran between Calais and the French Riviera ** ''Le Train Bleu'' (ballet), a ballet by Bronislava Nijinska, music by Darius Milhaud, scenario by Jean Cocteau, set by Henri Laurens, Chanel and Picasso (Ballets Russes, 1924) * British Rail Class 303 or Blue Train, electric suburban trains introduced on the North Clyde Line and elsewhere in the Glasgow area * Blue Train (Yugoslavia), referred to as ''Tito's Blue Train'', a luxury train used by former Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito * Blue Train (Turkey), passenger train service in Turkey Other uses * Le Train Bleu (restaurant) or The Blue Train, a restaurant * Blue Train, a nickname for the U.S. Postal Service cycling team * ''The Mystery of the Blue Train'', a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Railway Magazine
''The Railway Magazine'' is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation in the United Kingdom, having a monthly average sale during 2009 of 34,715 (the figure for 2007 being 34,661). It was published by IPC Media until October 2010, with , and in 2007 won IPC's 'Magazine of the Year' award. Since November 2010, ''The Railway Magazine'' has been published by Mortons of Horncastle. History ''The Railway Magazine'' was launched by Joseph Lawrence and ex-railwayman Frank E. Cornwall of Railway Publishing Ltd, who thought there would be an amateur enthusiast market for some of the material they were then publishing in a railway staff magazine, the ''Railway Herald''. They appointed as its first editor a former auctioneer, George Augustus Nokes (1867–1948), who wrote under the pseudonym "G. A. Sekon". He quickly bui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Class 18E, Series 2
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 18E, Series 2 of 2009 is a South African electric locomotive. In 2000, Spoornet embarked on a program to rebuild Class 6E1, Series 6 to 11 locomotives to Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives. Most of the Class 6E1s which had previously been reclassified or modified to Class 16E or Class 17E respectively were rebuilt to Class 18E as well. Rebuilding to Series 1 locomotives ceased in 2009, with 446 units rebuilt.Information gathered from the rebuild files of individual locomotives at Transnet Rail Engineering's Koedoespoort shops, or obtained from John Middleton as well as several Transnet employees Commencing in late 2009, all further rebuilt Class 6E1 locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa were designated Class 18E, Series 2. These were rebuilt from Class 6E1, Series 2 to 8 locomotives and from one Class 18E, Series 1. Manufacturer The 3 kV DC Class 6E1 electric locomotive was built for the South African ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Class 20E
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 20E of 2013 is a South African electric locomotive. In early August 2013 the first of ninety-five Class 20E dual-voltage electric locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail was lowered onto its bogies for the first time. Ten of these locomotives were built by the Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company in China while the rest were built locally. Manufacturer The first ten of ninety-five 3 kV DC and 25 kV AC dual voltage Class 20E electric locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail were built in China by Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company, a subsidiary of the China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation (CSR), China's leading train m ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modern Railways
''Modern Railways'' is a British monthly magazine covering the rail transport industry which was published by Ian Allan until March 2012, and Key Publishing since then. It has been published since 1962. The magazine was originally based in Shepperton, Middlesex. It has always been targeted at both railway professionals and serious amateurs, an aim which derives from its origins as an amalgamation of the enthusiast magazine ''Trains Illustrated'' and the industry journal ''The Locomotive'' in the hands of its first editor Geoffrey Freeman Allen. It is currently edited by Philip Sherratt after the retirement of James Abbott. Regular contributors include Roger Ford, Ian Walmsley, Alan Williams and Tony Miles. The large section regularly written by Roger Ford is called ‘Informed Sources’. That by Ian Walmsley is called ‘Pan Up’. Trains Illustrated The first edition of ''Trains Illustrated'' was published at the beginning of 1946. Due to post-war paper shortages issues 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union Carriage & Wagon
Union Carriage & Wagon (UCW) is a rolling stock manufacturer in South Africa. History Union Carriage & Wagon was established in 1957. Initial shareholders were Commonwealth Engineering (51%), Budd Company (25%) and Leyland Motors (12%). By 1965, Budd and Metro Cammell Weymann held a combined 41% shareholding which they sold to Anglo American plc and General Mining. In December 1969, Commonwealth Engineering reduced its shareholding to 42% with the other two shareholders each owning 29%. Having initially built carriages, in 1964, UCW delivered its first electrical locomotives to the South African Railways, the South African Class 5E1, Series 2.History Union Carriage & Wagon The Class 5E1 was also the first electrical locomotive to be produced in quantity in South Africa.South ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
