Transportation
Nuclear submarines as oil tankers
Potentially mad scheme: After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian navy was casting about for ways to raise revenue and came up with the idea of using Typhoon-class submarines as oil tankers. The Soviets had built six Typhoon-class nuclear subs which were, and still are, the largest submarines ever made. The main selling point of this idea was that the subs could travel under Arctic ice, eliminating the need for expensive ice-breakers. From wikipedia:The idea was abandoned when someone over there decided that a nuclear sub filled with 10,000 tons of oil might pose some safety concerns.
More info: bellona.org
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 16, 2021 -
Comments (7)
Category: Military, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, Transportation, 1990s
The Soot-Bag System
In the early days of rail travel, people who had the financial means to travel first class often went third-class, to save some money. To discourage this practice some British railway companies adopted the "soot-bag system". They would hire a chimney sweep to travel in the third-class carriage and shake out the contents of his bag, getting everyone dirty. At other times, pigs and sheep were transported in the third-class carriages. The idea was to make third-class travel as unpleasant as possible.I figure that the modern-day equivalent in the airline industry is the "no-legroom system" and the "only-a-bag-of-peanuts-on-a-five-hour-flight system".
But another and apparently unforeseen consequence [of the introduction of third-class railway carriages] followed, that "certain persons in superior positions" were base enough to travel in third-class carriages. If universal indignation could have crushed these miserable creatures, they would soon have succumbed; but they persevered, even in spite of the "artificial inconveniences" specially invented to deter them. Not but what these inconveniences were serious enough.
The management of the Manchester and Leeds Railway adopted what was known as the "soot-bag system." Sweeps were hired to enter a third-class carriage which had been specially kept for the benefit of "persons in superior position," and then shake out the contents of their bags. At other times, if a correspondent of the Railway Times can be trusted, "sheep and sometimes pigs were made the substitutes for sweeps."
Even then some persons—if report said true some bailies of the City of Glasgow—persevered in their evil courses. But their conduct was strongly reprehended by all respectable persons.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 11, 2021 -
Comments (5)
Category: Trains and Other Vehicles on Rails, Transportation, Nineteenth Century
The Umbrellaship
The creator's website.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 15, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Eccentrics, Outsider Art, Transportation
Urban transport of the future
"The nightmare of traffic jams. On a street in New York City, the postal clerk George A. Compton, immobilized with his car in a traffic jam, after an exasperating wait went berserk. He got out of the car and took off his shoes and started to climb the river of cars, leaping easily from car to car."
"Will cities be like this? Here's how the problem of traffic in cities could be lightened, if not completely solved: tiny single-seater cars that occupy a small area."
Source: La Domenica del Corriere - December 16, 1962 (via ebay)
Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 18, 2018 -
Comments (5)
Category: Mass Transit, Transportation, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
The Dubai Iceberg
A case of satirical prophecy in the news.Back on April 1, 1978, prankster Dick Smith towed a foam-covered barge into Sydney harbor, claiming it was an iceberg he had towed from Antarctica. Of course, it was an April Fool's Day joke.
But now a Dubai-based engineering firm claims they really want to tow a 100-million-ton iceberg from Antarctica to Dubai. They figure that even if 30% of it melts by the time it gets to the Persian Gulf, that'll still be a whole lot of fresh, frozen water.
But what are they going to do with it once it gets there? How would they stop it from melting into the ocean before they could get it onto land and use it?
More info: stuff.co.nz
Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 11, 2018 -
Comments (8)
Category: Really Bad Ideas, Transportation
The Rickshaw: Invented and Made in USA
Source of quote.
Source of photo.
More on James Birch.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 20, 2018 -
Comments ()
Category: Business, Transportation, Asia, North America, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century
Refrigerated Camels
Instead of using refrigerated trucks to deliver medical supplies to people who live in the deserts of Africa, inventors have built solar-powered refrigerators that can be carried by camels, and so the medicines are delivered via refrigerated camel.Apparently it wasn't that easy to build a camel-carried refrigerator. It had to be lightweight, but also sturdy enough to survive the motion of being on the camel as well as the extreme desert conditions.
More info: ABC News, inhabitat.com
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 31, 2017 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Inventions, Medicine, Transportation, Africa
Slip Slidding Away 2: Slime Of The Snails
The insects appear to be rising up against us by sabotaging the roadways! First the mayflies here and now snails sliming the Autobahn. Drive carefully or you may get bugged too!
Posted By: patty - Thu Jun 30, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Insects and Spiders, Transportation
The Romance of Transportation in Canada
The Romance of Transportation in Canada by Colin Low, National Film Board of Canada
With so many USians threatening to move to Canada if the November Presidential election goes one way or another, I thought it would be handy to screen this comical but accurate cartoon to get such folks ready for their new citizenship.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 27, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Foreign Customs, Cartoons, Transportation, 1950s, North America
Battle Bike
Original pic here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 23, 2015 -
Comments (8)
Category: Destruction, Surrealism, Transportation, 1940s, Weapons
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |