Train

A train is set of connected vehicles on a railway. They contain the prime mover (either locomotive or motor unit) plus a number of coaches or carriages (for passengers) or cars or wagons (for freight). 

Pixabay

The word "train" comes from the Old French trahiner, derived from the Latin trahere meaning "to pull" or "to draw".

The first train was designed by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick. It took its first run on the track at the Pen-y-darren ironworks in South Wales on February 21, 1804. The Penydarren locomotive managed to haul five wagons carrying 70 passengers and ten tons of iron for nine miles, reaching speeds of five miles (8 kms) per hour. On completion of the journey, Trevithick's iron mill-owning sponsor collected over £1,000 on a wager with a skeptical business rival. 

A replica of Trevithick's engine at Swansea's National Waterfront Museum Chris55

To popularize his ideas, Trevithick built a circular railway in Euston, London. Well-off spectators paid a shilling to speed past their astonished colleagues at an incredible 12 milers per hour. 

The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all the time, was built between Liverpool and Manchester in England in 1830.

Peter Cooper was an engineer and manufacturer who designed and built the first American steam locomotive, the Tom Thumb. Although it lost a famous race with a horse-drawn train in 1830, Cooper helped advance the spread of railroads.

Wikipedia Commons

The first revenue trains in the United States begin service in 1830 on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, both in Maryland.

Britain's first express commuter train run between London and Brighton in 1841 taking 105 minutes to complete the 59-mile journey. 

Queen Victoria became the first British monarch to travel by train on June 13, 1842. The engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel accompanied her on the inaugural royal train journey, from Slough to Paddington.

The first passenger train in India ran between Bombay (now Mumbai) and Thane on April 16, 1853. The 14-carriage train was hauled by three steam locomotives and ran for about 34 kilometers (21 miles) between these two cities carrying 400 people.

The Battle of Vienna in Virginia was a minor engagement between Union and Confederate forces on June 17, 1861, during the early days of the American Civil War. It involved one of the earliest military movements of troops by train in the world.

British trains were first given toilets, but just in the sleeping cars in 1873. 

In the 1880s, American trains featured Ladies' Lavatories, Gentlemens' Lavatories, and Immigrants' Lavatories.

Railroad competition had become so great in America by the late 19th century that the best food possible was served on dining cars regardless of cost. The Baltimore & Ohio became famous for its terrapin stew and Chesapeake Bay seafood, while the Santa Fe railroad was noted for its broiled sage hen, Mexican quail, and prairie chicken. Meals usually could be purchased for one dollar.

Two years after Werner von Siemens presented the first electric passenger train at the Berlin industrial exhibition, the world's first electric tramway went into service on May 16, 1881. The 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) long line started at Berlin-Lichterfelde Ost station on the Anhalt Railway line. It ran on already existing tracks that had been used for building the Prussian military academy (Hauptkadettenanstalt) at Lichterfelde West.

Lichterfelde tram, 1882

Britain's first main line electric train, operated by Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, started running between Liverpool and Southport in 1904. 

The high-speed line between Japan's two biggest cities Tokyo and Osaka was inaugurated on October 1, 1964; the famous Shinkansen 'bullet train' (named for its shape) could reach a speed of 210 kmph (130 mph). 

The distinctive nose of the Shinkansen 500 bullet train prevents sonic booms whenever it exits a tunnel. It was discovered when scientists studied the shape of a kingfisher's beak to learn how it hit the water at high speed

Tōkaidō Shinkansen made its first service in 1964.By DRAGONBALLXYZ

A powerful new "bullet train" service was launched in Japan in 1997, achieving the world's fastest average speed on a commercial run of 151.4 miles an hour.

France’s TGV, which began running in 1981, debuted with a top speed of 270 km/h  (168 mph) that dwarfed the Shinkansen’s 210 km/h. The country's intercity rail service established France as the leader in high-speed train technology. 

In 2007 a French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line set an official new world speed record for a commercial train on steel wheels. It achieved a speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) on April 3, 2007 at kilometer point 191 near the village of Le Chemin, between the Meuse and Champagne-Ardenne TGV stations. 

The world record for the maximum speed attained by a passenger train is held by Japan's experimental maglev train L0 Series, which achieved 603 km/h (375 mph) on a 42.8 km magnetic-levitation track on April 21, 2015. Picture below shows a JR Central L0 series 5-car maglev train undergoing test-running on the Yamanashi Test Track

By Saruno Hirobano - Own work, 

The Japanese Bullet Train is cleaned in just seven minutes and prepared for the next passengers so that including disembarking and boarding, the train stops for only 12 minutes. 

In over five decades and 10 billion passengers, the Japanese bullet train has never had a single passenger fatality caused by a derailment or collision.

Source Daily Telegraph Right Now June 12, 2004

Traffic light

Traffic lights (or traffic signals) are signalling devices used to control the movement of traffic. They are placed at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations and the different colors of lights tell drivers what to do.

Pixiebay

Traffic lights are called robots in South Africa and much of the rest of the African continent. 

HISTORY

The world's first traffic light system was invented by the British railroad signal engineer JP Knight. These first traffic lights consisted of revolving red and green lanterns, illuminated by gas. The system was installed on December 10, 1868 at the intersection of George and Bridge Streets in front of the House of Commons in London to control the flow of horse buggies and pedestrians. 

This traffic light system was manually operated by a police officer. Semaphore arms were used by day, gas lights by night. 

After less than a month's use, the gas lantern that illuminated them exploded, seriously injuring the police officer who was operating them. Traffic lights did not return to the UK until the mid 1920s. 

In the first two decades of the 20th century, semaphore traffic were in use all over the United States with each state having its own design of the device. They were controlled by a traffic officer who would blow a whistle before changing the commands on this signal to help alert travelers of the change. 

The first electric traffic lights were officially unveiled in Cleveland, Ohio at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in 1914. There was no amber light, only red and green.

The first Electric Traffic Light in Bucharest c1924.

After witnessing a serious accident between a motor vehicle and a horse-drawn carriage at an intersection, African American inventor, Garrett Morgan set out to come up with a three-position traffic signal. What he came up with was a T-shaped pole unit that featured Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This "third position" halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely. The patent was granted on November 20, 1923. 

Patent drawing of Morgan's signal

Garrett Morgan's hand-cranked semaphore traffic management device was in use throughout North America until all manual traffic signals were replaced by the automatic red, yellow, and green-light traffic signals currently used around the world. 

Morgan sold the rights to his traffic signal to the General Electric Corporation for $40,000.

Morgan's system was not the first with a warning, a three light system having being invented in 1920 by a police officer William Potts, and previous systems having audible warnings.

The use of red for stop, green for go and amber for caution originated with railway signals.

The first three-color signals in Britain were installed at Threadneedle Street, London in 1925. They were operated by policemen and each change of aspect was marked by the ringing of an electric bell. Complaints from locals soon silenced that.

The first fully automatic set of traffic lights in Britain were installed at the junction of Lichfield Street and Princess Street in Wolverhampton in 1927. In reality they were a signal box, suspended from a cable. 

In 1928, American engineer Charles Adler Jr invented traffic lights that were activated by drivers sounding their car horns. They were quickly abandoned when residents complained about the excessive honking noise.

Six years after Garrett A. Morgan invented traffic lights, cars were flooding New York City's streets and numerous complaints were received from drivers concerning pedestrians straying into their paths. The city fathers decided it might be a good idea to install some of the newfangled contraptions. After studying traffic plans in other cities they rejected the wide use of yellow lights being used to slow motorists down before they came to a red light. According to The New York Times the yellow caution light was abandoned in the city because it was a "temptation to motorists to rush through intersections."

In 1929 the first red and green signal lights were placed at Manhattan street corners. These two-light traffic signal were topped by statues of Mercury and lasted until 1964. 

Hungarian-American physicist Leó Szilárd conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction in 1933 while waiting for a traffic light in Bloomsbury, London.

On May 17, 1996 New Hampshire became the first US state to install a green LED traffic light. New Hampshire was selected because it was the first state to install the red and yellow variety statewide.

LED traffic lights in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden Wikipedia

In 2013, Los Angeles became the first city to install traffic lights that make automatic adjustments based on car flow, reducing travel time. Nearly 4,400 lights across 469 miles receive real-time updates about traffic flow to make second-by-second adjustments. The system limits congestion by up to 16% while also dramatically reducing idling time.

FUN TRAFFIC LIGHT FACTS

In France the stop signs say "STOP" but the upstarts over in Quebec use "ARRET."

Japan has a very blue shade of green traffic lights in some areas because historically the Japanese used the same word for green and blue. They are green enough to satisfy international regulations. 

Japanese bus drivers turn their vehicle off at red lights to reduce pollution.

The average person will spend about two weeks of their lives sitting at traffic lights!

In 1995, drivers in the Albanian city of Shkodra refused to pay a new traffic-light tax on the grounds that their city had no traffic lights.

Colors of traffic lights are confusing to some color blind people, as there is insufficient apparent difference between the red/amber traffic lights. In the Eastern provinces of Canada horizontally mounted traffic lights are generally differentiated by shape to facilitate identification for those with color blindness.

Tipperary Hill, New York has a traffic light with the lights upside down - the historically Irish residents kept smashing the light that had "British" red above "Irish" green, so it was changed.

Sources Unbelievable Facts Geoff Tibballs, Daily Express. 

Traffic

Ancient Rome did not need to make their narrow streets "One Way" as each driver sent a runner ahead to hold up traffic at the other end of the street or alley until the chariot had passed through. 

A Roman street in Pompeii. By Paul Vlaar 

The Romans were obsessed with traffic jams. Due to increasing traffic congestion, Julius Caesar banned all wheeled vehicles, including chariots in the center of Rome during hours of daylight in 45BC. However, this resulted in a constant night-time noise from hooves and chariot wheels on the stone roads.

The first traffic law on North America was created in 1678, when authorities banned galloping horses on local streets in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1772 Scotland became the first country to make left-hand travel a national law, applying to all city traffic. (Offenders were fined 20 shillings, a substantial amount then.)

Over 12,000 attended the premiere performance of Handel's Music For The Royal Fireworks in London in 1749, creating one of the first ever traffic jams. London Bridge was jammed solidly for three hours. 

Colonel Pierrepoint was responsible for erecting London's first traffic island in Piccadilly in 1864. Stepping back to admire his handiwork he was run over and killed by a hansom cab.

The man on the Clapham omnibus has been a phrase for the ordinary man since the 1870s when Sir Charles Bowen QC, (later Lord Bowen) used the phrase as junior counsel in the Tichborne case, a celebrated impersonation legal case. The choice of the omnibus from Clapham into London may perhaps derive from an article of 1857 in the Journal of the Society of Arts about London's traffic, where the author suggests congestion has become so normal that the passenger on the roof of a Clapham omnibus can be stuck on London Bridge for half an hour without complaining. 

In the early 1900s there were 100,000 horse-drawn public passenger vehicles and cabs in London, 500,000 trade vehicles and 500,000 private carriages. Traffic in other towns was so noisy, straw had to be placed on the roads to muffle the rattle of iron wheels on stone cobbles.

London Bridge 1900 Wikipedia

William Phelps Eno (June 3, 1858 – December 3, 1945) was an American businessman responsible for many of the earliest traffic laws. In 1903, he developed the first city traffic code in the world at Columbus Circle, New York City. Among the innovations credited to Eno are traffic regulations, the stop sign, the pedestrian crosswalk, the traffic circle, the one-way street, the taxi stand, and pedestrian safety islands. Ironically, William Phelps Eno never drove a car himself.

The world's worst ever traffic jam occurred in China when motor vehicles were slowed to a crawl for nine days in August 2010. Vehicles, mostly lorries bound for Beijing, were in a queue for about 100km (62 miles) because of heavy traffic, road works and breakdowns. The stalled traffic stretched between Jining in Inner Mongolia and Huai'an in Hebei province, north-west of Beijing.

China traffic jam. wikipedia

The average Washington DC commuter wastes 74 hours and $1,495 per year in gas sitting in traffic.

Moscow traffic is horrendous. A a result some wealthy Muscovites have bought ambulances so that they can drive around freely during rush hour.

Researchers in Canada studied phantom traffic jams (jams that arise in the absence of any obstacles) and found they are the result of a single driver braking suddenly, causing each successive car to break to a greater degree, creating a wave of stopped or slowed traffic.

The world's largest collection of traffic cones is owned by David Morgan, who has 137 different types. He has even featured as a pin-up, in The Dull Men's Calendar.

Today, about 65% of the world's population live in countries with right-hand traffic and 35% in countries with left-hand traffic.

You're never stuck in traffic, you are traffic.

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square is a large pedestrian square in central London, bounded on three sides by roads. 

The square celebrates the Battle of Trafalgar and contains Nelson's Column, a statue of Lord Horatio Nelson mounted on a tall column, with four statues of lions around it. It was opened to the public on May 1, 1844. 

Trafalgar Square Pixiebay

From the 13th to 18th century, Trafalgar Square was the site of the Royal Stables or King's Mews. 

Trafalgar Square was built between 1820 and 1845 as part of a redevelopment of the Charing Cross area. It was going to be called King William IV's Square before the surveyor and architect George Ledwell Taylor suggested Trafalgar.

A painting by James Pollard showing the square before the erection of Nelson's Column

Nelson's Column was erected in 1843 and cost £46,000. It is a copy of a column in the Temple of Mars at Rome with four bronze reliefs depicting the Battle of Cape St Vincent, Battle of Nice, Battle of Copenhagen and the admiral's death at Trafalgar.

The four lions were sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer, who was supplied with a dead lion from London Zoo as a model. 

It took Landseer nine years from receiving the £17,000 commission, to install all four lions. By this stage, some of the corpse had begun to rot, which is said to be why its paws resemble those of a cat.

All four lions are not identical — each has a different face and mane.

Pixiebay

In 1940 the Nazi SS developed secret plans to transfer Nelson's Column to Berlin, after their planned German invasion. 

A Christmas tree has been donated to Trafalgar Square by Norway since 1947 and is erected for twelve days before and after Christmas Day.

A survey in 2006 revealed that Nelson's Column is 169ft 3in (51.6m) high, which was 14ft 6in (4.4m) shorter than had previously been thought. 

National Heroes Square in Bridgetown, Barbados, was originally named Trafalgar Square in 1813, decades before the statue and square of the same name and fame in London. It was renamed in 1999 to commemorate national heroes of Barbados.

Source Daily Express 

Battle of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval battle on October 21, 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, in which the British fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the Franco Spanish fleet. The French were commanded by Pierre-Charles Villeneuve and their defeat ended Napoleon's plans to invade Britain. 

The Battle of Trafalgar by Clarkson Stanfield

The battle was fought off Cape Trafalgar in south-west Spain, near the west entrance to the Straits of Gibraltar. The name Trafalgar comes from the Arabic for cape of the west or cape of the cave.

Six weeks before the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson spent an exorbitant £308 (about $550) on port as he was planning a monumental party to mark his forthcoming victory. 

Nelson ordered his ships to be painted yellow and black to distinguish them from the enemy.

Before the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson was discussing their chances with Thomas Masterman Hardy, his captain. "I shall not be satisfied with anything less than the capture of 20 ships" said Nelson. He then sent his last signal:" England expects every man will do his duty".

As Admiral Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory neared the enemy at Trafalgar, the men were jumping over one anothers’ heads to amuse themselves until they were ready to fire.

At the battle, 27 British ships led by Admiral Nelson defeated 33 French and Spanish ships.

Britain's victory was achieved in part through Nelson's departure from the prevailing naval tactical practice of the day for opposing fleets to engage each other in single parallel lines. This was in order to facilitate signalling and disengagement, and to maximize fields of fire and target areas. Nelson instead arranged his ships into two columns to sail perpendicularly into the enemy fleet's line.

Napoleon's combined French and Spanish fleets were in the midst of defeat off Cape Trafalgar when a musket ball hit Lord Nelson's left shoulder and fatally wounded him. The dying admiral whispered to Captain Hardy, "I know I'm dying. I could have wished to survive to breathe my last upon British ground, but the will of God be done." A few moments later he had passed away. 

The French and Spaniards lost 22 ships in the battle; all the British ships survived. 

The Battle of Trafalgar J. M. W. Turner

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was captured along with his ship. He attended Nelson's funeral shortly after. 

Britain's victory allowed them to become the world's largest sea power for 100 years.

London's Trafalgar Square was named in honor of Nelson's victory.

Source Daily Express

Trademark

A trademark is any name or distinctive device that helps people to identify the products made by a particular business. It can be a design, logo, name, phrase, picture, symbol or word and can only be used on things made by the business that owns the trademark.

Examples of trademarks are Coca-Cola and Coke, which are names for a certain drink made by the Coca-Cola Company and the "swoosh" symbol used by the Nike company on their products. 

Nike swoosh logo

Thirteenth century English bakers were ordered to mark each loaf of bread so that if a faulty one turned up, "it will be knowne in whom the faulte lies." These bakers' marks were one of the first trademarks.

The first U.S. trademark was given in 1870. The recipient was the Averill Chemical Paint Company of New York City. 

The Bass brewery was founded by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, England in 1777. In the 19th century the company developed a thriving export trade with its India Pale Ale. The Bass red triangle was the first trademark to be registered in the UK under the Trade Mark Registration Act 1875, which came into effect on January 1, 1876.

Bass red triangle logo

Michael Buffer, the "Let's get ready to rumble" guy, had the phrase trademarked and as of 2009 it had generated $400 million in revenue.

In 1998, Nestlé trademarked the tubular packaging of Smarties. It later sued Masterfoods Denmark which marketed M&Ms in a similar package. The Danish Supreme Court ruled that a basic geometrical shape couldn't be trademarked, and ordered the trademark to be removed.

A business man Moti Shniberg, tried to trademark the term "September 11, 2001."on that very day, as the Twin Towers and Pentagon were still smoldering.

When graffiti artist Banksy sought to trademark his image of a protester throwing flowers in 2020, the trademark office denied it on the grounds of him having no interest in selling his work. In the ruling they used a quote from one of Banksy's books: "copyright is for losers."

The British supermarket chain Iceland has an EU-wide trademark on their name, and take legal action against Icelandic companies that use it. The Icelandic government has applied to have their trademark invalidated, so far without success.

In-N-Out burgers operates occasional pop-up restaurants in Australia for the sole purpose of protecting their trademark there.

Dove soap and Dove chocolate are owned by different companies. Because they're separated as different classes of goods and services, there is no trademark infringement. 

Trade union

A trade union is an organisation of employed workers formed to undertake collective bargaining with employers and try to achieve improved working conditions for its members.

 Rally of the trade union UNISON in Oxford during a strike. Wikipedia

Trade unions of a kind existed in the Middle Ages as journeyman guilds. In 1563 The Statute of Artificers was passed by Queen Elizabeth 1’s government. The Statute had some negative effects such as not allowing apprentices to look for work outside of their parish but it had positive effects as well such as requiring justices of the peace to maintain living standards and to monitor apprentices in their district. This meant that craftsmen received some protection from the state.

Boston shoemakers formed what is considered the first American trade union on October 19, 1648.  "The Company of Shoomakers" was formed in response to complaints "by occasion of bad ware made by some of the trade" and their goal was to set a quality standard and eliminate the shoddy workmanship. The Massachusetts General Court prohibited them from offering charitable or educational programs, or from fixing prices or settling disputes.

Various combinations of wage earners were formed in the 18th century, but modern trade unionism can be traced back to Britain's Industrial Revolution, which drew women, children, rural workers and immigrants into the work force in large numbers and in new roles.

Five centuries of repressive legislation in Britain culminated in the passing of William Pitt's 1799 and 1800 Combination Acts which were a response to a series of strikes by skilled workers. They forbade Labor Unions from combining to campaign for better working conditions and for an increase in wages. This act was strictly enforced and workers breaking this new law could be sent to prison for up to three months. 

Early 19th century workplace militancy manifested in Britain's Luddite riots, when unemployed workers destroyed labor saving machines. The Luddite movement began in Nottingham and culminated in a region-wide rebellion that lasted for five years from 1811. Mill owners took to shooting protesters and eventually the movement was suppressed with military force.

The Luddite riots, when unemployed workers destroyed labor saving machines

On the repeal of the Combination Acts in 1824-25, organizations of work people were permitted to engage in collective bargaining, although still subject to legal restrictions and with no legal protection for their funds.

In 1834 six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, were sentenced to transportation for forming a 'friendly society'. However, public outrage led to the Tolpuddle Martyrs being pardoned and the principle of workers being allowed to organize themselves was established.

The Trade Union Congress was the first long-lived national trade union center. A voluntary organisation of trade unions, it was founded in Britain in 1868. Delegates of affiliated unions meet annually to consider matters affecting their members. Today there are fifty affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.6 million members.

Make Poverty History banner in front of Congress House. By Kaihsu

Successive acts passed by the British parliament broadened the unions' field of action, such as the 1913 Act which allow the unions to engage in political activities.

The industrial disputes of the winter of 1978-79 in the UK undermined the James Callaghan government. It was succeeded by the Margaret Thatcher government, which in the Employment Acts of 1980 and 1982, restricted the closed shop, picketing and secondary action against anyone other than the employer in dispute. The Trade Union Act 1984 made it compulsory to have secret ballot for elections and before strikes.

In the United States, trade unions are often called labor unions. The International Workers of the World (IWW) was founded at Chicago in 1905 by 43 labor groups. Their slogan was "One big union for all." Within seven years the organization had around 25,000 members, concentrated in the Northwest, among dock workers, agricultural workers in the central states, and in textile and mining areas. 

The IWW was involved in over 150 strikes, including the 1912 Lawrence textile strike (1912), which grew to more than twenty thousand workers and involving nearly every mill in the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. 

Labour union demonstrators held at bay by soldiers during the 1912 Lawrence textile strike

The great growth of US trade unionism came in the post-Depression years. Employers and the US Government have historically been more opposed to trade unionism than in Britain, often using police and armed guards to harass and protect strike breakers, which has led to episodes of violence and bitter confrontation.

US legislation includes the Taft-Hartley Act 1947, which among other measures outlawed the closed shop.

In the present-day US unions have the reputation of being open to the acceptance of new techniques, taking a broad view of these as conducive to greater essential prosperity.

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) was founded on May 1, 1925, in Guangzhou,  China.  It is the largest trade union in the world, with over 302 million members as of 2021. The ACFTU is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party and is responsible for representing the interests of Chinese workers and promoting their rights and welfare.

Over the years, the ACFTU has played an important role in China's labor movement and has been involved in a number of major labor disputes and strikes. It has also been criticized by some for being too closely aligned with the Chinese government and not always fully representing the interests of workers.

In 1973 a European trade union confederation (ETUC) was established, with a membership 20.9 million.

Solidarity, a Polish trade union, was founded as the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country on September 17, 1980.

Solidarity, ETUC Demonstration—Budapest 2011. By Derzsi Elekes Andor 

Source Hutchinson Encyclopedia