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Holyoke Street Railway
The Holyoke Street Railway (HSR) was an interurban streetcar and bus system operating in Holyoke, Massachusetts as well as surrounding communities with connections in Amherst, Massachusetts, Amherst, Chicopee, Massachusetts, Chicopee, Easthampton, Massachusetts, Easthampton, Granby, Massachusetts, Granby, Northampton, Massachusetts, Northampton, Pelham, Massachusetts, Pelham, South Hadley, Sunderland, Westfield, Massachusetts, Westfield, and West Springfield, Massachusetts, West Springfield. Throughout its history the railway system shaped the cultural institutions of Mount Tom (Massachusetts), Mount Tom, being operator of the mountain's famous summit houses, one of which hosted President McKinley, the Mount Tom Railroad, and the trolley park at the opposite end of this funicular line, Mountain Park (Holyoke, Massachusetts), Mountain Park. In the history of American railroad engineering, the system was the first in the United States to make use of exothermic welding, better known a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PVTA
The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) oversees and coordinates public transportation in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, offering fixed-route bus service, paratransit service, and senior van service. PVTA was created by Chapter 161B of the Massachusetts General Laws in 1974. Based in Springfield, Massachusetts, PVTA serves Hampden and Hampshire counties, and provides connecting service to CT''transit'' in Hartford County, Connecticut, to FRTA in Franklin County, and to WRTA in Worcester County. It is the largest regional transit authority, and second largest public transit system in Massachusetts after the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, providing service to over 11 million riders annually across 24 municipalities in the region, with about 70% of all riders using the system as their primary mode of transit. Organizational structure As per Section 25, Chapter 161B of the Massachusetts General Laws, regional transit authorities in Massachusetts are no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interurban
The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms used outside it. They were very prevalent in many parts of the world before the Second World War and were used primarily for passenger travel between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural communities. Interurban as a term encompassed the companies, their infrastructure, their cars that ran on the rails, and their service. In the United States, the early 1900s interurban was a valuable economic institution, when most roads between towns, many town streets were unpaved, and transportation and haulage was by horse-drawn carriages and carts. The interurban provided reliable transportation, particularly in winter weather, between towns and countryside. In 1915, of interurban railways were operating in the United States and, for a few ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Goldschmidt
Johannes Wilhelm "Hans" Goldschmidt (18 January 1861 – 21 May 1923) was a German chemist notable as the discoverer of the Thermite reaction. He was also co-owner of the Chemische Fabrik Th. Goldschmidt, as of 1911 Th. Goldschmidt AG (later to become part of Evonik Industries) and its most important chemist. The reaction, also called the Goldschmidt process, is used for thermite welding, often used to join railway tracks. Thermites have also been used in metal refining, disabling munitions, and in incendiary weapons. Some thermite-like mixtures are used as pyrotechnic initiators in fireworks. His grave is preserved in the Protestant ''Friedhof I der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde'' (Cemetery No. I of the congregations of Jerusalem's Church and New Church) in Berlin-Kreuzberg, south of Hallesches Tor. Biography He was born in Berlin on 18 January 1861. He was a student of Robert Bunsen. His father, Theodor Goldschmidt, was the founder of the chemical company ''Chemis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard Operating Procedure
A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance, while reducing miscommunication and failure to comply with industry regulations. Some military services (e.g., in the U.S. and the UK) use the term standing operating procedure, since a military SOP refers to a unit's unique procedures, which are not necessarily standard to another unit. The word "standard" could suggest that only one (standard) procedure is to be used across all units. The term is sometimes used facetiously to refer to practices that are unconstructive, yet the norm. In the Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ... ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Track (rail Transport)
Railway track ( and UIC terminology) or railroad track (), also known as permanent way () or "P way" ( and Indian English), is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers ( railroad ties in American English) and ballast (or slab track), plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a dependable, low-friction surface on which steel wheels can roll. Early tracks were constructed with wooden or cast-iron rails, and wooden or stone sleepers. Since the 1870s, rails have almost universally been made from steel. Historical development The first railway in Britain was the Wollaton wagonway, built in 1603 between Wollaton and Strelley in Nottinghamshire. It used wooden rails and was the first of about 50 wooden-railed tramways built over the subsequent 164 years. These early wooden tramways typically used rails of oak or beech, attached to wooden sleepers with iron or wooden nails. Gravel or small stones were pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermite
Thermite () is a pyrotechnic composition of powder metallurgy, metal powder and metal oxide. When ignited by heat or chemical reaction, thermite undergoes an exothermic redox, reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction. Most varieties are not explosive, but can create brief bursts of heat and high temperature in a small area. Its form of action is similar to that of other fuel-oxidizer mixtures, such as gunpowder, black powder. Thermites have diverse compositions. Fuels include aluminium, aluminum, magnesium, titanium, zinc, silicon, and boron. Aluminum is common because of its high boiling point and low cost. Oxidizers include bismuth(III) oxide, boron(III) oxide, silicon(IV) oxide, chromium(III) oxide, manganese(IV) oxide, iron(III) oxide, iron(II,III) oxide, copper(II) oxide, and lead(II,IV) oxide. In a thermochemical survey comprising twenty-five metals and thirty-two metal oxides, 288 out of 800 binary combinations were characterized by adiabatic temperatures greater than 2000 K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exothermic Welding
Exothermic welding, also known as exothermic bonding, thermite welding (TW), and thermit welding, is a welding process that employs molten metal to permanently join the conductors. The process employs an exothermic reaction of a thermite composition to heat the metal, and requires no external source of heat or current. The chemical reaction that produces the heat is an aluminothermic reaction between aluminium powder and a metal oxide. Overview In exothermic welding, aluminium dust reduces the oxide of another metal, most commonly iron oxide, because aluminium is highly reactive. Iron(III) oxide is commonly used: :\mathrm The products are aluminium oxide, free elemental iron, and a large amount of heat. The reactants are commonly powdered and mixed with a binder to keep the material solid and prevent separation. Commonly the reacting composition is five parts iron oxide red (rust) powder and three parts aluminium powder by weight, ignited at high temperatures. A strongly e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountain Park (Holyoke, Massachusetts)
Mountain Park, located on Mount Tom (Massachusetts), Mount Tom in Holyoke, Massachusetts, was originally built as a trolley park by the Holyoke Street Railway, Holyoke Street Railway Company. Trolley parks were built just outside populated areas to encourage trolley usage on weekends. The Holyoke Street Railway company created two attractions, Mountain Park toward the base of Mount Tom, and a large house on the summit of the mountain. In 2009 it began operating as a large outdoor venue for concerts, under owner Eric Suher's Iron Horse Entertainment Group; as of Summer 2018, it remains defunct with no events scheduled for the foreseeable future. History Beginnings In 1888, William Loomis, one of the Company's directors, took ownership of the Holyoke Street Railway Company. In the following years, he purchased of "cow pastures with scenery" on the side of Mount Tom. In 1894, Loomis constructed an open-air stage there, which attracted many patrons. The next year the trolley line wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funicular
A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable, which is looped over a pulley at the upper end of the track. The result of such a configuration is that the two carriages move synchronously: as one ascends, the other descends at an equal speed. This feature distinguishes funiculars from inclined elevators, which have a single car that is hauled uphill. The term ''funicular'' derives from the Latin word , the diminutive of , meaning 'rope'. Operation In a funicular, both cars are permanently connected to the opposite ends of the same cable, known as a ''haul rope''; this haul rope runs through a system of pulleys at the upper end of the line. If the railway track is not perfectly straight, the cable is guided along the track using sheaves – unpowered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trolley Park
In the United States, trolley parks, which started in the 19th century, were picnic and recreation areas along or at the ends of streetcar lines in most of the larger cities. These were precursors to amusement parks. Trolley parks were often created by the streetcar companies to give people a reason to use their services on weekends. The parks originally consisted of picnic groves and pavilions, and often held events such as dances, concerts and fireworks. Many eventually added features such as swimming pools, carousels, Ferris wheels, roller coasters, sports fields, boats rides, restaurants and other resort facilities to become amusement parks. Various sources report the existence of between 1,500 and 2,000 amusement parks in the United States by 1919. Coney Island One such location was Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York City, where a horse-drawn streetcar line brought pleasure seekers to the beach beginning in 1829. In 1875, a million passengers rode the railroad to Coney ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
President McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party, he led a realignment that made Republicans largely dominant in the industrial states and nationwide for decades. McKinley successfully led the U.S. in the Spanish–American War and oversaw a period of American expansionism, with the annexations of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and American Samoa. McKinley was the last president to have served in the American Civil War; he was the only one to begin his service as an enlisted man and ended it as a brevet major. After the war, he settled in Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law and married Ida Saxton. In 1876, McKinley was elected to Congress, where he became the Republican expert on the protective tariff, believing protectionism would bring prosperity. His 1890 McKinley Tariff was highly controversial and, together with a Dem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Tom (Massachusetts)
Mount Tom, , is a steep, rugged traprock mountain peak on the west bank of the Connecticut River 4.5 miles (7 km) northwest of downtown Holyoke, Massachusetts. The mountain is the southernmost and highest peak of the Mount Tom Range and the highest traprock peak of the long Metacomet Ridge. A popular outdoor recreation resource, the mountain is known for its continuous line of cliffs and talus slopes visible from the south and west, its dramatic rise over the surrounding Connecticut River Valley, and its rare plant communities and microclimate ecosystems.''The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail Guide''. 9th Edition. The Appalachian Mountain Club. Amherst, Massachusetts, 1999.Farnsworth, Elizabeth J.Metacomet-Mattabesett Trail Natural Resource Assessment." 2004. PDF wefile cited November 1, 2007. Located in Easthampton and Holyoke, Mount Tom is traversed by the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and is the transmitter location for three Springfield–Holyoke television stations: WG ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
