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The SS United States and the latest Range Rover have a lot in common.

The SS United States and the latest Range Rover are both made in large part from aluminum, in order to save weight without sacrificing strength. Both can draw connections to the military; Land Rovers have served with the British armed forces, as well as other armies around the globe, for ... Read More »

Marjorie Merriweather Post’s (Mar-a-Lago) Private Railway Car

President Donald Trump’s “Mar-a-Lago” may be the closest proximity you might have to the illustrious society history of Post Cereals Heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post unless you charter her former private railway car. Originally christened Hussar, the car was built in 1922 for Post and her husband E.F. Hutton. The car ... Read More »

Lucius Beebe, famous American railway buff & historian, was a self-described hedonist.

From the 1930s until his death in 1966, he was the image of a celebrity. An author, journalist, historian, raconteur, gourmet and bon vivant extraordinary – this amazing personality was one of the first gay men to have a publicly open relationship.   Columnist Walter Winchell called him “Luscious Lucius.” ... Read More »

John Ringling North Saved Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus- Part 1

Ringling Bros. Circus heir, John Ringling North was the man who brought “The Greatest Show on Earth” into the 20th Century and was responsible for its survival into the 21st Century! John Ringling North was a combination of Circus King, showmanship, brassy flamboyance, huckster salesman and perennial Playboy, and was ... Read More »

John Ringling North is the Circus King – Part 2

If John Ringling North had not come on the scene to run the family business in 1937, Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey might not have ever made it into the 21st Century to have its last performance tonight on Long Island. He seemed the only one to have the business and ... Read More »

John Ringling North a combination of “Diamond Jim” Brady and “Bet a Million Gates”! – Part 3

As president of the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey during the heyday of the famed Big-Top and traveling circus which will have its final performance tonight in Long Island, New York, John Ringling North received a rather modest salary.  But what North might have been lacking the substance of a ... Read More »

North’s Showmanship at Madison Square Gardens and the end of the Ringling family business – Part 4

John Ringling North knew that every season was vital to the circus to open its season at New York’s Madison Square Gardens, not only because of the big box office but because of the national media attention. Opening night would always benefit a charity with stars such as Marylyn Monroe, ... Read More »

ZIM LINE – Israel’s Passenger and Cruise company in the 1950s and 1960s

Zim Lines began passenger service connecting Israel with Mediterranean ports began after the State of  Israel was established in 1948 and for 20 years they operated an excellent sea transportation fleet of ships In the early 1950s, Zim became a member of the North Atlantic Passenger Conference and bought Home ... Read More »

Throwback Thursday – Elvis Presley on the train from New York to Memphis in 1956.

“Elvis who?”   Photographer Alfred Wertheimer recalls uttering that very question in early 1956. A publicist from RCA Victor Records had contacted him, asking if he was available to photograph a young singer named Elvis Presley. “I’d never heard of the man,” Wertheimer told TIME Magazine in an article 40 ... Read More »

CLASSIC LINER MS Angelina Lauro

MS Oranje, later known as MS Angelina Lauro, was a passenger liner, a wartime hospital ship, and finally a cruise ship that was lost while being towed for scrap. She sank in a storm in the mid-Pacific, on 24 September 1979. The ship underwent 25 years’ service as MS Oranje, ... Read More »

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