On this day in history.

[Andy_Ross]

Robert Stephenson's Rocket demonstrated winning performance on this day 1829 during the Rainhill Trials to decide on a locomotive for the Liverpool-Manchester line, the first inter-city passenger railway. It clocked 29mph at various points.
It established the layout and fire tube boiler/firebox with double acting cylinders used on almost every steam locomotive that came after it.



Original locomotive at the Science museum in It's final modified configuration.


One of the working replicas, this one at the Beamish Museum, County Durham.


Sectioned replica at the National Railway Museum, York.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Born on this day in 1937 England’s greatest, Sir Bobby Charlton.

 

[AmyStrange]

A day late, but still revelant:

​

 

[PitPat]

1792: The cornerstone for the White House was laid in Washington, D.C.

Now emblazoned in faux gold.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Today is the feast of St Edward the Confessor, 11th Century English king. His statue in the choir of Salford Cathedral faces across to that of St George as joint patron saint of England.
He is rarely mentioned by 'Patriots'

 

[Andy_Ross]

Born on this day in 1925, former Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher, Milk Snatcher.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Anniversary today of the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805.

 

[Pixel42]

Aberfan marks 60 years since coal tip collapsed on school and homes, killing 116 children and 28 adults

On 21 October 1966, a colliery spoil tip collapsed, engulfing Pantglas Junior School and nearby homes.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[commandlinegamer]

Also today is the anniversary of the Clarkston Toll disaster (Scotland), when a gas explosion destroyed a row of shops killing 22.

Article from 2021:

The day a Scottish shopping street exploded

Fifty years ago, a row of shops exploded killing 22 people and injuring more than 100, mostly women.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Darat]

Also today is the anniversary of the Clarkston Toll disaster (Scotland), when a gas explosion destroyed a row of shops killing 22.

Article from 2021:

The day a Scottish shopping street exploded

Fifty years ago, a row of shops exploded killing 22 people and injuring more than 100, mostly women.

www.bbc.co.uk

I never knew about that one. Made we realise how serious the gas leak we had few years back in my road (in front of my house) - that was an old cracked iron mains and the gas seeped out permeating the soil, thankfully no voids around here for it to fill.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak, Indiana, 1967.

I was one of the young men walking the fields to local the dead. My area was two miles from the nearest habitation. The crows let us know where to look.

 

[commandlinegamer]

I never knew about that one. Made we realise how serious the gas leak we had few years back in my road (in front of my house) - that was an old cracked iron mains and the gas seeped out permeating the soil, thankfully no voids around here for it to fill.

Yeah, any persistent odour needs checked out.

 

[Andy_Ross]

1936 Cutlass drill removed from basic training requirements. It would however not be it's last operational use. In WW2, some members of the boarding party that captured the Graff Spee supply ship 'Altmark' were armed with cutlasses.

Cutlasses would still be retained for ceremonial duties and is still held by some ships and establishments for this purpose.


1900 pattern Cutlass, or Seaman Issue Short Sword For Sea Service, as it was officially called.

 

[Andy_Ross]

1976 New Rose single released.

That's half a century!

 

[Axxman300]

October 25. 1983. Operation Urgent Fury, the US invasion of Grenada. Considering how little planning, intelligence, and inter-service coordination went into this we pulled it off. Backing into victory is the American way.

 

[Axxman300]

Yesterday, October 26, 1881 saw the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. The event was big news that made the newspapers from coast-to-coast.

And yes, Doc Holiday really said, "You're a daisy if you do" before he shot Tom Mc Laury.

 

[Axxman300]

October 20, 1961.

The Soviets tested the Tsar Bomba, the AN602 hydrogen bomb. 58-megatons of BOOM.

The 'Tsar Bomba' — The Day the Soviets Set Off the Biggest Nuke In History - MilitaryHistoryNow.com

“Throughout the 1950s, both Cold War superpowers were engaged in an explosive game of one-upmanship to see which country could develop the largest nuclear weapon. This new Russian warhead ended that contest in a blinding...

militaryhistorynow.com

On the day of the test, the reconfigured Bear carried the AN602 to an altitude of more than 30,000 feet before releasing it over the isolated Mityushikha Bay weapons range. In order to give the aircrew time to escape the blast radius, a massive parachute deployed from the bomb casing to slow the weapon’s fall. Once released, the device gently descended to 12,000 feet before detonating.

The flash from the explosion was visible for 270 km (about 150 miles) while the enormous fireball rose to 30,000 feet and was seen in settlements as far away as 700 km (nearly 450 miles). Buildings hundreds of kilometres from the testing range were pulled from their foundations or had their roofs torn off. The entire town of Severny on Novaya Zemlya was completely flattened by the concussion from the detonation. The heat wave from the explosion was enough to cause third degree burns to human skin as far away as 100 km (60 miles) and the electromagnetic energy generated by the event crippled communication in the northern Soviet Union for more than an hour. [3] The plane that dropped the bomb was slammed with a shockwave so violent the aircraft instantly plummeted 3,000 feet in the suddenly unstable air — this despite the fact that it had managed to travel 45 km from ground zero before detonation.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Happy Birthday to Henry Winkler

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Who?

 

[Blue Mountain]

Who?

No, Henry Winkler never played the Doctor.