Museum of Transportation, USA

An update without a train card is not an update :P And here is a rather unique one....

...or scary as it may appear on first, second, 100th sight :)
This appearance to me is at the same time scary, fascinating and powerful...this is the Union Pacific Rotary Snowplow at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis (Missouri)

from the back of the card: The ultimate weapon in the fight against the snow! This is the world's largest with a 12-ft cutting wheel, which opens to 14 feet with the wings open. Not self-propelled, it needs at least 3 locomotives to push it with an operating speed of 10mph.

Maybe our authorities shall consider of purchasing one of this kind to use it when the snow surprises them and the streets are chaotic...and even though snow is something that regularly happens here in winter, authorities are ALWAYS surprised, and it ALWAYS catches them off guard....

and a bunch of stamps all over the card! among which two I dont really see on my cards...one is the dog stamp from the 'Adopt a Shelter Pet' issue from 2010, while the other 'new' stamp is the flower one at the top right corner, issued in 2004, in a set of 2 'Wedding' stamps.

If anyone has a spare FDC of the pets' stamps, I would love to exchange for those! 

The Franklin Institute Science Museum, USA

One of the trains sent to ran over me...they did quite a good job coz they cracked well my stiff back and muscles :)

the card shows the Baldwin Locomotive #60,000

The mighty 350-ton steam-locomotive takes thousands of visitors for a ride down its track daily. In 1993, before the institute's west wall was constructed, the locomotive was hauled in on temporary tracks. The Railroad Room houses other trains and railroad memorabilia.

I wish we had a railway museum here too....

the lovely surprise was sent by dear Chris...even though im a really lousy pal...so many thanks to him for being so nice and overlooking my lousiness :)

B&O Railroad Museum, USA

A fantastic card I got in a RR just recently..showing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad museum, or B & O in short.

The story of the American railroad begins here, when Charles Carroll laid the first stone for the B & O Railroad on July 4th, 1828. In 1830, Peter Cooper's efforts produced America's first steam locomotive here. Inside the roundhouse is a famous collection of 50 antique locomotives, Imlay coaches and replicas. In the yard is an impressive display of larger, more recent equipment.

Well, the RR itself was Trains vs UNESCO, so I simply had to sign up...thanks to Jasmin who pointed out at me, otherwise I NEVER would have noticed it...but now im all vigilant when it comes to that RR, in order not to miss something great again.

And I totally love the stamps!! Apart from the 'star' one, which is rather familiar, at the top, first on the left you have a stamp issued in 1994 in a set of two crane stamps, while the other two come from 2000, from a set of 5 Hubble stamps, showing Hubble space images. Arent they all just lovely??

Well, it is a non-working day here...so i better use it wisely...though i have some pending work to do and deadlines to catch.

Railway Museum, Hong Kong

And my last card for today comes from the Turkish RR, from the jubilee Group 100.

And such a great one...I think that for today i basically covered my top interests...a map, then a lighthouse, and now a railway related card. :)
This one shows the Hong Kong railway museum, located in Tai Po. Here in particular you can see the semaphore used to control the rail traffic.
There are two locomotives on exhibition at the museum, EMD G12 Diesel-electric locomotive #51 and A W.G. Bagnall 0-4-4T narrow gauge steam locomotive.

There are six coaches on the tracks for public viewing and appreciation of the contrast between the old and the new.
A 1911 third-class compartment, #302
A 1921 engineering coach, #002
A 1955 third-class compartment, #223 (an educational video room)
A 1955 luggage compartment, #229
A 1964 first-class compartment, #112
A 1976 ordinary-class compartment, #276

And also, there are a pump trolley and a diesel-engined railcar

A rather well known HK kind of a stamp I think...a definitive issued in 2006 in a set of 16 bird stamps, showing the Red-whiskered Bulbul.

Thats all for today...as always, thanks for reading and thanks for the great cards!

Tennessee, USA

A great train card!!!!

The card shows the Casey Jones Home and Railroad Museum in Tennessee...just tonight I had realized that this is the first ever Tennessee card Im posting here.

Casey Jones (March 14, 1863 – April 30, 1900), America's most famous railroad engineer is shown here on #638, the engine he served on for several years.
On April 30, 1900, he alone was killed when his passenger train, the "Cannonball Express," collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi, on a foggy and rainy night.
His dramatic death, trying to stop his train and save lives, made him a folk hero; he was immortalized in a popular ballad sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African American engine wiper for the IC. Thanks to this song his life and legend have been celebrated worldwide for over a century.

Tallinn, Estonia

My dear Katy sent me this FANTASTIC train postcard!! As lovely as it can be!

It shows a photograph taken back on 19 August, 1924 and if im not wrong, it can nowadays be seen at the Nõmme Museum which is located in one wing of the historical Nõmme Railway Station, and it introduces the history of Nõmme as an independent town in the period 1926 – 1940 and also the earlier years of the area from the foundation of Nõmme by Nikolai von Glehn at the end of the 19th century. The exhibits have been gathered from the inhabitants of Nõmme and received from Tallinn City Museum, where some of the collections of the first Nõmme Museum were stored. In addition to permanent exposition temporary exhibitions are also held at the museum.

and for the complete pleasure, Katy added train stamps too! <3. It was issued in 2000, representing the Viljandi-Tallinn railway.

Thank you so much Katy!!

Haapsalu, Estonia

A great card from dear Janek, who sent me a train card just right after i had put them on my wishlist!! Thanks so much Janek!!! :D

Estonian Railway Museum is located in the Emperor's Pavillon of the historic Haapsalu railway station. Belonging Locomotives and railcars to the museum are exhibited behind the station building and can be visited free of charge. 10-18 Museum is open all year round from Wednesday to Sunday. Discount of 10% is available for groups over 25 people.

I think that if i ever get to Estonia, this will be on the top list of things id love to see...and id love to take my dad there too...as a gift for him.

and a set of amazing stamps!
the small one on the left is a definitive issued in 2006 under the subject of Flora, representing the Liverleaf. The two big stamps were issued in 2002 regarding the 10th anniversary of the reintroduction of the Estonian Kroon. This souvenir sheet features the portraits of the poetess Lydia Koidula and the journalist, writer and teacher Carl Robert Jakobson, key elements of the 100 and 500 kroon notes respectively.

thanks a lot Janek...as alqwa