CPR Selkirk

The CPR Selkirk class was built to haul freight and passenger trains through the challenging terrain between Calgary and Revelstoke. Though across the border in the US much larger locomotives were in common use, they were the largest locomotives built in the British Empire. Twenty were built in 1929, a further ten in 1938, and six in 1949. They worked till the dieselization of the CPR in 1959.

Aircraft Tool Inc. 1944

Argyle Scooter

History here

Vanished Toolmakers; Onondaga Steel Co. Tool Bits

Another company that I can find no information on.

Facel Vega Mk2 1962-64

The Facel Vega Mk2 was the last attempt of the Facel Company to produce a luxury touring car. The car was billed as the "World's fastest 4 seater". The 383 Chrysler engine gave the vehicle more than enough power for a top speed of 150 mph. One hundred eighty were produced before the company closed their doors. 
In 1960 the company had introduced a smaller similiarly styled sports car named the Facellia (below). The company had developed their own 1600cc engine for this car. Unfortunately the engine had camshaft problems and suffered enough warranty claims to cause the company's bankrupcy in 1964.
Eleven hundred were produced.

Fleet Fort Trainer

Images from Ron Page and William Cumming, Fleet, The Flying Years. Boston Mills Press, 1990

Fleet Fort Trainer prototype, the spats were not put into production. Designed for intermediate pilot training, the plane actually served as a radio trainer. 101 were built in 1941-42. They were removed from service in 1944.

View showing the unusual wing bracing.

Sidecar Sunday

Kawasaki W1 1966

 The first "Big Bike from Japan", when the company was still Kawasaki Aircraft Co. This four page ad at the front of the magazine showed their commitment to this project but the 1969 H1 triple was far more successful.

The Short Mayo Composite

Henry R Palmer, The Seaplanes, Leonard Morgan Publishing, 1965

Seemed like a good idea at the time...
The 1937 Short Mayo Composite was an experiment in long distance seaplane flight. The smaller Mercury seaplane, loaded with a 1000lb payload and enough fuel for a trans-ocean trip could not lift off the water and this was the ungainly solution. The launch was a success- the Mercury flew from England to Montreal in 1938 and was the first commercial Atlantic crossing by a heavier-than-air craft. In 1939, the Mercury was launched in the same way and flew non-stop 5998 miles from Dundee, Ireland to South Africa for a new long distance seaplane record. Needless to say, this method of launch was too expensive, tricky and dangerous and was soon abandoned.

  The war put paid to the project.  Maia was destroyed at harbour by German bombs in May 1941.  The same year, Mercury was broken up for the value of her aluminum for the war effort.  While the idea of a composite aircraft may have been destined to become just a footnote in aviation history, the idea was revived in 1976 as  the inspiration for ferrying the space shuttle on a Boeing 747.

You can watch the aircraft flying on youtube.

Mystery tailstock and steady rest

 From the  "I picked these lathe parts up years ago for reasons long forgotten" department and I have no idea what make they are. They appear to be from a 10" swing lathe, the ways are 3.5" wide centre to centre and there are no identifying marks anywhere. The ways are not South Bend, either for my 9" or the ancient 11". They don't appear to be Atlas either. Anyone have any ideas? 

HMCS Barrie

Lt Col D J Goodspeed, The Armed Forces of Canada 1867-1967 Queens Printer Ottawa 1967

The corvette HMCS Barrie on duty in the North Atlantic. Looks like a cold, wet and miserable existence!

Gasohol, 1956

Adding alcohol to gasoline? That'll never catch on...

Cadillac V16

Richard Hough, A History of the World's Classic Cars, Harper & Row, 1963

Series 90 (second generation) Cadillac V16.  The 3.25 x 3.25 bore and stroke gave 431 cu in and produced 185 hp. The car was sold from 1937-1940.

Excelsior Twin 250

Cunard in NYC, 1954

Frank E. Dodman, Ships of the Cunard Line; Adlard Coles Ltd. 1955

Aided by a couple of tugs, the Queen Mary heads out to sea. Also shown are the Mauritania and the Media.

Mail Service Lancaster

Larry Milberry, Aviation in Canada, McGraw-Hill Ryerson 1979

Shown is one of the civilianized Lancaster bombers used by the Canadian Government Trans Atlantic Air Service as fast mail planes during WW2. Over 1,500,000 lbs of mail were carried during the 500 flights made. Only two planes were lost in that time but the planes were not popular with the pilots, comparing poorly with the Lockheed airliners and Liberators that were also used.

Port Huron Engine and Thresher Co. 1915

Floyd Clymer, Album of Historical Steam Traction Engines, Bonanza 1949

In 1915 The Port Huron Engine Company also introduced a gasoline tractor, all built in-house except the engine. It was poorly designed and did not sell. The company struggled along until 1928 when it closed its doors.

Suzuki K11 1965

They don't often look like that when you find them now.

This is a 1967 model with Posi-force oil injection.

Triumph TR-6

British Car Day 2016

Steam yacht, Buzz

D.W. Fostle, Speedboat, Mystic Seaport Museum, 1988

Buzz was designed and built in 1887 by Charles Dell Mosher, who had studied hydrodynamics in a test tank he had fashioned out of an unused mill race. He had installed glass panels in the sides and bottom of the mill race so he could study hull shape from all angles. What he came came up with was a hull shape that planed over rather than pushed though the water. 
Buzz was 50' long with a 6'6" beam and drew only 16" of water. She was clocked at nearly 27 mph, and may have been the fastest boat in America at the time.
 The two cylinder steam engine was also designed by Mosher, steam was provided by a boiler from a steam locomotive. 

Rickman Metisse

The first Rickman Metisse, utilizing a 200 cc Bultaco engine. 1962

Wasaga Beach to Baghdad

Larry Milberry, Aviation in Canada, McGraw-Hill Ryerson 1979

Pick two random places in the world to attempt a long distance record. James Ayling and and Leonard Reid pose in Wasaga Beach with their DeHavilland Dragon Trail of the Caribou (and their Ford) before setting off for Baghdad in August of 1934. Unfortunately they never made it, 31 hours into the flight, the plane was forced to land near London England and the attempt was abandoned. This was the first transatlantic flight from the Canadian mainland to Britain.

Pedestal Grinder, Glow Electric Company, 1921

Trackless Trolleys

Union Metal is still in business making "Streetscape Lighting".

Consolidations by Baldwin Locomotive Works

Railway Mechanical Engineer, June 1921

Walter's dilemna

When you acquire a motorcycle that looks like the one above, you can paint it any colour you want. So what colour is it going to be,Walter?

Black?

White?

Red? Or leave it like it is and go racing!

Seen at the Barber Vintage Festival

Armstrong- Siddeley Special

Richard Hough, A History of the World's Classic Cars, Harper & Row, 1963

30 HP Enclosed Landaulette Armstrong-Siddeley.

Illustration by Guy Sabran, better known as an illustrator of children's books.

Cycle Guide Magazine

Issue number three. The magazine folded in 1987 but has popped up again (kind of) as a blog.

General Electric electric welders, 1921

Automatic welding was invented by P.O. Nobel of the General Electric Company and introduced in 1920. It utilized bare electrode wire operated on direct current and utilized arc voltage as the basis of regulating the feed rate.  Railway and machine shops used it to build up worn motor shafts and worn crane wheels. 

 More here. 

Sidecar Sunday