Showing papers in "The journal of transport history in 2013"

From Transport's Golden Ages to an Age of Tourism: L. T. C. Rolt, Waterway Revival and Railway Preservation in Britain, 1944-54

Abstract: L. T. C. Rolt's writings and work about waterway revival and railway preservation in Britain between 1944 and 1954 are considered in this essay. The background to his first book, Narrow Boat, is discussed and set in context within this outline of his life up to 1954, stressing the working lives of people on the narrow English canals. Contrasted with limited attempts to support freight carrying is the consequential founding of the Inland Waterways Association in 1946 and its campaigns to protect waterways for pleasure boating. Stressing its difficult reliance upon tourism, Rolt's role in the preservation of the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway in Wales is considered. Set against contradictory historical evidence, the notion of ‘golden ages’ is applied to Rolt's visions of waterways and railways; problems with his attempts at conservation are stressed. Although Rolt was a significant figure, it is concluded that his visions of conservation were unfulfilled. A need to develop conservation history related to transport and to consider the role of the British middle class and manual labour remains.

Political transitions, value change and motorisation in 1970s Portugal

Abstract: During the revolutionary period of 1974–76, there was vigorous debate in Portugal regarding the role of automobiles in the desired new society. The dispute was reinforced by the first international...

Multimodal dreamin': California transportation planning, 1967-77

Abstract: California's Division of Highways on 1 July 1973 was replaced by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The enabling legislation envisioned a multimodal agency that would shift transportation policy and planning away from its highway emphasis, consistent with the creation of other state departments of transportation throughout the U.S.A. at the time. The policies and plans they proposed were heavily influenced by competing conceptions of multimodalism and regional transportation governance advanced by key actors. Eventually, the state's role was diminished by public and local government opposition to the implementation of multimodal transportation policies, while the responsibilities of voluntary regional planning agencies were elevated. Even though its transportation institutions were designed precisely to oppose their achievement, California's contemporary transportation policy goals remain similar to those that prevailed when Caltrans was created - reducing automobile dependency and promoting compact urban forms. The best hope for realizing the state's multimodal dreams is now offered by supportive public coalitions.

A Specifically German Path to Mass Motorisation? Motorcycles in Germany between the World Wars

Abstract: After rapid growth of its motorcycle industry since the early 1920s, in the 1930s Germany became the world's largest motorcycle producer and exporter. Furthermore, in 1933 Germany was the country w...

Promoting German Automobile Technology and the Automobile Industry: The Motor Hall at the Deutsches Museum, 1933-1945

Abstract: During the period of National Socialism, the Deutsches Museum in Munich built a large Motor Hall, which became a kind of national motor museum within the largest German museum of science and techno...

Germany's National Socialist Transport Policy and the Claim of Modernity: Reality or Fake?:

Abstract: The construction of the extensive motorway network by the Nazi regime has often been seen as a textbook example of a thorough motorisation policy. But the motorway construction took place under a t...

The Great Auto Theft: Confiscation and Restitution of Motorised Vehicles in Austria during and after the Nazi Period

Abstract: In March 1938 the National Socialists seized power in Austria. One of their first measures against the Jewish population was to confiscate their vehicles. In Vienna alone, a fifth of all cars were stolen from their legal owners, the greatest auto theft in Austrian history. Many benefited from the confiscations: the local population, the Nazi Party, the state and the army. Car confiscation was the first step to the ban on mobility for Jews in the German Reich. Some vehicles that survived World War II were given back to the families of the original owners. The research uses a new online database on Nazi vehicle seizures.

Luxury Item or Urgent Commercial Need? Occupational Position and Automobile Ownership in 1930s Austria

Abstract: The possession of an automobile prior to the Second World War was still an elite phenomenon, and the number of registered automobiles was low. Europe was no exception, especially Austria. Unusually...