notice how many floors are missing in the following ‘25 floor’ building in china…

1. the bennie railplane - 1922




back in the 1920s george bennie designed and built the railplane, a propeller-driven monorail initially intended to travel between glasgow and edinburgh. the design was way ahead of its time, the railplane capsule home to a 4-blade propeller at each end, each of these powered by its own electric motor - the result a cruising speed of 120mph.



a test track was built and demonstrations given to many astounded members of the public and potential backers of this futuristic mode of transport but ultimately the idea was dropped due to the projected costs and the start of the 2nd world war.



2. the rail zeppelin - 1929





the rail zeppelin was designed by frank kruchenberg, also responsible for designing zeppelin airships.
this dangerous looking beast was home to a huge bmw aircraft engine which drove the rear-mounted 4-blade wooden propeller, the resultant power responsible for a new train speed world record of 145mph in 1931.



the zeppelin was eventually scrapped due to the high risk design - it was extremely difficult to find insurance for the vehicle due to the propeller, especially on a public railway.



3. the dringos prop-locomotive - 1919

even before the rail zeppelin was designed the ‘dringos prop-locomotive’ prototype was being tested on tracks in berlin, a 2-blade propeller attached to each end of the train helping it achieve a speed of 60mph. higher speeds were probably achievable but not pushed for due to the ‘primitive chassis and braking system’ of this prototype.

outside interest for the concept was apparently lacking.



4. the leyat helica - 1913 



the model in the photo above was the first marketed version of the leyat helica, a propeller driven car designed by a frenchman called marcel leyat, a guy who actually designed and built planes until the beginning of the 2nd world war.


above: the leyat helica sport


above: this particular helica reached a record speed of 170kmh in 1927. the photo was taken that day.

5. the helicron no.1 - 1932



this beauty was discovered in a french barn 7 yrs ago, apparently after being left there by the owners in the 1930s. when found it needed a complete restoration and was rebuilt using most of the original parts. these days the huge wooden propeller helps the helicron reach a top speed of 75mph.



6. propeller driven bicycle - 1936

the article below is taken from a copy of popular science magazine in 1936 and i know nothing more about this particular invention. what i do know is that it’s one of the best pictures i’ve ever seen and that the amount of pedalling required to get that propeller moving at any decent rate must’ve been immense.
no wonder the guy looks close to death.



7. the aerosan - 1909



aerosans/aerosleds are basically propeller-driven sleds that were originally used in russia for recreational purposes.



around 10 yrs after their conception a number of aerosans were developed specifically for the soviet red army, uses including mail-delivery, border patrol and relatively rapid medical support.



a number of different models were designed, more can be read about them here.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

if you’re anything like me you’ll be pretty jealous of this guy, peter hiesinger.

for as long as i can remember i’ve always wanted my biceps to look like massive mouldy tomatoes - i just never knew which machine to use at the gym. this fella obviously found that very machine pretty early
on and never looked back.





check out the hole in his bicep in the next one. must’ve fallen on something sharp.



completely unrelated, here’s a photo of a bicep that’s been introduced to far too much synthol..



and here’s that same man, gregg valentino, before his body gave in..




source

most of you will have seen one of these giant tap illusions before..



they can usually be found in waterparks around the world, surrounded by young kids attempting to destroy the hidden pole that holds it up. well late japanese-american architect isamu noguchi took this family favourite one step further and created an incredible looking set of fountains for the world expo in osaka, japan. the effect is stunning and surreal, the boxes seemingly held in the air by the force of the water.




these were the only photos i could locate on the intertubes. if you know of any others please let me know.

sources: 1, 2

a house’s exterior drainage system in dresden, germany…




thanks to jeff for the photos

here are some examples of vehicle cemeteries around the world, areas on earth that have unwittingly become the home to rusting, unused machines - remember, this is just a selection of the many boneyards on earth and while they often look stunning and make for a great photo, the environmental costs far outweigh the view.

(photos found on flickr link to source)

- ships

bay of nouadhibou, mauritania

welcome to the bay of nouadhibou, mauritania, an area containing over 300 ships which have been abandoned during the last 20 years.
until recently the attraction of this particular area for frustrated boat owners was, unsurprisingly, money. in order to avoid the high costs needed to discard a ship properly, people from all around the globe slowly realised that the harbour authority in this particular bay was corrupt and would turn a blind eye to any decaying vessel in return for a cheeky backhander.
the result can be seen below. it’s a surreal, haunting image. there’s an unembeddable clip of some of the dead ships here.

have a look on google maps here.





- mining vehicles

consolidated diamond mine, oranjemund, namibia 

i found this brilliant photo on flickr (click pic to go source) and, according to the description, once a piece of mining equipment or a mining vehicle enters the consolidated diamond mine in oranjemund, namibia, it’s never allowed to leave. for that reason there’s a huge vehicle graveyard near the mine. considering the mine apparently owns the largest private earthmoving fleet in the world, that must be a huge boneyard.



i’ve had a look on google maps for the boneyard but the area is massive. the picture below is of a collection of machinery i found - whether it’s the correct collection i don’t know. take a look on google maps here.



- planes

amarc/the boneyard, tuscon, arizona


home to over 4000 aircraft, amarc (aerospace maintenance and regeneration center) is managed by the us airforce material command who claim to carry out ‘a continual process of anti-corrosion and re-preservation work’ in order to stop the unused aircraft damaging the surrounding environment. whether that’s the case or not, i don’t know.

either way, it’s an immense amount of aircraft in such a relatively small area.

take a look on google maps here.




- trains

train cemetery, uyuni, bolivia 

a kilometre outside the town of uyuni in bolivia is the train cemetery, a resting place for dozens of old steam engines along a short length of unused track. pretty much all of the trains are comlpetely covered in rust and way beyond any kind of repair, the eerie sight attracting a large number of tourists each year who have come to the area to see the world’s largest salt flats (salar de uyuni) and a few locals on the hunt for scrap metal.

the area on google maps can be found here.





- nuclear-propelled submarines

various harbours, far east russia 



frightening but true.

following the cold war, russia is now home to the largest fleet of nuclear-propelled submarines in the world, a large percentage of these currently out of service and residing in harbours on the eastern coast of russia in various states of decay, the main reason for the neglect apparently being lack of funds. these areas have become known as the ’submarine cemeteries’.

here are some photos from just a couple of these harbours.

zvezda



above: 2 unused submarines at zvezda shipyard.

below: a similar scene on google maps. direct link here.



chazma bay
 


above: submarine reactor compartment units floating in chazma bay.

below: a simliar view on google maps. link here.



sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

this is quirin chapel in luxembourg, built in 1355.

it’s quite difficult to work out at first glance due to the bizarre location of the building, the road above not helping to ease the visual confusion.



the chapel is built into the rock, much of the interior space situated under the road and entry can be gained either through the visible front door or by way of a tunnel to the rear which connects to the incredible undergound network of casements below luxembourg city.



source

the pontcysyllte aquaduct in north wales is the highest navigable aqueduct in the world. built in 1805, the ‘waterway in the sky’ enables the llangollen canal to travel over the river dee valley 126ft above ground. it was designed by thomas telford and immediately hailed as an ‘engineering marvel’ by many.



as if the height wasn’t scary enough, only the side walkable by pedestrians is guarded by a rail. if you’re on a narrowboat crossing the valley and you’re even slightly afraid of heights, it’s not advisable to look to the right…




one false move and you could very easily plummet 126ft to the ground…



watch this clip and be prepared to soil your pants..



use your eyes to experience a 360 degree panorama of the view from the top here.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

(any photos found on flickr are linked to the user’s page)