Planes, trains, automobiles

David and I visited the Ulster Transport Museum on Saturday, which has a wonderful collection of steam train engines (David's favorite), double decker trams, buses that were converted to trains, iconic British cars, de Loreans (made in Belfast), and a wonderful exhibit on the Titanic.

While neither the deLorean nor the Titanic are great Belfast success stories, they are hardly representative of the city's history. Belfast was the leading manufacturer of Irish linen during the mid 1800s, building the foundation for its world famous shipbuilding industry. Since 1860, Titanic builder Harland and Wolff built 147 ships, 10 oil tankers, 11 aircraft carriers, and 16 military ships. The other 146 ships avoided the Winslet/deCaprio treatment so mostly they just got about their business plying the oceans every day. Lately, we've been watching H&W rehab oil drilling platforms.

On to photos. David's dad was a signalman for British Rail, so David got to play signalman.


This would look better if he had a uniform and cap on. These levers pulled cables that controlled arms mounted on poles above the track. The position of the arm let the driver know whether the track was clear or not.