The Great North of Scotland Railway was one of the smaller Scottish
railways operating in the far north-east of the country. Formed in 1845,
it carried its first passengers from Kittybrewster, in Aberdeen, to
Huntly on 20 September 1854. An early expansion was followed by a period
of forced economy, but in the 1880s the railway was refurbished, express
services began to run, and a suburban service in Aberdeen started. The
railway operated its main line between Aberdeen and Keith and two routes
west to Elgin; connections could be made at Keith and Elgin for services
to Inverness. Its eventual area encompassed the counties of
Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Moray, with short lengths of line in
Inverness-shire and Kincardineshire. Fish from the North Sea ports and
whisky from Speyside became important goods traffic. The Royal Family
used the Deeside Line for travel to and from Balmoral Castle. The
railway became the Northern Scottish area of the London and North
Eastern Railway in 1923, passing on 333 1⁄2 miles (536.7 km) of line
and 122 steam locomotives (including No. 49 Gordon Highlander,
pictured). Only its main line remains, as part of the Aberdeen to
Inverness Line.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_North_of_Scotland_Railway>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1066:
King Harald III of Norway and Tostig Godwinson, his English
ally, fought and defeated the Northern Earls Edwin and Morcar in the
Battle of Fulford near York, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fulford>
1498:
A tsunami caused by the Meiō Nankaidō earthquake washed away
the building housing the statue of the Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in in
Kamakura, Japan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dtoku-in>
1971:
Hurricane Irene (satellite image pictured) departed Nicaragua
to become the first known tropical cyclone to successfully cross from
the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Irene%E2%80%93Olivia>
1984 - The Cosby Show, which became one of three U.S. shows to have the
highest ratings five years in a row, aired its its pilot episode.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_(The_Cosby_Show)>
2011:
The United States ended its "don't ask, don't tell" policy,
allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve in the military.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_ask,_don%27t_tell>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
anthelmintic:
A drug for the treatment of intestinal worm infestation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anthelmintic>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Men are constantly attracted and deluded by two opposite
charms: the charm of competence which is engendered by mathematics and
everything akin to mathematics, and the charm of humble awe, which is
engendered by meditation on the human soul and its experiences.
Philosophy is characterized by the gentle, if firm, refusal to succumb
to either charm. It is the highest form of the mating of courage and
moderation.
--Leo Strauss
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leo_Strauss>