The Turboliners were a family of gas turbine trains built for Amtrak in the 1970s. They were purchased by Amtrak to update its fleet with faster, more modern trains. The first batch, known as RTGs, were built by the French firm ANF and entered service on multiple routes in the Midwestern United States in 1973. The new trains increased ridership wherever they were used, but the high cost of operating the trains led to their withdrawal from the Midwest in 1981. The second batch, known as RTLs (example pictured), were of a similar design but manufactured by Rohr Industries, an American company. These entered service on the Empire Corridor in the State of New York in 1976. The RTLs remained in service there through the 1990s, supplemented by several rebuilt RTGs. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, New York and Amtrak partnered to rebuild the RTLs for high-speed service; this project failed and Amtrak withdrew them from service in 2003. After the settlement of legal issues, the last RTLs were sold for scrap in 2012.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turboliner

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1685:

French colonists, led by Robert de La Salle, landed at Matagorda Bay in present-day Texas, which later allowed the United States to claim the region as part of the Louisiana Purchase. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonization_of_Texas

1846:

Polish insurgents led an uprising in the Free City of Kraków to incite a fight for national independence that was put down by the Austrian Empire nine days later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_Uprising

1943:

A fissure opened in a cornfield in the Mexican state of Michoacán and turned into the cinder cone volcano Parícutin, growing 424 m (1,391 ft) in eight years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par%C3%ADcutin

1965:

NASA's Ranger 8 spacecraft successfully transmitted 7,137 photographs (sample pictured) of the Moon in the final 23 minutes of its mission before crashing into Mare Tranquillitatis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_8

1988:

The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast voted to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh_War

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

fictive kin: (anthropology, ethnography) Someone who, though unrelated by birth or marriage, has such a close emotional relationship with another that they may be considered part of the family. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fictive_kin

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Not the least among the arguments whose consideration should dispose us to welcome among us the peoples of all countries, nationalities and colors, is the fact that all races and varieties of men are improvable. This is the grand distinguishing attribute of humanity, and separates man from all other animals. If it could be shown that any particular race of men are literally incapable of improvement, we might hesitate to welcome them here. But no such men are any where to be found, and if they were, it is not likely that they would ever trouble us with their presence.   --Frederick Douglass https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass