The Walt Disney World Railroad is a 3-foot (914 mm) narrow-gauge
American heritage railroad and attraction that encircles most of the
Magic Kingdom theme park of Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida.
Constructed by WED Enterprises, it has three train stations along 1.5
miles (2.4 km) of track, and four historic steam locomotives,
originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. On a typical day, two or
three locomotives will complete round trips in 20 minutes on the main
line. The railroad's development was led by Roger E. Broggie. The
attraction's locomotives were acquired from the Ferrocarriles Unidos de
Yucatán, a narrow-gauge railroad system in Mexico, and altered to
resemble locomotives built in the 1880s. The passenger cars were built
from scratch. The railroad opened to the public for the first time on
the theme park's opening day, October 1, 1971. Since then, it has become
one of the world's most popular steam-powered railroads, with about 3.7
million passengers each year.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World_Railroad>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1410:
The Yongle Emperor launched the first of his military campaigns
against the Mongols, resulting in the fall of the Mongol khan
Bunyashiri.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongle_Emperor%27s_campaigns_against_the_Mongols>
1807:
The Slave Trade Act became law, abolishing the slave trade in
the British Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807>
1917:
Following the overthrow of the Russian tsar Nicholas II,
Georgia's bishops unilaterally restored the autocephaly of the Georgian
Orthodox Church.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_Orthodox_Church>
1948:
Meteorologists at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City,
United States, issued the world's first tornado forecast after noticing
conditions similar to another tornado that had struck five days earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Tinker_Air_Force_Base_tornadoes>
1975:
King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot and killed by his nephew
Faisal bin Musaid.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_of_Saudi_Arabia>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Homeric:
1. Resembling or relating to the epic poetry of Homer.
2. Of or pertaining to Greece during the Bronze Age, as described in
Homer's works.
3. Fit to be immortalized in poetry by Homer; epic, heroic.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Homeric>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every process which arises from our physical being and is related
to it, is an event which lies outside of our volition. Every social
process, however, arises from human intentions and human goal setting
and occurs within the limits of our volition. Consequently, it is not
subject to the concept of natural necessity. … We are here stating no
prejudiced opinion, but merely an established fact. Every result of
human purposiveness is of indisputable importance for man's social
existence, but we should stop regarding social processes as
deterministic manifestations of a necessary course of events. Such a
view can only lead to the most erroneous conclusions and contribute to a
fatal confusion in our understanding of historical events.
--Rudolf Rocker
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rudolf_Rocker>
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