Thematic Transportation Trivia

1. The London Underground is the oldest underground system in the world opening in 1863 and then becoming electric in 1890. However, which city in continental Europe had the first underground system?

From Quiz Rollin' Rollin': Trains, Tracks and Tunnels

Answer: Budapest

The Budapest metro was started in 1894 and was completed in 1896. In 2002, it was classified as a World Heritage Site. The Paris metro began in 1900, with the Berlin U-Bahn in 1902 followed by Athens in 1904.

From Quiz Submarines That Never Really Were (2nd Bubble)

Answer: Nautilus

Jules Verne (1828-1905) wrote "Vingt mille lieues sous les mers" in 1969 and introduced the submarine Nautilus. In his 1875 novel "The Mysterious Island," the Nautilus was destroyed. Beginning in 1999, writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill created a series of comics entitled "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" in which a rebuilt (larger) Nautilus figured. There have been at least six film adaptations of the Verne's novel. The 1954 Walt Disney version was the most popular and received Oscars (in 1955) for both Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects. The name of the boat was an homage to American inventor Robert Fulton's submarine designed in 1793-1797 and tested in 1800. Fulton named his submersible after the marine mollusk Nautilus pompilius (the chambered nautilus).

From Quiz Choo Choo Two

Answer: A bluegrass instumental

"Orange Blossom Special" was written by Ervin T. Rouse in 1938 and first recorded in 1939. In the blue grass genre, it is regarded as the 'Fiddle Player's National Anthem'. In 1965 Johnny Cash brought popular lyrics to the traditional melody. "Look a-yonder comin' Comin' down that railroad track Hey, look a-yonder comin' Comin' down that railroad track It's the Orange Blossom Special Bringin' my baby back" The most popular version contained an adlib: "Say man, when you going back to Florida?" "When am I goin' back to Florida? I don't know, don't reckon I ever will." "Ain't you worried about getting your nourishment in New York?" "Well, I don't care if I do-die-do-die-do-die-do-die."

From Quiz Top Models

Answer: Cavalier

The Cavalier was a large family car, made by Vauxhall from 1975 to 1995 and it replaced the Victor and was succeeded by the Vectra. Between 1990 and 1995 they were used in the British Touring Car Championship and the Cavalier won Vauxhall the Manufacturers Championship in 1992 with five wins from a possible fifteen.

From Quiz Motorbikin' Without Leaving The Sofa

Answer: Velocette KTT

Velocette were made in Birmingham by Veloce Ltd and not only was the 350cc KTT the first production racer with a positive-stop foot gear change, it also became, in 1937, the first with a swingarm rear suspension using separate shock absorber units. The KTT had many successes at the Isle of Man TT races and Brooklands and led to good sales of the road going variants, the KSS, KTS and KTP. Velocette went into voluntary liquidation in 1971.

From Quiz Automobiles that Never Really Were, 2nd Gear

Answer: The Batmobile

The Batmobile first appeared in DC Comics in 1939. It was a tricked out Cadillac with armour and concealed weapons. The car has changed over time: wing-shaped fins, mobile crime lab capacity, anti-tank warfare gizmos. The Batmobile on the 1966-1968 TV series was a modified 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car. Batfans can even get a model made of Legos.

From Quiz Automobiles that Never Really Were, 1st Gear

Answer: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Ian Fleming wrote his novel "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car" in 1964 to entertain his son Caspar. The novel was (quite) loosely adapted to film in 1968 using a screenplay written by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes. Albert R. Broccoli, the same fellow who produced the early James Bond films, produced "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." In the novel and film, Commander Caractacus Potts buys and restores a Paragon Panther which turns out to have magical powers to transform itself into all manner of vehicles. An additional character, a pretty girl named Truly Scrumptuous, is added to the film.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Steam

Answer: 1st Century BCE

Hero of Alexandria, a Roman engineer, described a device called an Aeolipile. This was described as a metal ball, filled with water, which had two "nozzles" located at opposite sides of the ball on the same circumference. Each nozzle was bent at right angles to the circumference. When heated to boiling, steam escaped through the nozzles causing the device to act as a rotating steam turbine. The device was not reported to have done any useful work.

From Quiz Aircraft that Never Really Were -- Part 2

Answer: His doghouse

The Sopwith Camel entered service in the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and was the most popular (and effective) of the British fighter planes in WW I. It was replaced by the Sopwith Snipe. Snoopy, with a leather aviator's helmet and scarf, struck a dashing pose atop his doghouse as he battled the Red Baron.

From Quiz Aircraft that Never Really Were -- Part 1

Answer: The Songbird

"Sky King" began as a radio programme in 1946 which remained on the air until 1954. In the TV series (1951-1959), Schuyler "Sky" King flew a Cessna T-50 and then a Cessna 310B, both of which were named "The Songbird." Sky was a father figure to his niece Penny and his nephew Clipper.

From Quiz The Quizzyland Express - All Aboard!

Answer: South Africa

Renowned for its luxury and opulence, the 'Blue Train' is South Africa's flagship rail service which runs between Pretoria and Cape Town, two of the country's capital cities. The service first started in 1923 as a means of transporting people from the financial heartland of Johannesburg to Cape Town from where ships left for ports abroad. In 1937, it acquired the 'Blue Train' nickname from the colour the carriages were painted. When the service resumed in 1946 after World War II, the name was formally adopted. Regarded as one of the world's most luxurious train journeys, two trains operate on the 1600km route, one running north to south and the other in the opposite direction. The two day / one night itinerary allows passengers the opportunity for off-the-train excursions to places of interest along the route such as Kimberley, the site of the world's largest diamond rush.

From Quiz "All Aboard"

Answer: listen

The message of "stop, look and listen" was often written on old railroad crossing signs. Of course, I have heard people scream at a railroad crossing before!

From Quiz Train Spotting Is Interesting, Really

Answer: The Cannonball Express

Casey Jones was born on March 14, 1863 and died on April 30, 1930 when the train he was driving, the Cannonball Express, collided with a stationery freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi. His exploits were immortalised in song "The Ballad of Casey Jones" and in movies and TV shows.

From Quiz I'm On a Boat!

Answer: The Minnow

Just a three hour tour! Professor fixed everything on the island but the boat. The program ran on CBS from 1964 to 1967. Critics belittled the show, but the viewers loved it. Bob Denver and Alan Hale Jr starred as Gilligan and the Skipper.

From Quiz The Zamboni

Answer: California

The Zamboni was developed by a skating rink owner in Paramount, California. Before the use of the Zamboni, resurfacing the ice took as many as 10 men over an hour using a fire hose, scrapers and squeegees. Technology improved the quality of the surface, improving dramatically the level of performance by hockey players and figure skaters. The technology was embraced immediately by professional figure skaters, and much later by hockey clubs.

From Quiz Ships that Never Really Were

Answer: The Pequod

Ishmael is a seaman on the crew who is also the narrator of the novel, Nantucket was the harbour out of which the Pequod sailed. Algonquian is the language from which the name "Pequod", a tribe of Native Americans, is derived.

From Quiz Submarines That Never Really Were (2nd Bubble)

Answer: Das Boot

Lothar-Günther Buchheim based his 1973 anti-war novel "Das Boot" on his own experiences on board a U-boat during WW II. In 1981, Günter Rohrbach produced a film adaptation directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Petersen wrote the script with which Buchheim was not happy. There are several versions of "Das Boot" of highly varying lengths. The original German television mini-series was six hours long and is available on an edited 293-minute DVD. The American theatrical release was 145 minutes. In 1997, a "director's cut" was re-released which lasts 210 minutes. Although there was an actual German Type VIIC submarine numbered U-96, both Lothar-Günther Buchheim's novel and Wolfgang Petersen's motion picture use it fictitiously.

From Quiz Submarines That Never Really Were, 1st Bubble

Answer: The Beatles

The children's song "Yellow Submarine" was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon and released on their 1966 album "Revolver." They wrote it expressly for Ringo Starr to sing. The song describes a happy voyage on board a submarine. In addition to human voices and musical instrument, sound effects were added to the track. Lennon created the sound of bubbles by blowing through a straw into a basin of water. Lennon and McCartney created the captain's voice by yelling orders through tin cans. United Artist turned the song into a motion picture in 1968. The song has been adopted by anti-fascist movements, striking labour unions, football fan clubs, and drug-legalisation advocates but the Beatles insist that there was no hidden nor allegorical meaning in the lyrics, only a song about a yellow submarine.

From Quiz Take The Greyhound

Answer: 1920s

Several bus company names were in use for differing routes until Ed Stone, proprietor of Blue Goose Lines, saw the reflection of his 1920s bus in a store window on the inaugural run between Superior, Wisconsin and Wausau, Wisconsin. It reminded him of a greyhound dog, and he adopted that name for that segment. By 1930, the company was running 100 buses and had adopted Greyhound as a memorable name to cover all the routes. In 2019, the company announced that it had 1,700 buses.

From Quiz Top Models

Answer: Anglia

The Ford Anglia was produced from 1939 to 1967, when it was replaced by the Escort. Anglias made from 1939 to 1959 were fitted with vacuum powered windscreen wipers which had a tendency to slow down or even stop if the car was driven above 40 mph.

From Quiz Motorbikin' Without Leaving The Sofa

Answer: 0

Knievel jumped or attempted to jump many things during his career, including the Caesars Palace fountains in Las Vegas, 19 cars and 13 Pepsi delivery trucks but despite trying for years, never got to attempt the Grand Canyon as the U.S. Interior Department refused to allow him airspace over the canyon. In 1999 though, he got to watch his son Robbie jump the canyon at a section owned by the Hualapai Indian Reservation. Although the jump was successful and set a personal record of 228 feet, Robbie lost control on landing and crashed, breaking a leg.

From Quiz Automobiles that Never Really Were, 2nd Gear

Answer: The General Lee

The General Lee from "The Dukes of Hazzard" was a modified 1969 Dodge Charger that could jump long distances and had a horn which played the first few notes of "Dixie." The doors were welded shut; the boys climbed in and out the windows. On the roof was a replica of General Robert E. Lee's battle flag from the Army of Northern Virginia. Because of the association of Confederate flags with racism, controversy arose over the use of this flag on the car.

From Quiz Automobiles that Never Really Were, 1st Gear

Answer: KITT

The Knight Industries 2000 was driven by David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight in the first series of "Knight Rider". It was a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am voiced by William Daniels. The Knight Industries 3000 was driven by Justin Bruening as Mike Traceur in the second series. It was voiced by Val Kilmer. William Daniels' name never appeared the credits because he was trying to establish his role as Dr. David Craig on "Saint Elsewhere" at the same time.

From Quiz The Wonderful World of Steam

Answer: Used to pump water from mine shafts.

Based on the experimental work of several scientists and experimenters in the 16th and 17th century, Thomas Savery, in 1698, created a low-horsepower, steam-driven pump that would lift water. Thomas Newcomb built his "atmospheric-engine" in 1712, which combined the features and ideas of Savery and the previous experimenters in the first "practical" steam engine which could "dewater" the many mine shafts in used in England at that time. Throughout the 18th century, many improvements were made on Savery and Newcomb's engines, but the principal use of these engines was to keep England's mines dry.

From Quiz Aircraft that Never Really Were -- Part 2

Answer: Airwolf

The flight-worthy Airwolf helicopter was a twin-engine Bell Textron 222 tricked out to disguise its heavy armament. Jan Michael Vincent and his co-pilot/mechanic played by Ernest Borgnine starred. The show ran three seasons on American TV; Vincent's alcohol and IV drug problems contributed to its demise. When the programme went out of production, the chopper was sold to a German air-ambulance company; it crashed on a mercy mission in 1992 killing its three crew members.

From Quiz Aircraft that Never Really Were -- Part 1

Answer: F-19 Ghostrider

The F-19 is a (potentially) actual designation for a US fighter airplane. Although the designator has not been used, there has been intense speculation that it describes a super-secret highly-advance aircraft. Clancy used this speculation to create the F-19 "Frisbee" which is significantly successful in defending NATO in the novel. Both the Testor Corporation and the Monogram Company produced model kits from which speculative F-19 stealth fighters could be built by hobbyists.

From Quiz The Quizzyland Express - All Aboard!

Answer: J.M.W. Turner

"Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway" is an oil painting by the great British landscape artist Joseph Mallord William Turner. The painting was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844 although it remains unclear when it was actually painted. The painting shows an onrushing train coming through an early morning rainstorm. It is generally accepted that the locomotive is the Great Western Railway at the Maidenhead Railway Bridge, the iconic crossing designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The striking feature of this painting is the impression the artist creates of the speed of the train through the blurred landscape. It has been postulated that Turner used this painting to convey his concern with the speed at which the world was embracing new technology and the damage that would be done to the traditional ways. The painting is considered to be one of Turner's greatest masterpieces and is part of the collection of the National Gallery in London where it now hangs.

From Quiz Planes, Boats, Trains

Answer: Sir Ben Ainslie

At one stage it looked all over for America: they were trailing 8 - 1 and had to win eight straight races to win, a task that looked almost impossible. They had made changes to the crew when 4-1 behind, bringing in Sir Ben Ainslie, Britain's multi gold medal winning sailor, as tactician, and pulled off the impossible. With the racing being close to shore, and the super catamarans travelling at speeds of up to forty knots, it was a thrilling spectacle that engaged even those not normally fans of yacht racing. Question by Christinap

From Quiz "All Aboard"

Answer: Petticoat Junction

The show, which ran seven seasons from 1963-1970, followed the lives of a family living in a hotel in the farm town of Hooterville, which was on the trainline of the C. F. and W. Although the show took place mostly in the hotel, there were several scenes which focused on the Cannonball. The show was a spinoff of "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1962-1971), and later it spun off into "Green Acres"(1965-1971).

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