They will know all about you

The British government is preparing new legislation that would compel all travelers entering and traveling within the UK to provide up to 19 pieces of personal information. Including such items as cellphone and credit card numbers, the information will be held for thirteen years. Read all about it in today's Guardian.

It's all in the name of security. Britain already supplies such detailed information to the US government on its citizens who travel to the States. And to think that once upon a time all you needed to show on the train was a valid ticket.

(Photograph: Guardian)

The First Trainspotter

The BBC reports that a new exhibit at the British National Railway Museum has documents from the first known Trainspotter. The museum is showing a letter written by 14-year old John Backhouse of County Durham to his sister in 1825 that describes a steam locomotive.

It was a very grand sight to see such a mass of people moving on the road from Stockton to Darlington, 600 people were said to be in, on and about the wagons and coaches! And the engine drew not less that 90 tons!!!!!

There was an excellent dinner prepared at Stockton for the railway gentry. I could tell you a great many more particulars but suppose that you are tired of it by this time.

Trainspotting saw it's heyday in the 1930s and steady decline since the 1960s when rail was superseded as the dominant mode for transporting goods and people.

Drive a big car in London? Pay up or give up.

The tides of public opinion and personal finance appear to be turning against big cars, at least in the UK. They are regarded as increasingly uncool, and those with the chutzpah to drive big vehicles will soon need big wallets too. An article in the Christian Science Monitor outlines how the city of London's authorities plan to introduce higher rates of congestion pricing, aimed at discouraging the use of large automobiles. Meanwhile it seems that more drivers in the UK are turning to smaller, more environmentally correct vehicles.

Cutty Sark damaged in blaze

A sad day for shipping history buffs as the famous Cutty Sark, one of the few surviving clipper ships, suffered damage in a suspicious fire. The ship is a much-loved icon of the glory days of British maritime prowess, and a popular tourist draw. All is not lost, as the ship had been undergoing restoration and much of its material had been temporarily removed. Also, it seems that the damage sustained is not as bad as it looks.

Congestion pricing news

The Guardian (London) has a report on the British government's plans to introduce road pricing throughout the UK.

"Whatever happened to the Segway?"

A couple of years ago, we were taken by surprise when two members of the general public entered the Transportation Library mounted on Segways (but at least they wore clothes.) This was one of the few times these machines have been observed. Apart from rich eccentrics and UC Berkeley PD officers, who actually uses these things? Once expected (by their sellers) to quickly make every sidewalk into a Segway freeway, in 2007 these critters and their riders are still head-turning rarities. And most ominously, the Library of Congress doesn't provide a term for the Segway in its Subject Headings, an indication that the amount of literature about the machine is pretty negligible. London's Independent newspaper bucks the trend with an article that ponders the Segway story, and here's a video where experts try to remember life before the Segway.

Airline offers free flights

The maverick Irish airline Ryanair, which runs no-frills flights in Europe at very low prices, yesterday offered virtually free flights (well, yes, they cost one British penny each). The move was prompted by an unexpected fall in ticket sales. But with a zero price, demand went wild and the company's website crashed several times as about four million applicants scrambled for free rides. Surprisingly, there are still some free seats available at the Ryanair website as of this post.