title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: After the battle, 985 miners were indicted for murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory to murder, and treason against the State of West Virginia. Though some were acquitted by sympathetic juries, others were imprisoned for years. The last was paroled in 1925. At Blizzard's trial, the unexploded bomb was used as evidence of the government and companies' brutality, and he was acquitted.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: In the short term the battle was an overwhelming victory for coal industry owners and management. United Mine Workers of America (UMWA or UMW) membership plummeted from more than 50,000 miners to approximately 10,000 over the next several years, and it was not until 1935following the Great Depression and the beginning of the New Deal under President Franklin Delano Rooseveltthat the UMW fully organized in southern West Virginia.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: This union defeat had major implications for the UMWA as a whole. After World War I, as the coal industry began to collapse, union mining was no longer financially sustainable. Because of the defeat in West Virginia, the union was also undermined in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. By the end of 1925, Illinois was the only remaining unionized state that could compete with them in terms of soft coal production.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: In the long term, the battle raised awareness of the appalling conditions miners faced in the dangerous West Virginia coalfields. It also led to a change in union tactics in political battles to get the law on labor's side, by confronting recalcitrant and abusive management. This eventually resulted in a much larger organized labor victory a few years later during the New Deal in 1933. That in turn led to the UMWA helping organize many better-known unions, such as the Steel Workers during the mid-'30s, and spurred the creation of labor union affiliations and umbrella organizations, such as the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: Starting in mid 2006 a local hobby archeologist, Kenneth King, led a team of professional archeologists to further investigate the battlefield. King and the team's initial survey "mapped 15 combat sites and discovered more than a thousand artifacts, from rifle and shotgun shell casings to coins and batteries [and] little sign of disturbance" to the site, challenging earlier surveys conducted by Arch Coal Inc., one of two companies that own the mining rights to Blair Mountain. In April 2008, Blair Mountain was chosen for the list of protected places on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: The site was accepted and added to the NRHP list on March 30, 2009, but clerical errors by the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) failed to notarize all objections, and it was removed. In mid-2010, "subsidiaries of two of the United States' largest coal producers – Arch Coal, Inc., and Massey Energy Company, ... – [held] permits to blast and strip-mine huge chunks of the upper slopes and ridge of Blair Mountain, removing much of the mountaintop", "National Geographic" reported.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: In October 2012 a federal district judge ruled that a coalition of preservation groups did not have standing to sue to protect the historic site. On August 26, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 2–1 to overturn the ruling and returned the case.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: In April 2016 the order to remove the Blair Mountain battlefield from the National Register was overturned by a federal court, and the further decision to add the site back to the register was turned over to the Keeper of the National Register. On June 27, 2018, the Keeper's Office decided that the 2009 decision to remove the site from its listings was "erroneous" and issued a statement confirming that as of that date the site was again on the National Register.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: The Blair Mountain march, as well as the events leading up to it and those immediately following it, are depicted in the novels "Storming Heaven" (Denise Giardina, 1987), "Blair Mountain" (Jonathan Lynn, 2006), and "Carla Rising" (Topper Sherwood, 2015). In "The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart" (Glenn Taylor, 2008) the book's main character meets Sid Hatfield, and is involved in the Matewan massacre and the ensuing battle. John Sayles' 1987 film "Matewan" depicts the Matewan Massacre, a small part of the Blair Mountain story. Diane Gilliam Fisher's poetry collection "Kettle Bottom" also focuses on the events of the Battle of Blair Mountain, from the perspective of the miners' families.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: Tom Breiding's "Union Miner" from "The Unbroken Circle: Songs of the West Virginia Coalfields" (2008) accurately depicts events surrounding the Battle of Blair Mountain from the perspective of a coal miner preparing to march. "Union Miner" can be heard at virtually every event sponsored by the United Mine Workers of America today. Tom Breiding has provided the music for the UMWA's "Fairness at Patriot" campaign (2013–14), the UMWA centennial commemoration of the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado (2014), the inauguration of UMWA officers (2014), and various other Mine Workers events.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: "Miners' Rebellion" (2012) by alt country band The Miners tells the story of the Battle of Blair Mountain. The song is contained on The Miners' debut EP also entitled "Miners' Rebellion".


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: "When Miners March" (2007) contains 16 recently written songs (not music from the 1920s) from the audiobook "When Miners March – The Battle of Blair Mountain".


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: "Battle of Blair Mountain" (2004) is a song by folk singer David Rovics and can be found on his album "Songs for Mahmud".


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: The song "Battle of Blair Mountain" (2010), written by Louise Mosrie and Mike Richardson, can be found on Mosrie's album "Home" (Zoe Cat Music/BMI).


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: The song "Red Neck War" by Byzantine is based on the Battle of Blair Mountain and can be found on the group's 2005 album "... And They Shall Take Up Serpents" (Prosthetic Records).


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: "Blair Pathways" (2011) is a multimedia project, including a CD and maps, tracing the history of the Blair Mountain area and its labor disputes. It contains music by a number of traditional artists, including Riley Baugus and Tim Eriksen.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: Chicago Irish folk punk band The Fisticuffs released a song titled "The Ballad of Bill Blizzard" on their 2011 final album "You'll Not Take Us Alive" about the battle of Blair Mountain.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: Kentucky country artist Tyler Childers released "Long Violent History" in September 2020, from the album of the same name, and in his recorded commentary on the song he draws a parallel between the battle of Blair Mountain and the Black Lives Matter movement.


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: The Battle of Blair Mountain is interpreted by the State of West Virginia through a Historic Highway marker. The marker was made by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. The marker reads,


title: Battle of Blair Mountain

text: BATTLE OF BLAIR MT. In August of 1921, 7000 striking miners led by Bill Blizzard met at Marmet for a march on Logan to organize the southern coalfields for the UMWA. Reaching Blair Mt. on August 31, they were repelled by deputies and mine guards, under Sheriff Don Chafin, waiting in fortified positions. The five day battle ended with the arrival of U.S. Army and Air Corps. UMWA organizing efforts in southern WV were halted until 1933.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv (, ) is a city and municipality in Southern Ukraine, the administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv city, which provides Ukraine with access to the Black Sea, is the location of the most downriver bridge crossing of the Southern Bug river. This city is one of the main shipbuilding centers of the Black Sea. Aside from three shipyards within the city, there are a number of research centers specializing in shipbuilding such as the State Research and Design Shipbuilding Center, Zoria-Mashproekt and others. As of 2021, the city has a population of Mykolaiv holds the honorary title Hero City of Ukraine.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The city serves as a transportation hub for Ukraine, containing a sea port, commercial port, river port, highway, railway junction, and airport.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Much of Mykolaiv's land area consists of parks. Park Peremohy ("Victory") is a large park on the peninsula just north of the city center of Mykolaiv, on the north side of the Inhul river.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The city is known under two names, which differ in Ukrainian and Russian; there are several transliterations of each name. The Ukrainian name of the city is Микола́їв, transliterated as Mykolaiv or (officially) "Mykolayiv". The Russian name, Никола́ев, transliterates as Nikolaev or as "Nikolayev".


title: Mykolaiv

text: The city's founding was made by the Russian conquests during the Second Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792. Founded by Prince Grigory Potemkin as Nikolaev, it was the last of the many cities he established. On 27 August 1789, Potemkin ordered its naming near the wharf at the mouth of the Ingul river, on a high, cool and breezy spot where the Ingul river meets the Southern Bug river. To build the city he brought in peasants, soldiers, and Turkish prisoners; 2,500 were working there during 1789. The shipyards were built first (1788).


title: Mykolaiv

text: Potemkin named the city after Saint Nicholas, the patron of seafarers, on whose day (6 December) he had obtained victory at the siege of Ochakov in 1788. The name "Nikolaev" is known from the legal order (writ) Number 1065 by Prince Potemkin to dated 27 August 1789.


title: Mykolaiv

text: In 1920, after the establishment of Soviet power, the Odesa provincial council (of laborers and peasants' deputies) petitioned the Soviet Ukrainian government—the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee (VUTSIK)—to rename the city of Mykolaiv to Vernoleninsk ("Faithful to Lenin"). As the city of Mykolaiv was a district center of the Odesan province, presumably, the petition would have been initiated by the Odesa city council, but documentary evidence of this so far has not been identified. On 15 April 1924 the Plenum of the Central Administrative-Territorial Commission of the VUTSIK considered and rejected the petition of the Odesan executive committee. Perhaps the members of the Soviet-Ukraine government thought that the name sounded too obsequious.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Information regarding the alleged renaming of Mykolaiv was disseminated by German maps of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as in German encyclopedic publications in 1927 and 1932, which show Vernoleninsk on the USSR part of the European maps. The city was designated as Mykolaiv in publications of the same map in other languages.


title: Mykolaiv

text: To distinguish Mykolaiv from the much smaller west Ukraine city of Mykolaiv in Lviv Oblast, the latter is sometimes called "Mykolaiv on the Dniester" after the major river that it is situated on, while the former is located on the Southern Bug, another major river, and may also be called "Mykolaiv on the Bug".


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv is the administrative center of Mykolaiv Oblast (region), as well as that of Mykolaiv Raion. It hosts the administration of Mykolaiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv is located on a peninsula in Ukraine's steppe region from the Black Sea along the estuary of the Southern Bug river (where it meets the Inhul River).


title: Mykolaiv

text: Both the Inhul River and the Southern Bug River follow very winding courses just before they join at the northeast corner of Mykolaiv. This has created several long and narrow peninsulas just north of Mykolaiv, and the main part of Mykolaiv is itself on a peninsula at a 180-degree bend in the Southern Bug River.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv is in a primarily flat terrain area (the steppe grain-producing region of southern Ukraine). The nearest mountains to Mykolaiv are south, at the southern end of the Crimean Peninsula. The lack of any mountain barriers north of Mykolaiv means that cold Arctic winds can blow south, unimpeded by any terrain elevation, to Mykolaiv in winter.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv has environmental issues common in many cities in Ukraine, such as pollution of water, the air, and groundwater; drinking water quality, noise, waste management, and conservation of biological diversity in the city. One of Mykolaiv's most urgent problems is the disposal of solid household waste.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The city's climate is moderately continental with cold winters and warm to hot summers. Mykolaiv's average temperature is . The lowest average temperature is in January , the highest in July .


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv has an average of of precipitation per year, with the lowest precipitation in October, and the most in July. Mykolaiv has snow cover every year, but its height is low.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Average relative humidity is 73% for the year; the lowest humidity is in August (60%); the highest in December (86%). The lowest cloud are seen in August; the highest are in December.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The prevailing winds come from the North; the least frequent source of wind is the Southeast. The maximum wind speed is in February, the lowest is from July through September. In January, the average wind speed is 4.1 m/s (meters per second); in July, the average is 3.1 m/s.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Archaeologists have found proof of ancient settlements on the territory of Mykolaiv. In 2018, archaeologists discovered a sunken Ancient Greek ship near the Mykolaiv region, dating from the fifth century BC, the period of Greek colonization of the Northern Black Sea. Researchers stated: "This Ancient Greek ship is one of the oldest known in the Northern Black Sea."


title: Mykolaiv

text: The Russian Empire's Black Sea Navy Headquarters was in Mykolaiv for more than 100 years until the Imperial Russian Navy moved it to Sevastopol, near the southern tip of the Crimean Peninsula. During the Crimean War (1853-1856), Mykolaiv became the main rear base to support Russia's efforts in the war. Most businesses that were created in the city belonged to the military-industrial complex, and, consequently, Mykolaiv was closed to foreigners for many decades.


title: Mykolaiv

text: By the late 19th century, Mykolaiv's port ranked third in the Russian Empire (after Saint Petersburg and Odesa) in trade with foreign countries. Grain-export suppliers of the steppe region (of Ukraine and Southern Russia) were the greatest in the Russian Empire. Mykolaiv had become a great industrial center in the Southern Ukraine.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv was a major Jewish centre of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. In the 19th century, the Czarist governments largely banned Jews from living east of the Dnieper River. Mykolaiv is in the area west of the Dnieper, which was where Jews were legally allowed to reside (the Pale of Settlement). The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the seventh leader in the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty) was born in Mykolaiv on 18 April 1902.


title: Mykolaiv

text: In the course of Operation Barbarossa Mykolaiv was occupied on 16 August 1941. In September, German forces massacred over 35,000 non-combatants, many of them Jews, in the city and its region. During the occupation, an underground partisan sabotage group, the Mykolaiv Center, conducted guerilla activities. On 28 March 1944 the city was liberated, in part because of Soviet Senior Lieutenant Konstantin F. Olshansky's paratroopers and their daring raid during which the majority of his troops were killed.


title: Mykolaiv

text: In the post-war period Mykolaiv became one of the shipbuilding centers of the USSR, with three shipyards: Black Sea, 61 Kommunara, and Okean.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The asteroid 8141 Nikolaev (1982 SO4) was discovered in 1982 by Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory and was named in honor of the city.


title: Mykolaiv

text: In March 2012, Mykolaiv gained international notoriety for lawlessness and police corruption following the rape and murder of Oksana Makar. Her three attackers were apprehended, but two were released because of family connections to local government officials. After a media outcry and public protests, all three attackers were charged with her murder.


title: Mykolaiv

text: During the Euromaidan protests of 2013–2014, Mykolayiv was the scene of anti-Yanukovich protests. After the victory of Euromaidan, the situation calmed down somewhat until 7 April 2014, when some pro-Russians tried to take over the local administration building. Pro-Ukrainians stopped them from taking over the administration building and destroyed the pro-Russian camp not far from it, after which the situation in the city became calm.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Until 18 July 2020, Mykolaiv was incorporated as a city of oblast significance. It also served as the administrative center of Mykolaiv and Vitovka Raions even though it did not belong to any of these raions. In July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Mykolaiv Oblast to four, the city of Mykolaiv was merged into Mykolaiv Raion.


title: Mykolaiv

text: In February and March 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian military forces attacked Mykolaiv and placed it under siege. Ukrainian forces barred Russian forces from the city, though Russian artillery continued to shell it.


title: Mykolaiv

text: As of 2017, 63% of the population spoke Russian at home, 7% Ukrainian, and 28% spoke both Ukrainian and Russian equally.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The Soviet Government awarded Mykolaiv the Order of the Red Banner of Labour on 31 December 1970, for successfully fulfilling its assignments for the development of industrial production, in the USSR's five-year economic plan.


title: Mykolaiv

text: On 25 March 2022 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded Mykolaiv the title of Hero City of Ukraine due to the Battle of Mykolaiv.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv adopted its current coat of arms on 26 September 1997. Its design came from the one adopted in 1883, by removing the symbol of Kherson province to which Mykolaiv didn't belong anymore.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv is a major shipbuilding center of Ukraine since the time of the now defunct Soviet Union (1922–1991) and an important river port. The city has three major shipyards one of which is capable of building large navy ships. Other important industries are mechanical engineering, power engineering, metallurgy and food industry.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv was closed to foreign visitors until the late 1980s due to the large number of secret Soviet Navy projects that took place in the city (as well as due to its military air base, turbine factory and military port). The majority of the Soviet Navy's surface ships, including its only aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier" Kuznetsov", were built in Mykolaiv.


title: Mykolaiv

text: In May 2011, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych visited Mykolaiv and said that Ukraine was serious about reviving and further developing its shipbuilding industry in the Mykolaiv region.


title: Mykolaiv

text: One of the largest industrial businesses in the city is the Mykolaiv Aluminia Factory (formerly part of Rusal and currently owned by Glencore), which produces aluminium oxide (alumina), raw material for the production of aluminum.


title: Mykolaiv

text: In addition to heavy industry, the city has a developed food processing industry, including a juice maker, Sandora (part of PepsiCo), a dairy products maker, Laktalis-Mykolaiv, and a brewery, Yantar. Nibulon (Ukrainian: Нібулон), one of Ukraine’s biggest agriculture companies specialized in the production and exportation of grain such as wheat, barley and corn is headquartered in Mykolaiv. The company has its own maritime fleet and shipyard, the Nibulon Shipyard, and also developed its own river fleet to transport grain to export terminals.


title: Mykolaiv

text: In January 2017, the Mykolaiv Development Agency released a promo video of the city's investment potential.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The Mykolaiv Armored Factory (owned by Ukroboronprom) has been a large repair facility for Ukraine's military during the Russo-Ukrainian War. Engineers at the plant designed an armored ambulance based on the BTR-70 to be used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv, being an important strategic city in southern Ukraine has a significant Ukrainian military presence, including the shipyards that build Ukraine's surface navy ships, the Mykolaiv Ukrainian Navy base, the "MARP" aircraft repair factory (Mykolaiv), and the Kulbakino army base (in the Mykolaiv Oblast, outside of the city of Mykolaiv).


title: Mykolaiv

text: Previously for many years after World War II the city had been home to the 92nd Guards Motor Rifle Division, the former 92nd Guards Rifle Division. The 79th Airmobile Brigade is based in the city.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv is one of Ukraine's most important transportation junctions. It is a major commercial river and sea port, and a major highway and rail junction. Mykolaiv also has a dual-function passenger and freight airport, but passenger service at the airport is not significant, compared to Ukraine's major airports. In addition to the airport and sea and river port, Mykolaiv has two train stations, and an intercity bus station.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv Airport (IATA code NLV), one of the largest and most technically well equipped airports in the South of Ukraine, serves the city. The airport, located northwest of Mykolaiv, is mainly used for air freight and only has limited passenger service. Russian airline UTAir Aviation offers flights from Mykolaiv to Moscow (Vnukovo – VKO airport). In addition, there are one-hour passenger flights from Odesa (the nearest major airport) to Mykolaiv. Almost all airline passenger service in the South West of Ukraine (where Mykolaiv is located) is through Odesa International Airport: to reach Mykolaiv by airplane, tourists generally reach Odesa by plane, and then take a bus, taxi or train, for approximately 2 hours, to Mykolaiv. Odesa, the largest city in South West Ukraine, is from Mykolaiv.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Kulbakyno airport, also known as Nikolaev, is a Class I military air base located just to the southeast of the city center, in Kulbakyno. It primarily supports wings of Sukhoi Su-24, Sukhoi Su-25, Sukhoi Su-27, and Mikoyan MiG-29.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv is an 8.5-hour bus ride from Kyiv's main bus station. Ukrainian private national bus companies Gyunsel and Avtoluks operate overnight buses from Kyiv to Mykolaiv seven nights per week. The bus station in Mykolaiv is located at Prospekt (Avenue) Bohoyavlenskyi 21.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The main East-West Highway that passes through Mykolaiv is E-58 M-14 (West and then South to Odesa), and South East to Kherson, a major port on the Dneper River, just before it flows into the Black Sea. The E-58 M-14 then continues East to the major industrial city and port in South Eastern Ukraine, Mariupol'.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The main highways to and from Mykolaiv are from Kherson (), Odesa (), Uman (), Chişinău (Kishniev), Moldova (), the Crimean Peninsula (, Kyiv (, Kharkiv (, Lviv ( (Western Ukraine). Ukraine's roads, including those leading from Mykolaiv, tend to be poorly maintained and can be very dangerous.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The Varvarivskyi Bridge over Southern Bug is a swing bridge with Europe's largest span (134 m). It is also the southernmost bridge over the Southern Bug. The bridge connects the North coast of Mykolaiv to its Tsentralnyi Raion, located on the West Bank of the river. The Odeske Highway crosses the bridge and then continues south-west to Odesa.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Another major bridge is the Inhul Bridge crossing the Inhul River. The bridge leads from the north coast of Mykolaiv, and goes north-northeast to the peninsula on the north side of the Inhul, just north of Mykolaiv. On the north Side of the Inhul River, the Heroyiv Stalingrada Highway crosses the bridge, streaming into Pushkinska Street on the other side.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Overnight train travel in sleeper-berth passenger trains is a very common way to travel long distances in Ukraine, cheaper, more comfortable and faster than buses – and more environment-friendly, for that matter. There are nightly trains from Kyiv's main passenger train station to Mykolaiv.


title: Mykolaiv

text: In addition to Kyiv, trains from Mykolaiv regularly run to the two closest major cities to Mykolaiv: Odesa (south west of Mykolaiv); and Kherson (south of Mykolaiv). Direct trains to Moscow (26 hours), Kyiv (8-10), Lviv (18), Odesa (5), the Crimea (8 hours) depart every day. Train departures timetable. All trains have coach cars.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv's passenger train station is called Mykolaiv – Passenger. It at the intersection of Myru Avenue and Novozavodska Street 5 (in Ukraine street address numbers are placed after the street name). From the city square outside the railway station, buses depart to all other parts of Mykolaiv.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv's freight train station is called Mykolaiv-Gruzovoi (Freight). It is located at Pryvokzalna ploshcha (Square).


title: Mykolaiv

text: Though a major Ukrainian commercial sea port, Mykolaiv has no regular passenger water-borne service. Water transport is offered by three sea ports and one river port, and also by several terminals. The port is linked with the sea by Dnieper-Bug Estuary canal. The canal begins at the island Berezan and extends 44 kilometers (27 miles) until it reaches the port of Mykolaiv. The canal consistes of 13 tracks, six of which reach Dnieper Estuary, and the rest along the river Southern Bug. The width of the canal is 100 meters (330 feet). Its depth is 10.5 meters (35 feet).


title: Mykolaiv

text: Large ocean-going ships can reach Mykolaiv year round, via the Southern Bug River. The Southern Bug River, which flows into the Black Sea south of Mykolaiv, is wide in Mykolaiv. Mykolaiv's passenger river port is at Varvarovskii Spusk (Descent) 5.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The length of Mykolaiv's streetcar (tram) lines is 73 kilometers (45 miles). From 1897 until 1925 Mykolaiv's streetcars were pulled by horses. Streetcars began to be powered by electricity in 1915, and this has continued through the present. At their inception, the tracks were 1000 millimeters (3'), but during the period from 1952 to 1972 they were switched to standard gauge.


title: Mykolaiv

text: The length of Mykolaiv's trolley bus lines is 59 kilometers (37 miles). Mykolaiv's trolley buses have operated since 29 October 1967.


title: Mykolaiv

text: There are several universities in Mykolaiv. The main universities are: Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding (leading shipbuilding university in Ukraine), Petro Mohyla Black Sea State University, Sukhomlinsky National University of Mykolaiv and Mykolaiv State Agrarian University.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Sukhomlinsky National University of Mykolaiv is the oldest university in Mykolaiv. The idea of the university foundation arose in the 1860s, but it was realized only on July 18, 1913, when the Mykolaiv Teacher's Institute was founded. Nowadays there are 7,000 students studying at the university, 300 teachers working at 36 departments. Annually, the university graduates 1,000 specialists and 60-70 undergraduates.


title: Mykolaiv

text: There are 10 higher education institutions in Mykolaiv of level III or IV accreditation. 65 general education schools, lycees, gymnasium schools, 3 evening schools, and 12 private learning institutions are in the city.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv is the headquarters of the Mykolaiv Episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has 18 churches (temples) in the city.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv is also the headquarters of the Mykolaiv Episcopate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which has succeeded the Kyiv Patriarchate.


title: Mykolaiv

text: There are three performing arts theaters in Mykolaiv: the Academic Ukrainian Theater of Drama and Musical Comedy, the Mykolaiv State Puppet Theater, and the Mykolaiv Academic Art Russian Drama Theater. In addition, the Mykolaiv Oblast Philharmonic performs in the city.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv has the following museums: Mykolayiv Regional Museum of Local History, The Museum of Shipbuilding and Fleet, the Museum of the World War II Partisan Movement, the V. V. Vereshchagin Art Museum.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Three movie theaters operate in Mykolaiv: Rodina (Motherland), Pioneer, Multiplex. Movies shown include the latest Hollywood films dubbed into Ukrainian and modern Russian films.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Popular publications include "Vecherniy Nikolayev" (Evening Mykolaiv), "Nikolaevsckie Novosti" (Mykolaiv News), and "Yuzhnaya Pravda" (Southern Truth). Many publications have an Internet version, but exist in an independent Internet publication.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Television programs that are broadcast in Mykolaiv include movies, news, dramas (some of which originated in other countries, such as Mexico and the US, and are dubbed), cartoons, and professional sporting events such as Ukrainian football (soccer). Mykolaiv has the following TV channels:


title: Mykolaiv

text: 1+1; 2+2; 5 Kanal; ICTV; Inter; Real Estate TV; Tonis: K1: Kanal Ukraina; Kultura (Ukraina); CTB; TV: TET; and TRK.


title: Mykolaiv

text: MFC Mykolaiv (Municipal Football Club "Mykolaiv", Ukrainian: Муніципальний футбольний клуб "Миколаїв") is a Ukrainian football club. The club has been relegated three times from the Ukrainian Premier League. MFС Mykolaiv's best achievement in the Ukrainian Premier League was 13th place (in 1994–1995). MFC Mykolaiv reached first place in Druha Liha group A in 2010–11 season and was promoted to Persha Liha. Mykolaiv's main football stadium is at the west end of Tsentralnyi Prospekt, near the west end of the peninsula that Mykolaiv is on.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv's professional basketball team is MBC Mykolaiv. The team has won or finished second or third in several international tournaments since 1988, and won the Ukrainian Championship in 1992. MBC Mykolaiv is part of the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague, which is the top professional basketball league in Ukraine.


title: Mykolaiv

text: Mykolaiv is part of the International Black Sea Club and The World Council of Environmental Initiatives, since ICLEI).


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Galaxy Quest is a 1999 American science fiction comedy film directed by Dean Parisot and written by David Howard and Robert Gordon. A parody of and homage to science-fiction films and series, especially "Star Trek" and its fandom, the film depicts the cast of a fictional cult television series, "Galaxy Quest", who are drawn into a real interstellar conflict by actual aliens who think the series was an accurate documentary. It stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell. The film was a modest box office success and positively received by critics: it won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Nebula Award for Best Script. It was also nominated for 10 Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film and Best Director for Parisot, Best Actress for Weaver, and Best Supporting Actor for Rickman, with Allen winning Best Actor.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: "Galaxy Quest" eventually achieved cult status, especially from "Star Trek" fans for its affectionate parody, but also from more mainstream audiences as a comedy film in its own right.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Several "Star Trek" cast and crew members praised the film. It was included in "Reader's Digest"s list of The Top 100+ Funniest Movies of All Time in 2012, and "Star Trek" fans voted it the seventh best "Star Trek" film of all time in 2013.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The cast of an old 1980s space-adventure television series, "Galaxy Quest", spend most of their days attending fan conventions and making promotional appearances. Though the series' conceited former star, Jason Nesmith, thrives on the attention, the other cast members—Gwen, Alexander, Fred, and Tommy—resent him and, to varying degrees, the states of their careers.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: At a convention, Jason is approached by a group calling themselves Thermians, led by Mathesar, who request his help. Jason thinks they want him for a promotional appearance and agrees. The next morning, when the Thermians pick him up, Jason is hung over and does not grasp that the Thermians are aliens and that he has been transported to a working re-creation of the bridge of the NSEA "Protector", the starship from "Galaxy Quest." Believing he is on a set and must perform in character, he confronts the Thermians' enemy, the evil warlord Sarris, who demands the "Omega 13", a secret superweapon mentioned in the final scene of the series, which has never been used and whose capabilities are unknown. Giving perfunctory orders, Jason manages to temporarily defeat Sarris.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: After the grateful Thermians transport him back to Earth, Jason realizes the experience was real. He attempts to convince the other cast members, but is rebuffed. When the Thermian Laliari appears and requests Jason's help again, the cast, thinking it is a job, join him, including their handler Guy, who played an ill-fated redshirt in one episode of the series. Aboard the "Protector", the cast learns that the Thermians, who possess no concept of fiction, believe episodes of "Galaxy Quest" are true "historical documents". Inspired by the crew's adventures, they have based their society on the virtues espoused by the show and manufactured a functioning replica of the "Protector".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Sarris returns and attacks the "Protector" again, and the ship barely escapes through a magnetic minefield; however, the ship's power source, a beryllium sphere, is severely damaged. The humans must travel to the surface of a nearby planet for a new sphere, which they snatch from ferocious, childlike aliens. When the humans return to the "Protector", they discover that Sarris has seized the ship and demands the "Omega 13" device. Jason confesses that he is not the commander and shows Sarris the "Galaxy Quest" "historical documents". Sarris understands they are just actors and forces Jason to explain to a disillusioned Mathesar.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Sarris activates the "Protector"'s self-destruct mechanism and returns to his ship, leaving the Thermians and the cast members to die. The humans formulate a plan to abort the self-destruct and defeat Sarris' remaining troops on the ship. Jason communicates with Brandon, a "Galaxy Quest" superfan on Earth, and his network of friends with intimate knowledge of the show. They talk Jason and Gwen through the ship's core and help them abort the self-destruct sequence. Meanwhile, Alexander leads the Thermians against Sarris' forces and they take back control of the "Protector". With renewed confidence, the crew challenges Sarris and draws his ship into the magnetic minefield. This time, the "Protector" drags the magnetic mines into Sarris' vessel, destroying it.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The "Protector" approaches Earth to bring the humans home, but Sarris, who escaped his ship's destruction, ambushes them on the bridge and fatally wounds several crew members. Jason manages to activate the "Omega 13", which creates a 13-second time warp to the past, giving Jason and Mathesar a chance to disarm Sarris before he repeats his attack.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The "Protector"'s bridge separates from the main vessel to land the humans on Earth, while the main section of the ship carries Mathesar and the remaining Thermians into interstellar space. Guided by Brandon and his friends acting as beacons, the "Protector" bridge crashes into a "Galaxy Quest" convention, coming to a stop on the main stage. The dazed cast emerges to the cheers of their fans, but Sarris reemerges to imperil them again. Jason shoots and destroys Sarris, and the ecstatic crowd assumes it was all a massive display of special effects. The cast basks in the adoration of Brandon, his pals, and their fans.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Some time later, "Galaxy Quest" is revived as a sequel series, "Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues", with the cast reprising their roles alongside Guy and Laliari as new cast members.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The original spec script by David Howard was titled "Captain Starshine". Howard stated he got the idea while at an IMAX presentation, where one of the trailers for an upcoming "Americans In Space" film was narrated by Leonard Nimoy, a leading actor from "Star Trek". The trailer got Howard thinking about how the other "Star Trek" actors had become pigeonholed in these roles since the cancellation of "Star Trek", and then came up with the idea of what if there were real aliens involved. From there, he considered the rest of his script "that, in a lot of ways, just wrote itself, because it just seemed so self-evident once the idea was there".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Producer Mark Johnson, who had a first look deal with DreamWorks, did not like Howard's script, but was still fascinated with its concept of space aliens who misconstrue old episodes of a television series for reality. Johnson purchased the script and had Bob Gordon use the concept to create "Galaxy Quest". A fan of "Star Trek", Gordon was hesitant, believing "Galaxy Quest" "could be a great idea or it could be a terrible idea" and initially turned it down. Gordon, who did not read "Captain Starshine" until after the film was completed, started from the premise of washed-up actors from a sci-fi series involved with real extraterrestrials. Gordon's initial drafts added elements of humor to Howard's script, such as the "Protector" scraping the walls of the space dock when Laredo pilots the real ship for the first time. Gordon became more confident in his script when he completed the scene where Nesmith confesses to the Thermians, which he felt he nailed. He submitted his first draft to DreamWorks in 1998, and it was immediately greenlit.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Mark Johnson wanted Dean Parisot to direct; Parisot had directed another film Johnson produced, "Home Fries". However, DreamWorks favored Harold Ramis because of his prior experience, and hired him in November 1998. Ramis wanted Alec Baldwin for the lead role, but Baldwin turned it down. Steve Martin and Kevin Kline were also considered, but Kline turned it down for family reasons. Ramis did not agree with the casting of Tim Allen as Jason Nesmith, and left the project in February 1999. Parisot took over as director within three weeks. Allen said that the version of the film pitched to him by Ramis and Katzenberg felt more like "Spaceballs", and that they wanted an action star to do comedy, rather than a comedian to do an action film. Sigourney Weaver, who had previously worked with Ramis on "Ghostbusters", said that he also wanted actors who had not appeared in science fiction roles before, a choice she thought odd since veterans of the genre would know what was humorous. After seeing the film, Ramis said he was ultimately impressed with Allen's performance.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Following Parisot's assignment as director, Allen was quickly cast as Nesmith, and had to choose between "Galaxy Quest" and "Bicentennial Man". The "Bicentennial Man" role went to Robin Williams. Allen said he was a big sci-fi fan and had hoped the role would launch a second part of his career as a sci-fi actor. Some of Allen's sci-fi knowledge was put to use during production: for example, when the crew is about to land on an alien planet, Allen brought up the issue of a breathable atmosphere with Johnson and Parisot; this became dialogue for Fleegman and Kwan in the movie. About his role, Allen said he based his performance more on Yul Brynner's Ramesses II from the 1956 "The Ten Commandments", and less on William Shatner as Captain James Kirk from "Star Trek".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Alan Rickman was selected to be Alexander Dane, who played the alien Dr. Lazarus. Rickman had been interested in the part not so much for the sci-fi elements, but because of the humor. He said "I love comedy almost more than anything. This really is one of the funniest scripts I've read," and that "actors are probably the only professionals who send themselves up. We actually have a sense of humor about ourselves." While the original script made Dane a ceremonial knight, Rickman suggested the title would be too much for the character, and this was dropped, though he remained listed as "Sir Alex Dane" in the credits. Rickman also provided input into the prosthetic piece that Dane would use to play Lazarus, saying "it was important for it to be good enough to convince the aliens who believe we're the real thing, but also cheesy enough to imagine that it was something he applied himself". Rickman's sense of drama came into play during initial reads and script revisions. Rockwell said that Rickman "was very instrumental in making sure the script hit the dramatic notes, and everything had a strong logic and reason behind it". The scene where Dane, as Dr. Lazarus, gives a final, powerfully emotional speech to Quellek, played by Patrick Breen, utilized Rickman's sense of drama, according to Rockwell. Rickman was initially annoyed with Allen's excitement over his role, but eventually the whole cast bonded over the film. Dr. Lazarus' catchphrase, "By Grabthar's Hammer", was written as a temp line in Gordon's script; Gordon planned to replace "Grabthar" with something less comical, but the line stuck as the production crew started using it around their offices and had it printed on t-shirts.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Weaver had loved the script since her first read when Ramis was the director, stating "that great sort of "Wizard of Oz" story of these people feeling so incomplete in the beginning, and then during the course of this adventure, they come out almost like the heroes they pretended to be in the first place". She particularly loved the part of Madison: "to me she was what a lot of women feel like, including myself, in a Hollywood situation." In addition, she had long wanted to work with both Allen and Rickman. Once Parisot replaced Ramis, Weaver lobbied Parisot to cast her, insisting that Madison needed to be blonde and have large breasts to capture the humor of a sci-fi production. She admitted she was surprised when she actually got the role. Weaver said that this role, given some of her personal insecurities, was closer to "telling the truth about myself and science fiction" compared to her performance as Ripley in the "Alien" films. She wore a blonde wig (which she kept after production) and an enhanced bosom, which many of the crew said gave Weaver a totally new personality. Weaver often left the set in costume and returned to her hotel to admire herself, saying that she "loved being a starlet".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Tony Shalhoub originally auditioned for Guy Fleegman until Sam Rockwell won the role. Shalhoub was then cast as Fred Kwan instead. Shalhoub and Parisot worked together to develop the Kwan character, loosely basing him on David Carradine, who was a non-Asian in an Asian role in the "Kung Fu" television series. There had been an urban legend that Carradine frequently acted in his show while under the influence of drugs. While Shalhoub could not directly portray a "stoner" in a PG-13 film, he subtly used that direction, which Rockwell described as a "failed Scientologist". Shalhoub insisted that Kwan should always be shown eating to reference the stoner stereotype.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Rockwell, who wanted to develop a more serious dramatic acting career, initially considered declining the role after he was cast. He eventually recognized that several successful dramatic actors had done comedy roles early on, and Rockwell's friend Kevin Spacey convinced him to take the part. He was the last of the main actors to be cast. Rockwell fashioned Fleegman after cowardly characters from other films, such as John Turturro's Bernie in "Miller's Crossing", Bill Paxton's Private Hudson in "Aliens", and Michael Keaton's "Blaze" in "Night Shift". Rockwell drank a lot of coffee before certain scenes to help create the over-excitement and jitters associated with the character. Rockwell's character's name, Guy Fleegman, is a homage to Guy Vardaman, a little-known actor who worked extensively on "Star Trek" either as a stand-in or in bit roles. Rockwell and Shalhoub improvised some dialog to contrast Fleegman as an alarmist while Kwan was always nonchalant.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Daryl Mitchell had worked with Parisot on "Home Fries", and Parisot felt he was the perfect choice to play Webber. David Alan Grier was the second choice for Webber.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Justin Long was cast as Brandon, and it was Long's first feature-film role. Long had just completed a pilot for a television show under casting director Bonnie Zane, who suggested Long to her sister Debra Zane, the casting director for "Galaxy Quest". Long said he was nervous auditioning as an unknown actor at the time, competing against Kieran Culkin, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Tom Everett Scott. Parisot had given Long a copy of "Trekkies", a film about the "Star Trek" fandom, to help prepare for the character. Long based his character on a combination of Philip Seymour Hoffman's Scotty J. from "Boogie Nights" and the Comic Book Guy from "The Simpsons". Paul Rudd auditioned for a role.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: One of the first "Thermians" to audition was Enrico Colantoni. Colantoni loved the script and spent time before his audition developing the behavior he thought the Thermians should have. Parisot said that at the end of Colantoni's read, the actor offered a possible voice for the Thermians. Parisot immediately loved the voice and used it to establish the nature of the Thermians for the rest of the casting process. Colantoni led how the Thermians would act, which he called "happy Jehovah's Witnesses" taking everything in with "love and acceptance". Other actors cast as Thermians included Jed Rees and Rainn Wilson (his feature-film debut). According to Debra Zane, they had "a difficult time finding an actress to play a Thermian. Ultimately, Zane was so impressed with Missi Pyle's audition that she sent the casting tape directly to Parisot, with a note stating "If this is not Laliari, I will resign from the CSA." Steven Spielberg, also impressed by Pyle, asked for Laliari's role to be expanded, which developed into the romance with Kwan. Jennifer Coolidge was the second choice for the role.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Actors cast as Thermians went to "alien school" to learn how to move and talk, since they were "basically giant calamari hiding in human shape", according to Parisot. The walk was inspired by how the marionettes were articulated in the series "Fireball XL5". Other idiosyncrasies were developed by the actors during this training, and several of their lines came out of improvisations. Wilson's role as Lahnk was to have been larger in the film, but the actor was double-booked for an NBC pilot in New York City. He received a crash course on how to act like a Thermian from Colantoni, Rees, and Pyle, but still was nervous around the A-list actors leading the cast. Wilson said that a deleted scene involving Lahnk, released with the film's home media, was wisely cut given how nervous he was, flubbing his lines several times.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Linda DeScenna, production designer of the film, was interested in the project because it would not have the same aesthetics as other 1990s science fiction films, and "it didn't have to be real, hi-tech and vacuformed". DeScenna drew inspiration for the sets not only from "Star Trek", but also from "Buck Rogers", "Battlestar Galactica", and "Lost in Space". DeScenna had hoped to incorporate more essence of the reuse of props and set elements from these shows within the film, but the film didn't provide enough space for this. She used color theming to help distinguish the key elements of the film, with steam blue for the Thermians and the "Protector", while Saris and his species were made to be a green tone that stood out against that. The design of the Thermian station was influenced by the works of artist Roger Dean, especially his cover art for the Yes live album "Yessongs" (1973).


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The bulk of the film was shot in studios in Los Angeles. Scenes of the alien planet were filmed at Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. At the time, access to the park was partly by dirt road; fees paid by the production company were used to upgrade the entire access road to asphalt pavement. Other locations used in the film included the Stahl House as Nesmith's home and the Hollywood Palladium for the fan conventions.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: According to Weaver, Allen hectored her to sign a piece of the Nostromo, the spaceship from "Alien", in which she had starred; she ultimately did, writing "Stolen by Tim Allen; Love, Sigourney Weaver", which she claims upset him greatly. During the period of filming, the entire cast attended a 20th-anniversary screening of "Alien". After filming wrapped, Weaver kept the wig she wore for the role.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The film's visual effects were created by Industrial Light & Magic led by Bill George. A challenge in the CGI was making distinctions between scenes that were to be from the 1980s "Galaxy Quest" show, which would have been done normally through practical effects, and the more realistic scenes for the contemporary actors. Various practical effects were also used, such as the "piglizard" creature that the crew transports onto the "Protector".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: After most production was done, Johnson said that DreamWorks was confused by the film, as it was not what they had expected from the script they greenlit, but pushed on post-production as they needed a film to go up against Columbia Pictures' "Stuart Little". Among major cuts from DreamWorks was to bring the movie to a more family-friendly audience. The film originally received an "R" rating, according to "Galaxy Quest" producer Lindsey Collins and Weaver, before being recut. Shalhoub did not remember any darker version of the film. Gordon had not planned to write a "family friendly" film, and his initial script included mature scenes, such as DeMarco attempting to seduce aliens, and the crash of the escape pod into the convention hall decapitating several attendees.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: During post-production, "The Rugrats Movie" from Paramount Pictures came out and was a box-office success. DreamWorks at that point pushed on the production to have a competing film for a younger age group as to try to compete with "Rugrats". The film was edited and cut to bring the rating to a "PG", which required cutting of some of the better and funnier scenes in the film that could have survived if a "PG-13" rating had been targeted instead according to the cast and crew. In the "chompers" scene, DeMarco's line "Well, screw that!" was dubbed over her original "Well, fuck that!" Weaver stated she purposely made her dubbed line stand out as a form of protest from her original line. Another cut scene to achieve the rating was seeing the crew's quarters on the "Protector", which included Dr. Lazarus' quarters which Allen called a "proctologist's dream and nightmare". Several other scenes involving Dr. Lazarus were cut, as DreamWorks felt they were too kinky for the desired rating. Other scenes were added to provide what the studio felt was necessary continuity for the intended younger audience, such as showing the limo with Nesmith and the aliens "beaming up" from Earth.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: In theaters, the first 20 minutes of the film were presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, before changing to a wider 2.35:1 ratio when Nesmith looks out upon space as the "Protector" arrives at Thermia to maximize the effect on viewers. However, this caused some problems with projectionists at movie theaters when showing the film as they had not opened up the screen curtains far enough for the wider aspect ratio. Projectionists had to be told at later showings to prepare for this transition. David Newman composed the music score.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Before the release of the movie, a promotional mockumentary video titled "Galaxy Quest: 20th Anniversary, The Journey Continues", aired on E!, presenting the "Galaxy Quest" television series as an actual cult series, and the upcoming film as a documentary about the making of the series, presenting it in a similar way to "Star Trek"; it featured fake interviews of the series' cast (portrayed by the actors of the actual film), "Questerians", and critics.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: While these additional materials were made, DreamWorks devoted very little advertising to the film despite its placement near the Christmas season, which the cast and crew felt hurt the potential for the film. Unlike most films where the second and ongoing weekend box office takes decline, "Galaxy Quest" saw rising numbers over the first several weekends, and DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg apologized directly to Parisot for failing to market the film properly. Additionally, the primary trailer used for the film used a cut of the film before all the specific effects were complete, and Johnson felt that if the trailer had used the completed versions, it would have helped draw a larger audience.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: "Galaxy Quest" is an acknowledged homage to "Star Trek"; Parisot said "Part of the mission for me was to make a great "Star Trek" episode." Gordon's original script was titled "Galaxy Quest: The Motion Picture" as a reference to the , and elements such as departing the space dock and the malfunctioning transporters were further nods to the film. The prefix of the "Protector"s registration number NTE-3120 ostensibly alludes to some sort of similar space federation, but in reality stands for "Not The Enterprise", according to visual effects co-supervisor Bill George. Parisot refuted claims that the rock monster that Nesmith battled was based on the rock monster that had been scripted for "", but instead was more inspired by the Gorn that Kirk faces in the "Star Trek" episode "".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: This homage also extended to the original marketing of the movie, including a promotional website intentionally designed to look like a poorly constructed fan website, with "screen captures" and poor HTML coding.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Other aspects of the film were homages to other seminal science fiction works. The Thermians' native planet, Klaatu Nebula, is a reference to the name of the alien visitor in the classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951). Quellek's line "I'm shot" was directly influenced by the same line from James Brolin's character in "Westworld". The blue creatures on the alien planet were based on similar creatures in "Barbarella". The "chompers" scene with Nesmith and DeMarco trying to reach the self-destruct abort button was inspired by a scene from the 1997 film "Event Horizon" involving whirring blades. The effects for the Omega 13 activation were inspired by the ending scene from "Beneath the Planet of the Apes".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The film was financially successful. It earned US$7,012,630 in its opening weekend, and its total U.S. domestic tally stands at US$71,583,916; in total it has grossed US$90,683,916 worldwide.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: "Galaxy Quest" received positive reviews from critics, both as a parody of "Star Trek", and as a comedy film of its own. "The New York Times"s Lawrence Van Gelder called it "an amiable comedy that simultaneously manages to spoof these popular futuristic space adventures and replicate the very elements that have made them so durable". Roger Ebert praised the ability of the film to spoof the "illogic of the TV show". Amy Taubin of "The Village Voice" offered a lukewarm review, noting that "the many eight- to 11-year-olds in the audience seemed completely enthralled". Joe Leydon of "Variety" said that "Galaxy Quest" "remains light and bright as it races along, and never turns nasty or mean-spirited as it satirizes the cliches and cults of "Star Trek"".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Retrospective reviews for "Galaxy Quest" have been positive, as the film is considered to have held up over time. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received an approval rating of 90% based on 126 reviews and an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Intelligent and humorous satire with an excellent cast; no previous Trekkie knowledge needed to enjoy this one." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". "Esquire" Matt Miller said in 2019 "the film absolutely holds up as one of the best sci-fi satires ever made—one that challenges our obsession with massive Hollywood franchises, the nature of fandom, and some of the more problematic cliches of the genre. But it does so with a self-aware empathy that makes it an enduring and lasting entry in not only science-fiction, but American film as a whole".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Acclaimed writer-director David Mamet, in his book "Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business", included "Galaxy Quest" in a list of four "perfect" films, along with "The Godfather", "A Place in the Sun" and "Dodsworth".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The film proved quite popular with "Star Trek" fans. At the 2013 Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, "Galaxy Quest" received enough support in a "Star Trek" Film Ranking to be included with the twelve Star Trek films that had been released at the time on the voting ballot. The fans at the convention ranked it the seventh best "Star Trek" film.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Harold Ramis, who was originally supposed to direct the film but left following disagreements over the casting choices, notably Allen as the lead, was ultimately impressed with Allen's performance. Tim Allen later said he and William Shatner were "now friends because of this movie".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: "Galaxy Quest" predicted the growth and influence of media fandom in the years after its release. While fandoms such as that for "Star Trek" existed at the time of the film, the size and scope presented by the fan conventions in the film had not been seen as much in 1999; since then, major fan conventions such as the San Diego Comic Con have become significant events that draw mainstream attention. The film also depicted fandoms using their numbers to influence production companies to revive cancelled works, such as with "The Expanse", "Veronica Mars", "Arrested Development", and "Twin Peaks". The film also captured some negative elements of modern fandom, such as leading actors continuously pestered by fans for intricate details of the work's fiction and other elements of the potentially toxic culture of online fan groups.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The novella "Rabbit Remembered" (2000) by John Updike mentions the character of Laliari from the film.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Several actors who have had roles on various "Star Trek" television series and films have commented on "Galaxy Quest" in light of their own experiences with the franchise and its fandom.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: The film was released by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on VHS and DVD on May 2, 2000. The DVD version included a 10-minute behind-the-scenes feature, cast and crew biographies and interviews, and deleted scenes. A special 10th anniversary deluxe edition was released on both DVD and Blu-ray by Paramount Home Entertainment on May 12, 2009; though they lacked the same features on the original DVD release, they included several new featurettes on the film's history, the cast, and the special effects used in the film's making, alongside the deleted scenes. For the film's 20th anniversary, a "Never Give Up, Never Surrender Edition" Blu-ray was released on November 5, 2019, featuring the same features as the 10th edition; a special SteelBook Best Buy exclusive was released on September 17, 2019.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: In November 1999, "Galaxy Quest" was novelized by science fiction writer Terry Bisson, who stayed very close to the plot of the film.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: In 2008, IDW Publishing released a comic book sequel to the movie entitled "Galaxy Quest: Global Warning". In January 2015, IDW launched an ongoing series set several years after the events of the film. In 2021, Eaglemoss Publications released a behind-the-scenes book entitled "Galaxy Quest: The Inside Story".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Talks of a sequel have been going on since the film's release in 1999, but only began gaining traction in 2014 when Allen mentioned that there was a script. Stars Weaver and Rockwell mentioned they were interested in returning. However, Colantoni has said he would prefer for there not to be a sequel, lest it tarnish the characters from the first film. He said, "to make something up, just because we love those characters, and turn it into a sequel—then it becomes the awful sequel".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: In April 2015, Paramount Television, along with the movie's co-writer Gordon, director Parisot, and executive producers Johnson and Bernstein, announced they were looking to develop a television series based on "Galaxy Quest". The move was considered in a similar vein as Paramount's revivals of "Minority Report" and "School of Rock" as television series. In August 2015, it was announced that Amazon Studios would be developing it.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: In January 2016, after the unexpected death of Alan Rickman from pancreatic cancer, Tim Allen commented in "The Hollywood Reporter" about the franchise's chance of a revival:


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Speaking to the Nerdist podcast in April 2016, Sam Rockwell revealed that the cast had been about ready to sign on for a follow up with Amazon, but Rickman's death, together with Allen's television schedule, had proved to be obstacles. He also said he believed Rickman's death meant the project would never happen.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: However, the plans were revived in August 2017, with the announcement that Paul Scheer would be writing the series. Speaking to "/Film", Scheer said that in his first drafts submitted to Amazon in November 2017 he wanted to create a serialized adventure that starts where the film ends, but leads into the cultural shift in "Star Trek" that has occurred since 1999; he said "I really wanted to capture the difference between the original cast of "Star Trek" and the J. J. Abrams cast of "Star Trek"." To that end, Scheer's initial scripts called for two separate cast sets that would come together by the end of the first season of the show, though he did not confirm if this included any of the original film's cast.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Following the dismissal of Amy Powell as president of Paramount Television in July 2018, Scheer said the "Galaxy Quest" series had been put on hold while Paramount's management was being re-established, but anticipated the show would continue forward after that. He also said they were making the series to allow the introduction of new characters while extending the setting, similar to what "" did for "".


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Allen stated that a film sequel script is nearly ready to go as of January 2021. The script had been near completion for production by 2016 but with Rickman's death, it would have to undergo major rewrites as the core story focused on the relationship between Nesmith and Dane (Allen and Rickman's characters, respectively). A central plot element was to have the "Protector" and its crew affected by time dilation during space flight, which Allen considered a boon for the uncertain production of the film. While Allen said there were no immediate efforts for the sequel's production, he and the other cast and crew keep circulating the idea and believe it would be easy to restart the effort.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: Georgia Pritchett stated in a June 2021 interview that she and Simon Pegg were working on developing a "Galaxy Quest" television series.


title: Galaxy Quest

text: "Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary" was produced by the web site Fandom in 2019 to celebrate the film's 20th anniversary. Titled after Captain Taggart's catchphrase "Never give up, never surrender!", it features interviews with the movie's cast and crew, including Allen, Weaver, Rockwell, Shalhoub, Long, Pyle, Wilson, and Mitchell, along with director Parisot and writer Gordon, as well as celebrities including Wil Wheaton, Brent Spiner, Greg Berlanti, Paul Scheer, and Damon Lindelof, who have spoken of their love for the film. Initially premiering to a limited audience at the October 2019 New York Comic Con, it subsequently had a limited theatrical showing at about 600 screens through Fathom Events on November 26, 2019, which included a screening of deleted scenes as well as the debut of Screen Junkies' "Honest Trailer" for "Galaxy Quest". The film was made available on various digital media services for purchase in December 2019.


title: Court of Owls

text: The Court of Owls is a fictional criminal organization and secret society appearing in DC Comics continuity as adversaries of the superhero Batman. The Court is described as an organization of the wealthiest and most influential citizens of the fictional city of Gotham, having existed since the city's founding and completely unknown among its general population outside of an urban legend centered around their reputation for grisly assassinations carried out by indoctrinated agents known as Talons. The 2015–2016 "Robin War" story line details their international expansion, with the group renaming itself the Parliament of Owls.


title: Court of Owls

text: The Court of Owls made their on-screen debut in 2015's "Batman vs. Robin" as part of the DC Animated Movie Universe before making their live-action debut later that same year in the "Gotham" television series.


title: Court of Owls

text: The Court of Owls was created by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo and feature as Batman's main antagonists in the first two-story arcs of "The New 52", the 2011 reboot of DC's continuity. They are first mentioned in "Batman" (vol. 2) #2 (2011) and make their first appearance in "Batman" (vol. 2) #3 when Batman discovers one of their secret bases of operation and where they are seen posing with one of their assassins, the Talon William Cobb, in a series of old photographs, finally providing Batman with proof of their existence


title: Court of Owls

text: The Court of Owls is a violent cabal of some of Gotham City's oldest and wealthiest families who use murder and money to wield political influence throughout history. To carry out their interests, they employ a breed of highly trained assassins known as Talons. The leaders of the organization appear to be human and wear white owl masks on their faces. The earliest history of the Court of Owls dates back to Gotham's earliest days in the 1600s.


title: Court of Owls

text: Bruce Wayne recounts that, as a child, he believed the Court of Owls responsible for the death of his parents and personally investigated the conspiracy before determining that there was no evidence. When Wayne announces plans to rebuild and reshape Gotham City for the future, the Court sentences him to death and their assassin, the Talon William Cobb, attempts to murder him during a meeting with Lincoln March. They struggle at the top of Wayne Tower and the killer survives a fall from the top. Batman discovers that their society has various secret headquarters throughout hidden rooms in every building established by the Alan Wayne Trust, created by Bruce's great-grandfather, Alan Wayne.


title: Court of Owls

text: In the 2012 storyline "Night of the Owls", the Court of Owls, angered at William Cobb's defeat at the hands of Batman, awaken all of their other Talons to reclaim Gotham City from Batman. The Court's goal is to prove that they, not Batman, are the superior legend of Gotham City. The Bat Family and Birds of Prey work together to defeat them.


title: Court of Owls

text: During the "Forever Evil" storyline, the Court of Owls see the news from the Crime Syndicate that the Justice League is "dead" and claims that the Court of Owls will prosper. With their existence threatened, they dig into the foundations of their arcane history and use it to adapt. A prominent member of the Court of Owls shows his daughter where the Court of Owls began: the chamber of the First Talon.


title: Court of Owls

text: At the conclusion of the 2014-2015 series "Batman Eternal", it is revealed that Lincoln March used the Court's resources to fund the Cluemaster's campaign against Batman, reasoning that Batman's public death at the hands of an unknown enemy would forever end the "myth" of the Dark Knight. However, the plan fails when Batman's allies and the people of Gotham City rally together against March's assault after Commissioner Gordon calls on them to stand up for the city in Batman's name, forcing March to retreat.


title: Court of Owls

text: In the 2015-2016 storyline "Robin War", the Court of Owls reanimate Lincoln March, who has devised a way to obtain their prophesied Gray Son. Councilwoman Noctua, a member of the Court, rises to power in Gotham City and implants a set of laws and regulations that ban all Robin paraphernalia and will imprison those caught possessing or wearing anything Robin-related. This gets the attention of the original four Robins: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Damian Wayne (the current Robin), who all arrive in Gotham to train the hundreds of members of the Robins street gang.


title: Court of Owls

text: In "Nightwing" (vol. 3), Lincoln March addresses the Parliament of Owls as they decide to cast aside their connection to the Court of Owls in Gotham and don black owl masks. As March begins to preach his new role in the Parliament, he is killed by the Raptor, who reveals that both he and the Parliament agree that March's own desires began to become a hindrance to them and they needed a clean path to Nightwing. Dick Grayson has finally re-obtained his secret identity and has returned to the role of Nightwing. He willingly works for the Parliament in order to bring them down from the inside; they are wary of and suspect Grayson's true intentions, but they do not know that their leverage over him has been resolved. To keep him in check, the Parliament partners him with the Raptor to aid in his missions.


title: Court of Owls

text: In the 2017 storyline "", it is subsequently revealed that the Court of Owls were predominately a cult that worshiped Barbatos, a dark god associated with bats who hailed from the Dark Multiverse beneath the DC Multiverse. A cell of members ambush the Justice League and offer Batman up as the key to open up the Dark Multiverse, but are subsequently brutally murdered by The Batman Who Laughs and his Robins.


title: Court of Owls

text: In the "Watchmen" sequel "Doomsday Clock", the remaining representatives of the Court of Owls are among the villains that attend the underground meeting held by the Riddler to talk about the Superman Theory. Their judge states that the Court of Owls are not relocating to Kahndaq.


title: Court of Owls

text: The Talons are a group of highly trained assassins loyal to the Court of Owls. Among the known Talons are:


title: Court of Owls

text: The Court of Owls appears in "Batman vs. Robin", consisting of the Grandmaster (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes), socialite Samantha Vanaver (voiced by Grey DeLisle), and an unidentified Talon (voiced by Jeremy Sisto), the son of an abusive jewel thief. Throughout the film, Talon attempts help Robin realize his potential and join the Court. However, Talon betrays them after refusing to kill a kidnapped Robin and seizes control of the Court's army of zombified Talons. After his army is destroyed by Batman, Nightwing, and Alfred Pennyworth and he is defeated by Robin, Talon commits suicide.


title: Rail transport

text: Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on sleepers (ties) set in ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as "slab track", in which the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface.


title: Rail transport

text: Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway electrification system or produce their own power, usually by diesel engines or, historically, steam engines. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system. Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. Railway transport is capable of high levels of passenger and cargo utilisation and energy efficiency, but is often less flexible and more capital-intensive than road transport, when lower traffic levels are considered.


title: Rail transport

text: The oldest known, man/animal-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC in Corinth, Greece. Rail transport then commenced in mid 16th century in Germany in the form of horse-powered funiculars and wagonways. Modern rail transport commenced with the British development of the steam locomotive in Merthyr Tydfil when Richard Trevithick ran a steam locomotive and loaded wagons between Penydarren Ironworks and Abercynon in 1802. Thus the railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world. Built by George Stephenson and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company, the "Locomotion" No. 1 is the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. George Stephenson also built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use only the steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution. Also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for "national markets" in which prices varied very little from city to city. The spread of the railway network and the use of railway timetables, led to the standardisation of time (railway time) in Britain based on Greenwich Mean Time. Prior to this, major towns and cities varied their local time relative to GMT. The invention and development of the railway in the United Kingdom was one of the most important technological inventions of the 19th century. The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway (part of the London Underground), opened in 1863.


title: Rail transport

text: In the 1880s, electrified trains were introduced, leading to electrification of tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting during the 1940s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives replaced by diesel-electric locomotives, with the process being almost complete by the 2000s. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan and later in some other countries. Many countries are in the process of replacing diesel locomotives with electric locomotives, mainly due to environmental concerns, a notable example being Switzerland, which has completely electrified its network. Other forms of guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use.


title: Rail transport

text: Following a decline after World War II due to competition from cars and aeroplanes, rail transport has had a revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO emissions in the context of concerns about global warming.


title: Rail transport

text: Evidence indicates that there was 6 to 8.5 km long "Diolkos" paved trackway, which transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. Wheeled vehicles pulled by men and animals ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element, preventing the wagons from leaving the intended route. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were also later built in Roman Egypt.


title: Rail transport

text: In China, a railway has been discovered in southwest Henan province near Nanyang. It was carbon-dated to be about 2200 years old, from the Qin dynasty. The rails were made from hard wood and treated against corrosion, while the railway ties were made from wood that was not treated and has since rotted. The Qin railway was designed to allow horses to gallop through to the next rail station, where they would be swapped with a fresh horse. The railway is theorized to have been used for transportation of goods to the front-line troops and to fix the Great Wall.


title: Rail transport

text: In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug, a funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel. The line still exists and is operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway.


title: Rail transport

text: Wagonways (or tramways) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate the transport of ore tubs to and from mines, and soon became popular in Europe. Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola in his work De re metallica. This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons "Hunde" ("dogs") from the noise they made on the tracks.


title: Rail transport

text: There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century. Such a transport system was later used by German miners at Caldbeck, Cumbria, England, perhaps from the 1560s. A wagonway was built at Prescot, near Liverpool, sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to a terminus about half a mile (800 m) away. A funicular railway was also made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1604. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the river Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns. The Wollaton Wagonway, completed in 1604 by Huntingdon Beaumont, has sometimes erroneously been cited as the earliest British railway. It ran from Strelley to Wollaton near Nottingham.


title: Rail transport

text: The Middleton Railway in Leeds, which was built in 1758, later became the world's oldest operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit now in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the Americas was built in Lewiston, New York.


title: Rail transport

text: In the late 1760s, the Coalbrookdale Company began to fix plates of cast iron to the upper surface of the wooden rails. This allowed a variation of gauge to be used. At first only balloon loops could be used for turning, but later, movable points were taken into use that allowed for switching.


title: Rail transport

text: A system was introduced in which unflanged wheels ran on L-shaped metal plates these became known as plateways. John Curr, a Sheffield colliery manager, invented this flanged rail in 1787, though the exact date of this is disputed. The plate rail was taken up by Benjamin Outram for wagonways serving his canals, manufacturing them at his Butterley ironworks. In 1803, William Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway, a double track plateway, erroneously sometimes cited as world's first public railway, in south London.


title: Rail transport

text: Meanwhile, William Jessop had earlier used a form of all-iron edge rail and flanged wheels successfully for an extension to the Charnwood Forest Canal at Nanpantan, Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1789. In 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge-rails. Jessop became a partner in the Butterley Company in 1790. The first public edgeway (thus also first public railway) built was Lake Lock Rail Road in 1796. Although the primary purpose of the line was to carry coal, it also carried passengers.


title: Rail transport

text: These two systems of constructing iron railways, the "L" plate-rail and the smooth edge-rail, continued to exist side by side until well into the early 19th century. The flanged wheel and edge-rail eventually proved its superiority and became the standard for railways.


title: Rail transport

text: Cast iron used in rails proved unsatisfactory because it was brittle and broke under heavy loads. The wrought iron invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820 replaced cast iron. Wrought iron (usually simply referred to as "iron") was a ductile material that could undergo considerable deformation before breaking, making it more suitable for iron rails. But iron was expensive to produce until Henry Cort patented the puddling process in 1784. In 1783 Cort also patented the rolling process, which was 15 times faster at consolidating and shaping iron than hammering. These processes greatly lowered the cost of producing iron and rails. The next important development in iron production was hot blast developed by James Beaumont Neilson (patented 1828), which considerably reduced the amount of coke (fuel) or charcoal needed to produce pig iron. Wrought iron was a soft material that contained slag or "dross". The softness and dross tended to make iron rails distort and delaminate and they lasted less than 10 years. Sometimes they lasted as little as one year under high traffic. All these developments in the production of iron eventually led to replacement of composite wood/iron rails with superior all-iron rails.


title: Rail transport

text: The introduction of the Bessemer process, enabling steel to be made inexpensively, led to the era of great expansion of railways that began in the late 1860s. Steel rails lasted several times longer than iron. Steel rails made heavier locomotives possible, allowing for longer trains and improving the productivity of railroads. The Bessemer process introduced nitrogen into the steel, which caused the steel to become brittle with age. The open hearth furnace began to replace the Bessemer process near the end of the 19th century, improving the quality of steel and further reducing costs. Thus steel completely replaced the use of iron in rails, becoming standard for all railways.


title: Rail transport

text: The first passenger horsecar or tram, Swansea and Mumbles Railway was opened between Swansea and Mumbles in Wales in 1807. Horses remained the preferable mode for tram transport even after the arrival of steam engines until the end of the 19th century, because they were cleaner compared to steam-driven trams which caused smoke in city streets.


title: Rail transport

text: In 1784 James Watt, a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, patented a design for a steam locomotive. Watt had improved the steam engine of Thomas Newcomen, hitherto used to pump water out of mines, and developed a reciprocating engine in 1769 capable of powering a wheel. This was a large stationary engine, powering cotton mills and a variety of machinery; the state of boiler technology necessitated the use of low-pressure steam acting upon a vacuum in the cylinder, which required a separate condenser and an air pump. Nevertheless, as the construction of boilers improved, Watt investigated the use of high-pressure steam acting directly upon a piston, raising the possibility of a smaller engine that might be used to power a vehicle. Following his patent, Watt's employee William Murdoch produced a working model of a self-propelled steam carriage in that year.


title: Rail transport

text: The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built in the United Kingdom in 1804 by Richard Trevithick, a British engineer born in Cornwall. This used high-pressure steam to drive the engine by one power stroke. The transmission system employed a large flywheel to even out the action of the piston rod. On 21 February 1804, the world's first steam-powered railway journey took place when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. Trevithick later demonstrated a locomotive operating upon a piece of circular rail track in Bloomsbury, London, the "Catch Me Who Can", but never got beyond the experimental stage with railway locomotives, not least because his engines were too heavy for the cast-iron plateway track then in use.


title: Rail transport

text: The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray's rack locomotive "Salamanca" built for the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812. This twin-cylinder locomotive was light enough to not break the edge-rails track and solved the problem of adhesion by a cog-wheel using teeth cast on the side of one of the rails. Thus it was also the first rack railway.


title: Rail transport

text: This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive "Puffing Billy" built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. "Puffing Billy" is now on display in the Science Museum in London, and is the oldest locomotive in existence.


title: Rail transport

text: In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive "Blücher", also a successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive "Locomotion" for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the north east of England, which became the first public steam railway in the world in 1825, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive "Rocket", which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all the time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway, built in 1830.


title: Rail transport

text: Steam power continued to be the dominant power system in railways around the world for more than a century.


title: Rail transport

text: The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen in Scotland, and it was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Thus it was also the earliest battery electric locomotive. Davidson later built a larger locomotive named "Galvani", exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors, with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators. It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour (6 kilometers per hour) for a distance of . It was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their job security.


title: Rail transport

text: Werner von Siemens demonstrated an electric railway in 1879 in Berlin. The world's first electric tram line, Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin, Germany, in 1881. It was built by Siemens. The tram ran on 180 volts DC, which was supplied by running rails. In 1891 the track was equipped with an overhead wire and the line was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station. The Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton, England. The railway is still operational, thus making it the oldest operational electric railway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened near Vienna in Austria. It was the first tram line in the world in regular service powered from an overhead line. Five years later, in the U.S. electric trolleys were pioneered in 1888 on the Richmond Union Passenger Railway, using equipment designed by Frank J. Sprague.


title: Rail transport

text: The first use of electrification on a main line was on a four-mile section of the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1895 connecting the main portion of the B&O to the new line to New York through a series of tunnels around the edges of Baltimore's downtown. Electricity quickly became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897. By the early 1900s most street railways were electrified.


title: Rail transport

text: The London Underground, the world's oldest underground railway, opened in 1863, and it began operating electric services using a fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway, now part of the London Underground Northern line. This was the first major railway to use electric traction. The world's first deep-level electric railway, it runs from the City of London, under the River Thames, to Stockwell in south London.


title: Rail transport

text: The first practical AC electric locomotive was designed by Charles Brown, then working for Oerlikon, Zürich. In 1891, Brown had demonstrated long-distance power transmission, using three-phase AC, between a hydro-electric plant at Lauffen am Neckar and Frankfurt am Main West, a distance of 280 km. Using experience he had gained while working for Jean Heilmann on steam-electric locomotive designs, Brown observed that three-phase motors had a higher power-to-weight ratio than DC motors and, because of the absence of a commutator, were simpler to manufacture and maintain. However, they were much larger than the DC motors of the time and could not be mounted in underfloor bogies: they could only be carried within locomotive bodies.


title: Rail transport

text: In 1894, Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó developed a new type 3-phase asynchronous electric drive motors and generators for electric locomotives. Kandó's early 1894 designs were first applied in a short three-phase AC tramway in Évian-les-Bains (France), which was constructed between 1896 and 1898.


title: Rail transport

text: In 1896, Oerlikon installed the first commercial example of the system on the Lugano Tramway. Each 30-tonne locomotive had two motors run by three-phase 750 V 40 Hz fed from double overhead lines. Three-phase motors run at constant speed and provide regenerative braking, and are well suited to steeply graded routes, and the first main-line three-phase locomotives were supplied by Brown (by then in partnership with Walter Boveri) in 1899 on the 40 km Burgdorf–Thun line, Switzerland.


title: Rail transport

text: Italian railways were the first in the world to introduce electric traction for the entire length of a main line rather than a short section. The 106 km Valtellina line was opened on 4 September 1902, designed by Kandó and a team from the Ganz works. The electrical system was three-phase at 3 kV 15 Hz. In 1918, Kandó invented and developed the rotary phase converter, enabling electric locomotives to use three-phase motors whilst supplied via a single overhead wire, carrying the simple industrial frequency (50 Hz) single phase AC of the high voltage national networks.


title: Rail transport

text: An important contribution to the wider adoption of AC traction came from SNCF of France after World War II. The company conducted trials at AC 50 Hz, and established it as a standard. Following SNCF's successful trials, 50 Hz, now also called industrial frequency was adopted as standard for main-lines across the world.


title: Rail transport

text: Earliest recorded examples of an internal combustion engine for railway use included a prototype designed by William Dent Priestman, which was examined by Sir William Thomson in 1888 who described it as a ""[Priestman oil engine] mounted upon a truck which is worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes."". In 1894, a two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers was used on the Hull Docks.


title: Rail transport

text: In 1906, Rudolf Diesel, Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing diesel engines since 1898. The Prussian State Railways ordered a diesel locomotive from the company in 1909. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railway in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h. Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through the mid-1920s. The Soviet Union operated three experimental units of different designs since late 1925, though only one of them (the E el-2) proved technically viable.


title: Rail transport

text: A significant breakthrough occurred in 1914, when Hermann Lemp, a General Electric electrical engineer, developed and patented a reliable direct current electrical control system (subsequent improvements were also patented by Lemp). Lemp's design used a single lever to control both engine and generator in a coordinated fashion, and was the prototype for all diesel–electric locomotive control systems. In 1914, world's first functional diesel–electric railcars were produced for the "Königlich-Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen" (Royal Saxon State Railways) by Waggonfabrik Rastatt with electric equipment from Brown, Boveri & Cie and diesel engines from Swiss Sulzer AG. They were classified as DET 1 and DET 2 (). The first regular use of diesel-electric locomotives was in switching (shunter) applications. General Electric produced several small switching locomotives in the 1930s (the famous "44-tonner" switcher was introduced in 1940) Westinghouse Electric and Baldwin collaborated to build switching locomotives starting in 1929.


title: Rail transport

text: In 1929, the Canadian National Railways became the first North American railway to use diesels in mainline service with two units, 9000 and 9001, from Westinghouse.


title: Rail transport

text: Although steam and diesel services reaching speeds up to 200 km/h were started before the 1960s in Europe, they were not very successful.


title: Rail transport

text: The first electrified high-speed rail Tōkaidō Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Since then high-speed rail transport, functioning at speeds up to and above 300 km/h, has been built in Japan, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (Republic of China), the United Kingdom, South Korea, Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The construction of many of these lines has resulted in the dramatic decline of short-haul flights and automotive traffic between connected cities, such as the London–Paris–Brussels corridor, Madrid–Barcelona, Milan–Rome–Naples, as well as many other major lines.


title: Rail transport

text: High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates a large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service.


title: Rail transport

text: Since 1980, rail transport has changed dramatically, but a number of heritage railways continue to operate as part of living history to preserve and maintain old railway lines for services of tourist trains.


title: Rail transport

text: A train is a connected series of rail vehicles that move along the track. Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most trains carry a revenue load, although non-revenue cars exist for the railway's own use, such as for maintenance-of-way purposes. The engine driver (engineer in North America) controls the locomotive or other power cars, although people movers and some rapid transits are under automatic control.