title: Doral, Florida

text: As of 2010, Doral had the second-highest percentage of Venezuelans residents in the US, with 8.2% of the population, which is how Doral earned its nickname:”Doralzuela”. It had the thirty-third highest percentage of Cuban residents in the US, at 15.2% of the city's population, and the sixth-highest percentage of Colombian residents in the US, at 8.7% of its population. It also had the tenth-most Peruvians in the US, at 3.0%, while it had the forty-eighth-highest percentage of Dominicans, at 2.6% of all residents. It had the thirteenth-highest concentration of Brazilians, with 2.5% of the city (tied with Newark, N.J. and Oak Bluffs, Mass.) Doral's Nicaraguan community had the twenty-sixth-highest percentage of residents, which comprised 1.7% of the population. It is also home to the fifty-first-highest percentage of Ecuadorian residents, who made up 1.18% of the population.


title: Doral, Florida

text: In 2005, Doral had over 10,000 businesses. During that year, Carnival Cruise Lines, Ryder, and Univision had operations in Doral. For years leading into 2005, Doral attracted businesses of various sizes.


title: Doral, Florida

text: Carnival Corporation and subsidiary Carnival Cruise Lines have their headquarters in Doral. In addition, Amadeus North America, AAXICO, Benihana, and Perry Ellis International have their headquarters in Doral.


title: Doral, Florida

text: The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Miami Branch Office, one of the five Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta branch offices, is located in Doral.


title: Doral, Florida

text: Martinair operates its Americas headquarters in the Doral Corporate Center One in Doral. Avianca operates a Miami-area sales office in Doral. Grupo TACA operates a Miami-area TACA Center in Doral. El Al has its Miami-area office in Doral. Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has its USA head office in Doral.


title: Doral, Florida

text: Before Doral was incorporated, the second (1996–1998) Pan American World Airways had its headquarters in Doral. At one time Ryder had its headquarters in Doral. In 2002 Ryder announced that it would move its headquarters to a new site in Miami-Dade County.


title: Doral, Florida

text: Portions of "" episodes were filmed at CBS' Doral studios, which is home to its owned-and-operated affiliate, WFOR-TV, as well as MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFS-TV.


title: Doral, Florida

text: In September 2017, Doral published a comprehensive economic study which noted that "The City is home to 6,802 establishments employing 102,235 workers. The total volume of sales revenue from these companies, concentrated in such a small geographic area, represents $679,634 per worker, or over $1.35 million per resident making Doral one of South Florida's and the State's most productive local economies."


title: Doral, Florida

text: The Doral Police Department was started on June 2, 2008, with 93 officers. Previously, the Miami-Dade Police Department served the area with stickers on the sides of its cars showing Doral's logo.


title: Doral, Florida

text: On January 20, 2015, former basketball star Shaquille O'Neal was sworn in as a reserve officer for Doral's police force.


title: Doral, Florida

text: The Miami-Dade Police Department's headquarters and Midwest District Station are in Doral. The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department's headquarters is in Doral.


title: Doral, Florida

text: The Florida Department of Law Enforcement operates the Miami Regional Operations Center in an unincorporated area that was formerly a part of the Doral CDP and is outside Doral's city limits.


title: Doral, Florida

text: The City of Doral Trolley was launched on February 1, 2008 and has been available to residents and visitors alike for a convenient free ride. The pilot program involved a weekday route that ran from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm with one trolley servicing one route. Currently the system has four routes, including a route servicing Florida International University, and the fleet includes 12 trolleys. In 2019, the City of Doral added another option for free and convenient transport by adding the Freebee service. Areas of service covered by the Freebee continues to expand with hot spot locations like Downtown Doral, CityPlace, Intercontinental Hotel and more being included.


title: Doral, Florida

text: The Miami Hoshuko, a weekend school for Japanese people, has its school office in Doral. Classes are held in Westchester.


title: Doral, Florida

text: The Miami-Dade Public Library System operates the Doral Branch, which reopened on July 5, 2003, after an expansion, in the Doral Isles Shopping Center. In addition the system operates the International Mall Branch in Doral. The library was the second to be built after the opening of the Main Library in 1985. In June 2019, the Miami-Dade Public Library System's Doral Branch was moved to Downtown Doral, the city's new dynamic urban core.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Havre de Grace (), abbreviated HdG, is a city in Harford County, Maryland. It is situated at the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the head of Chesapeake Bay. It is named after the port city of Le Havre, France, which in full was once "Le Havre de Grâce" (French, "Harbor of Grace").


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: The population was 12,952 at the 2010 U.S. census. In 2014, "Smithsonian" magazine called it one of the 20 best small U.S. towns to visit.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: During the Revolutionary War, the small hamlet known as Harmer's Town was visited several times by General Lafayette, who became considered a hero of the war. He commented that the area reminded him of the French seaport of Le Havre on the English Channel. It had originally been named "Le Havre-de-Grâce". Inspired by Lafayette's comments, the residents incorporated the town as "Havre de Grace" in 1785.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: George Washington stayed overnight in the town in 1789 on the journey to New York City for his first inauguration. During the First Congress in 1789, Havre de Grace missed by only one vote being named the capital of the fledgling United States.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: On May 3, 1813, during the War of 1812, Havre de Grace was attacked by British Rear Admiral George Cockburn whose marines burned and plundered the village. American Lieutenant John O'Neill single-handedly manned a cannon to help defend the town. He was wounded, captured by the British, and soon released. In gratitude, Havre de Grace made O'Neill and his descendants the hereditary keepers of the Concord Point lighthouse, which marks the mouth of the Susquehanna River.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: The early industry of Havre de Grace included oyster and crab harvesting. Extensive fruit orchards were cultivated in and near the town. Products were shipped to markets along the East Coast and upriver.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: The town was the southern terminus for the Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal and later the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal. This was built to bypass difficult navigational areas of the lower Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, where it connected to the Pennsylvania Canal. It was built between 1836 and 1840. Operations on the canal declined after 1855 because of competition from railroads, which could carry freight more quickly. The Lock Keeper's house and remnants of the canal exist today as a museum.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Havre de Grace was a primary town on the Eastern route of the Underground Railroad in Maryland, as refugee slaves could cross the Susquehanna to havens in the free state of Pennsylvania, traveling on to Philadelphia and New York. Prior to 1840, escaped slaves from communities along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay came to Havre de Grace and often took the ferry across the Susquehanna River to safe sites in Lancaster and Chester counties in Pennsylvania. When "vigilance increased at the ferry", the African-American refugees were guided upriver to cross to Columbia, Pennsylvania, a town established by abolitionist Quakers. Because Havre de Grace had varied transportation across the river, refugees were often successful in making their way to the North.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: In the 19th century, Havre de Grace became known for duck hunting, and was a seasonal destination for hunters. They stayed at the town hotels and hired local guides to escort them hunting on the river and along the bay. Local artisans became known for making high quality decoys, which they carved and painted. Prime examples are displayed today at the Decoy Museum of the city.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: By the 1860s, a large population of free African Americans had settled in the town. It had enough business to support independent artisans, and numerous jobs associated with shipping on the river and canal and, increasingly, with the railroads. During the American Civil War, this town was one of seven sites where the Army recruited for volunteers for the U.S. Colored Troops, composed of African-American men. Although located in the tidewater area of Harford County, which still had large plantations and slaveholders, the city's river and canals tied it to northern industry and trade in Pennsylvania and beyond. These provided urban jobs for free blacks, and the town had a strong proportion of Northern sympathizers among whites.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: In 1878, the town became a city and established its own government. Shortly after 1878, Stephen J. Seneca opened a fruit-packing factory in the S. J. Seneca Warehouse, with a tin can factory next to Havre de Grace Waterfront. Seneca made improvements to canning with his patents, such as the "Can-soldering machines" of 1889, and 1891. By 1899, Seneca had become a canned goods broker. The first railroad was constructed along St. Clair Street (now Pennington Ave.) to the river, so Seneca's factory was well-positioned for both water and rail shipping. Up until the Second World War, many farmers in Harford County brought their produce to the Seneca Factory (later run as Stockhams Cannery). S.J. Seneca lived at 200 North Union Ave., served as Mayor of Havre de Grace (1893-1894), and donated funds and land to build the Methodist Church.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: The Seneca cannery, now adapted for use as an antique shop, is a very good example of a late 19th-century brick industrial building. It has a severely classical facade and massive stone buttresses at the rear.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Many patents followed the opening of the S. J. Seneca Cannery. 1901 The Baling-press. 1905 The Cooker 1905 The Tomato-scalder. 1917 Improved Tomato-scalder. 1917 The Can-opener. 1918 The Machine for peeling tomatoes.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Havre de Grace was known as "The Graw" from 1912 through the 1950s. It prospered as a stop for north–south travelers. These included gangsters and gamblers "en route" to New York City from the South following the "pony routes". The Havre de Grace Racetrack operated from 1912 to 1950. Chicago gangster Al Capone was reported to have stayed at the former "Chesapeake Hotel" (now known as "Backfin Blues; Creole de Graw"). At the end of the 1950s, the state removed the horse track. Its race and betting rights were bought by the larger Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: In 1949, the city denied a license to use a city park and arrested a Jehovah's Witnesses preacher. The resulting case reached the US Supreme Court; in "Niemotko v. Maryland" (1951), the court ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses were protected by constitutional rights to the free exercise of religion, and the city should have granted them the permit to speak in the park.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: A few tenant farmhouses remain from the large Mitchel plantation that overlooked the city. In the 1980s, Havre de Grace began to undergo extensive redevelopment as people were attracted to its unique character. Historic properties were renovated and sometimes adapted for new uses. In addition, former farmland was redeveloped for construction of new houses and, later, townhouse communities. It became a destination for people with "second homes" for vacations on the bay and retirees. Historic lands and older forests are being cleared, and expensive houses are now extending and growing along Chapel Road northwest toward Webster Village. Since the late 20th century, the city has benefited through development of new properties, antique stores, and other retail venues.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Per capita income doubled in the city from 1990 to 2000, with the arrival of wealthier residents to the newer suburban projects around and in the city. Some commute to jobs elsewhere; others are retirees. New suburban developments since the 1990s brought thousands of middle-to-upper-class residents to the town. Many working-class citizens who used to live in the city have been displaced moved due to rising land values and changing neighborhoods.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: In September 2003, Hurricane Isabel flooded the city about two blocks into downtown, destroying the promenade. It was rebuilt in 2004, with help from Americorps NCCC. Today, it serves as a waterfront boardwalk and nature walk from Tydings Park to the Maritime Museum, and on to Concord Point Lighthouse.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Havre de Grace expanded in the early 21st century by annexing land. Housing development is moderate but steady.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Havre de Grace has been affected by the BRAC activities of the Department of Defense. DOD recently moved activities and personnel from various bases to the Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), a few miles away, which has added to the demand for housing and services.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Havre de Grace is northeast of Baltimore, west of Wilmington, Delaware, southwest of Philadelphia, northeast of Washington, D.C., and southwest of New York City.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Havre de Grace has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: As of the 2010 U.S. census, there were 12,952 people, 5,258 households, and 3,333 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,875 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 75.7% White, 16.8% African American, 0.3% Native American, 2.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.1% from other races, and 3.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.7% of the population.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: There were 5,258 households, of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.6% were married couples living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.6% were non-families. 29.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.02.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: The median age in the city was 41.9 years. 21.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.1% were from 25 to 44; 31.4% were from 45 to 64; and 13.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: As of the 2000 U.S. census, there were 11,331 people, 4,557 households, and 2,870 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,815.1 people per square mile (1,085.6/km). There were 4,904 housing units at an average density of 1,218.4 per square mile (469.8/km). The racial makeup of the city was 79.24% White, 16.15% African American, 0.22% Native American, 1.29% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 0.80% from other races, and 2.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.13% of the population.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: There were 4,557 households, out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.07. Over half (54%) of the housing units in the city are renter-occupied.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: In the city, the population was spread, with 26.4% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: The median income for a household in the city was $41,218, and the median income for a family was $53,838. Males had a median income of $37,985 versus $27,173 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,176. About 7.5% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.8% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: The primary means of travel to and from Havre de Grace is by road. The most prominent highway through the city is U.S. Route 40, which runs east to Wilmington and west to Baltimore. US 40 also includes the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge, the road bridge that crosses the Susquehanna River directly from the city. Many travelers reach Havre de Grace via Maryland Route 155, which connects to nearby Interstate 95. State highways serving the city include Route 7, Route 490, and Route 763.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Two railroad mainlines pass through Havre de Grace. More than 80 daily passenger trains on Amtrak's busy Northeast Corridor speed through the city at on an elevated line connected to the adjacent Amtrak Susquehanna River Bridge. The double-track bridge was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad between 1904 and 1906 for its New York City–Washington, D.C. line. (The bridge replaced a wooden single-track railroad bridge, completed in 1866 by the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad, whose piers can still be seen from the city's David R. Craig Park.) The Philadelphia Subdivision of CSX Transportation, originally built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, carries a heavy volume of freight across the river on the CSX Susquehanna River Bridge, rebuilt between 1907 and 1910, about upstream of the Amtrak bridge.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: Havre de Grace's location at the head of the Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of the Susquehanna River makes it popular for recreation and tourism. There are marinas and service operators along the shore line. The city yacht basin and park sponsors various events each year. The restored promenade and boardwalk that runs along the shore from the Concord Point Lighthouse to the yacht basin is a favorite place for locals and tourists to walk and enjoy views of the bay.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: In 1987, the central business district was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Havre de Grace Historic District, which recognizes its architecture and historic fabric. A variety of museums help explain and interpret the city's rich maritime past and present: the Decoy Museum, the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum, Concord Point Lighthouse, the Lockhouse Museum, and the "Black Eyed Susan" paddle steamer. Havre de Grace also claims a renovated seaplane port. Additionally there resides the Washington Street Books Entertainment Museum. The city has four public schools and Harford Memorial Hospital, the first to be established in Harford County.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: A project not completely funded (as of 2022) is the restoration of the Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: A season four episode of the television show "Boardwalk Empire" was named for the city and partially took place there.


title: Havre de Grace, Maryland

text: The city stood in for Gaffney, South Carolina, Kevin Spacey's character Frank Underwood's hometown in "House of Cards".


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: The Miniaturist is a 2017 BBC television miniseries adaptation of the debut novel of the same name by Jessie Burton. The series was directed by Guillem Morales and stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Romola Garai and Alex Hassell and first aired in two parts from 26–27 December 2017 on BBC One. In the United States, it aired in three parts from 9–27 September 2018 on PBS's "Masterpiece".


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: In the 17th-century Netherlands, young Petronella "Nella" Oortman moves into an Amsterdam home that her new husband, Johannes, shares with his sister, Marin, and their two servants Otto and Cornelia. She receives a cold reception from Marin and an indifferent one from Johannes, who provides her with a mysterious cabinet with nine rooms to occupy her time.


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: Nella writes to a miniaturist to order only three items, and with time she receives multiple of them, without having ordered them, to decorate the cabinet as a doll house. Nella is surprised that each parcel includes a mysterious note as she receives the dolls of her house members predicting something, making it similar to the house they live in.


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: Johannes has an agreement to sell sugar for Frans. However, Johannes is discovered to be in a long-time same-sex relationship with Jack, a secret which Marin had tried to hide so he could not be punished by the state. Jack tries to attack Marin, but is wounded by Otto. Frans files a complaint claiming that Johannes attempted to murder Jack and forced Jack to be in this relationship, also accusing Johannes of bribery. Johannes tries to escape but is arrested and imprisoned, so the jury decides his fate.


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: Meanwhile, Marin is found to be pregnant and she tells Nella she was in love with Frans before he married Agnes; however, Marin herself has declined Frans' proposal. Frans becomes negative about Johannes, thinking he declined. Marin passes away after a painful delivery. The baby is discovered to be Otto's daughter. Nella tries to sell the sugar to a baker who was Cornelia's friend, and bribes some people so she can bury Marin secretly and save her husband of four months from the false charges against him. However, Johannes is sentenced to death by drowning on the charge of being a sodomite, the only one proved.


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: Nella finds out that The Miniaturist was a girl trying to follow her who vanished when Nella tries to follow back. Nella asks her how could she tell by making dolls what would happen in the Brandt family, but The Miniaturist has no answer for her questions.


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: In addition, Ziggy Heath plays the character of Jack Philips, who is in gay-relation with Johannes. Christopher Godwin plays the character of Pastor Pellicorne who is a religious leader in Amsterdam, and Ian Hogg plays the character of Pieter Slabbaert who is a schout of Amsterdam.


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: The series was filmed on location in the Netherlands, with Leiden standing in for 17th-century Amsterdam.


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: Caroline Framke for "Variety" praised the beauty of the series, but criticised it as overly long. "It's a shame that the series never quite gels, given how much it has going for it in terms of story, talent, and the truly spectacular production design and costuming that sets off the on location shoots with such style. But just like the dollhouse at its center, "The Miniaturist" is better at housing facsimiles rather than characters that feel real.


title: The Miniaturist (TV series)

text: Hanh Nguyen of IndieWire, who graded the series a B, criticised the series for weak character development — which made it seem as though "an episode has gone missing" — but that the series was still worth watching. "Despite Amsterdam thriving during this time, the series examines life in that society from the point of view of the misfits and marginalized. Defiance and bravery are necessary to face the ugliness that is presented, and it's a theme echoed in the characters' actions. "The Miniaturist" may feel raw and green, sometimes naively so, but in its awkward, otherworldly way champions hope and change, and that's rarely a waste of time."


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston (, ) is the largest town in West Lothian, Scotland. Designated in 1962, it is the fourth post-war new town to be built in Scotland. Taking its name from a village of the same name incorporated into the new town, it was originally developed in the then-counties of Midlothian and West Lothian along the banks of the River Almond. It is situated approximately fifteen miles (25 km) west of Edinburgh and thirty miles (50 km) east of Glasgow, and is close to the towns of Broxburn to the north-east and Bathgate to the north-west.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The town was built around a collection of small villages, Livingston Village, Bellsquarry, and Livingston Station (now part of Deans). The town has a number of residential areas. These include Craigshill, Howden, Ladywell, Knightsridge, Deans, Dedridge, Murieston, Almondvale, Eliburn, Kirkton, and Adambrae. There are several large industrial estates in Livingston, including Houston industrial estate, Brucefield Industrial Estate, Alba Business Park, and Kirkton Campus. The locality of Livingston as defined by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) includes Uphall Station and Pumpherston. The wider urban settlement, also as defined by the GROS, also includes Mid Calder and East Calder. Other neighbouring villages include: Kirknewton, Polbeth and West Calder. The 2001 UK Census reported that the town had a population of 50,826. The 2011 UK Census showed the population of Livingston had increased to 56,269. Livingston is the second-largest settlement in the Lothians after Edinburgh.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston is first mentioned in an early 12th-century charter as "Villa Levingi" (Leving's town). In 1128 David I granted the newly founded Abbey of Holyrood control of the church at Livingston and its income in a charter that was witnessed by "Turstani filii Levingi" (Thurstan son of Leving). He built a fortified tower (Livingston Peel) which no longer survives. The settlement that grew up around it became known as Levingstoun, Layingston, and eventually fixed at Livingston. The Leving family controlled the area until dying out in 1512. From 1512 until 1671 the tower house was occupied by the Murrays of Elibank. In 1670, the Edinburgh botanic garden was founded by Dr. Robert Sibbald and Dr. Andrew Balfour using the plant collection from the Elibank private gardens of Sir Patrick Murray, 2nd Lord Elibank, following his death in September 1671. In the late 17th century, the Peel was demolished and replaced by a house called Livingston Place. The estate eventually passed from the Murray family to the Cunningham family and it was eventually acquired by the Earl of Rosebery in 1828 and demolished in 1840. The area of the former gardens and house is now a local garden and park, named Peel park. The formal layout and planting in the park reflect the historic gardens, and a new peel mound and moat was recreated to reflect the earlier history.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The area around Livingston was historically an important shale oil area, and the world's first oil boom occurred in West Lothian. This was based on oil extracted from shale, and by 1870 over 3 million tons of shale were being mined each year in the area around Livingston. Output declined with the discovery of liquid oil reserves around the world in the early 1900s, but shale mining only finally ceased in 1962. The "bings" that characterise oil shale mining in West Lothian have largely been flattened. Two shale bings nearby are scheduled monuments – Five Sisters and Greendykes.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: By 1898, the main Livingston village was recorded as having several houses, a mill, a Church of Scotland church, a United Free church, a school, and a coaching inn. The oldest church, Livingston Old Kirk, in its current form, dates from 1732 and is an example of plain Presbetryrian architecture from the Georgian period. It stands on the site of a pre-Reformation church which appears to have stood on the site from . The nearby coaching inn was built in 1760 and the poet Robert Burns is said to have been a guest. The nearby Livingston Mill was also built around the same date, in 1770 although there is evidence that suggests there may have been a mill on the site since the 14th or 15th century. Around north of Livingston village, there was a railway station with a smaller settlement called Livingston Station which is now part of Deans. Livingston station was built as a settlement to serve the workforce and their families of the nearby Deans Oil Works, owned by the Pumpherston Oil Company. Livingston Station had six streets with homes, as well as a store, a small church and a works institute. The original Livingston railway station was operated by the Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway and opened on 12 November 1849. British Railways closed the station on 1 November 1948 following the ending of passenger services on the line. In the 1980s a site was chosen for a new railway station on the line to the east of the original station and Livingston North station opened on 24 March 1986, concurrent with the re-introduction of passenger services. The Livingston Village and Livingston Station settlements were both subsequently incorporated into Livingston new town in the 20th century.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Under the New Towns Act of 1946, Livingston was designated as a New Town on 16 April 1962 in order to ease overcrowding in Glasgow. Livingston was the fourth new town of five in Scotland; the others were East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Cumbernauld and Irvine. Three villages (Livingston Village and Livingston Station in the old parish of Livingston and Bellsquarry in the parish of Mid Calder) and numerous farmsteads were incorporated into the Livingston new town. Published in July 1962, the first edition of the Livingston plan designated new areas for housing for up to 100,000 people, as well as areas for new industry and offices, marked by new roads, pathways, and recreational spaces, under an survey led by Professors Donald Robertson and Sir Robert Matthew. Many of the initial houses were factory-built. A subsequent edition to the plan was published in 1966 with Livingston intended as the centre of a new population area of up to 250,000 persons in the Lothians. The new town plan envisaged Livingston as a focal point for economic growth in the Lothian region, incorporating 'overspill' population from Glasgow and Edinburgh. The design incorporated a vision of mixed development, connected by a new series of roads in a grid system by means of grade separated junctions and roundabouts. While the new town plan considered the car to be the principle form of transport, it also envisaged a series of core footpaths to connect communities under the Radburn design.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: In order to build, manage, and promote Livingston, a quango organisation was formed, the Livingston Development Corporation (LDC). Sir David Lowe, a local large scale farmer and businessman, was appointed chairman. Following designation of the new town, the first large building begun was the Corporation's own offices in 1963. Residential construction began in 1962 with the first homes to be built as part of the new town being constructed in Deans (to house corporation employees and construction workers). The first major development of the new town took place in Craigshill, with the first people moving into the newly built housing areas in April 1966 at Broom Walk. The construction of the areas of Howden, Ladywell, and Knightsridge began in the late 1960s and this was followed in the 1970s by the creation of Dedrige and further development of Deans. Some of the first prominent buildings in the new town built in these decades included Riverside Primary School (the first primary school built in the new town in April 1966), Livingston Fire Station (1967 by the architects Bamber & Hall), the new town's first public house (the Tower in Craigshill built in 1968), Craigshill school (the first secondary school built in the new town in 1969), and the 'Centre' (Livingstons shopping centre) built in 1977. Craigshill was said to exemplify the spartan, geometric approach to new town planning, with buildings composed of the Danish style Jesperson blocks and high-density, low-rise concrete homes with Scandinavian style mono-pitch roofs.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: By 1971, the town's population had risen to 14,000. On 9 November 1979 the Livingston UFO Incident took place, when Robert Taylor, employed by the Livingston Development Corporation, is said to have encountered a UFO on Dechmont Law and the incident was subsequently investigated by Lothian and Borders Police. It is the only UFO incident that was part of a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: In 1984 a new railway station was built for the town on the Shotts Line called Livingston South which was shortly followed by another station Livingston North on the redeveloped Edinburgh to Bathgate Line in 1986. These stations replaced the former Livingston and Newpark stations which had closed before the construction of the town. In 1995 Livingston gained its professional football team, Livingston F.C. The first team was essentially formed from the relocation of Meadowbank Thistle F.C. from Edinburgh.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: While in 1980, the LDC owned 90% of the town's housing, by 1996 this had reduced to some 40% through sales and increasing private home ownership. The Livingston Development Corporation guided Livingston until its mandate expired on 22 March 1997 and the town was transferred to the West Lothian Council. The last major construction operation carried out by the LDC was the Almondvale Stadium. Housing development continues under West Lothian Council, through private developers such as Barratt Developments and Bellway, and under the management of housing associations such as the Almond Housing Association and the West Lothian Housing Partnership.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: In September 2021, the town submitted a bid for city status in the United Kingdom as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition. Although the town was not successful in being raised to city status, 2022 marked its 60th anniversary as a town.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston is the eighth-largest settlement and the third-largest town in Scotland. It is also the 171st largest settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies from Glasgow and from Edinburgh.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The Livingston new town was planned so that the River Almond, the namesake of the Almondvale district, runs through the town centre.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Outer Livingston districts include Wester Dechmont, Deans (including the Deans Industrial Estate), Kirkton, and Houston to the north, Craigshill to the east, Bellsquarry (including the Brucefield Industrial Estate) and Murieston to the south, and Adambrae and Kirkton Campus to the east of the town. Craigshill takes its name from the Scottish Gaelic word for the slopes of a hill.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Inner central districts in the town include Almondvale, Livingston Village, Eliburn, Howden, Ladywell, Knightsridge, and Dedridge. Ladywell takes its name from a historic well that was dedicated to Mary and was said to have been used by medieval Scottish Kings as a site for a yearly Royal touching ceremony.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The geology of Livingston is similar to that of West Lothian in general, characterised by former glacial history and composed of till. This includes areas of clay, sand, silt, and gravel, primarily along the Almond river valley environment. Parts of Livingston also have isolated areas of carboniferous sedimentary rocks (primarily in and around the Deans area of the town) which were worked and extracted for shale oil in the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest rocks are classified as part of the Inverclyde Group (primarily located in the south-east of Livingston between Linhouse Water and Kirknewton). There are also several areas of underlying sandstone in Livingston which were used as local quarries, now since defunct, including Dedridge quarry, refilled and landscaped as a local park (Quarry Froggy Park). Bellsquarry originates from a former Burdiehouse limestone quarry and the surname of its owner, Mr Bell. The quarry was in operation by 1782 and continued until the early 20th century, when it was used as a rubbish dump before being tidied and covered.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Until the development of the new town, except for localised industry in areas such as Deans, the area was primarily agricultural, with farming focused on the alluvial soils of the Almond river. The area is now primarily an urban area although as a new town, Livingston is characterised by large areas of forested paths, public parks and open spaces. Forested areas in Livingston include Livingston Old Wood () in Eliburn, the Wilderness in Adambrae (), Bellsquarry Wood (), Kirkton Woods (), Linhouse Glen, and Calder Woods (on the boundary with East Calder).


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The area where Livingston now sits was historically dominated by oil shale mining, which is evident from the bings which still exist on much of the surrounding landscape. The designation of Livingston as a new town in the 1960s attracted new light industries to the area, with high technology and pharmaceutical companies moving into the town. Livingston formed a major hub in Scotland's Silicon Glen with factories constructed in purpose-build business parks at Houston Industrial Estate and Kirkton Campus. Like most other areas, this went into a slow decline from the late 1990s with companies including Motorola and NEC closing down their factories. Several multi-national companies still have factories in the town, including Wyman Gordon who manufacture aircraft components on the Houston Industrial Estate. Other companies on the Houston Industrial Estate include Mitsubishi Electric (who have an electric air conditioning factory which produces almost 150,000 air conditioning and heat pump units every year), Paterson Arran (a food manufacturer whose bakery, the Royal Burgh Bakery is located in Livingston), and DS Smith (who have a box production plant on the estate).


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: From the 1970s, Kirkton Campus on the western edge of the town was developed as Scotland's first technology science park. Developed for private businesses by the LDC, it included 300 acres of landscaped offices and factory sites along the Killandean Burn and River Almond. Former businesses included Ethicon, Boehringer Mannheim, Canon Business Machines and Seagate Micro Electronics. While these factories on the Campus have closed, it is still home to several businesses, including Sky UK who is one of the largest private sector employers in Livingston with a range of offices and their biggest UK contact centre at Kirkton Campus. Other companies at Kirkton Campus include Merck (a pharmaceutical company), Gore W L & Associates (a clothes manufacturer in a triangular plan building built in 1984), SCION Instruments (a chromatography and gas detector manufacturer), JPT Foodtech, and Palletways (a distribution service which owns a hub facility).


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Other large employers include Tesco (whose distribution centre for Scotland and Northern Ireland is located on the northern edge of the town), Schuh (whose head office and customer service centre is on the Deans Industrial Estate in Livingston), Shin-Etsu Europe (who have a manufacturing facility in Livingston that produces semiconductors), those in the retail sector in the shopping centres, supermarkets, and the health care sector such as NHS Scotland. The Witherby Publishing Group, established in 1740, is one of the oldest publishers in the United Kingdom and their offices and warehouse is located in Livingston at Navigation House. Valneva SE is a biotech company that has a manufacturing facility in Livingston which produces vaccines, including a vaccine against COVID-19.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The Brucefield Industrial Estate is located west of Bellsquarry and includes companies such as Diet Chef (a food manufacturer), ScoMac (a catering equipment manufacturer), and Snag Tights (a textile manufacturer based in Livingston that exports to 90 countries).


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Alba Business Park is located in Livingston to the west of Adambrae and includes a technology innovation centre. Companies in the Alba Business Park include Glenmorangie, the whisky distillers, who have offices and a bottling facility that was opened in 2011. Quintiles IMS, a healthcare data provider, have a large office in the business park. The prosthetic company Össur (Touch Bionics) has a research and development facility in the park.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston town centre sits on the southern edge of the Almond Valley and provides shops and services for the surrounding area. It is bounded by a ring road to the east and has been purposely planned, distinguishing it from many other town centres. Howden Park is located immediately north of the town centre and adjoins Howden House, an 18th-century house which contains an arts centre and private housing. The south western edge of the town centre is dominated by retail parks. Livingston's town centre also contains a large number of offices. Private sector offices are also concentrated at the eastern and western edges of the town centre and along the Almondvale Boulevard. Other facilities in the town centre include: hotels, a swimming pool and local authority gym, and restaurants and pubs. Almondvale Football Stadium and West Lothian College are located at the north western edge of the town centre.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The Livingston Civic Centre was completed in June 2009 and officially opened by then-First Minister Alex Salmond on 25 November 2009. The Civic Centre is located just north of The Centre on the bank of the River Almond. It was home to the divisional headquarters of Lothian and Borders Police until the creation of Police Scotland in 2013, as well as the sheriff and justice of the peace, West Lothian Council, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, and the West Lothian Community Health and Care Partnership.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has three major shopping centres, three medium large retail parks, and clusters of small local stores located throughout the different areas. The largest shopping centres are 'The Centre' (formerly named the Almondvale Shopping Centre, comprising more than of retail space) and Livingston Designer Outlet (the largest outlet mall in Scotland, formerly called the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Centre). The combined retail spaces of central Livingston form the largest indoor shopping location in Scotland and the 10th largest in the UK.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The first phase of the Livingston's shopping centres was completed in 1977 to facilitate the needs of the local residents and workers at The Centre, known as the "Livingston Centre" at that point. The first major refurbishment was completed in 1988 by Land Securities. The centre was extended by in 1996/1997, creating phase 2 of the development, bringing the size of the centre to over . It has since been renamed "The Almondvale Centre". The Centre was completed in its current structure on 16 October 2008. The total development has around 155 shops and eating establishments. In early 1999, construction started on phase 3 of the development with the construction of McArthur Glen Designer Outlet Centre (reamed as the Livingston Designer Outlet in 2007). This opened in October 2000, with other work continuing into 2002. The Livingston Designer Outlet, contains a VUE multiplex cinema, a food court with many chain fast-food outlets, bars, restaurants, and cafés, as well as around 70 outlet shops. In the early 2000s, Asda constructed a new supercentre at the other end of the shopping centre in place of the old Woolco store (which had also been used as a Gateway hypermarket before Asda acquired the firm in late-1989). This Asda supercentre is the largest Asda store in Scotland.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Until 2016, there was also a large B&Q in the south-west of the town centre, as well as a large Morrisons supermarket which remains open. The Homebase store closed in July 2010 and Argos moved to premises across the road. The former Homebase and Argos stores were converted into a large Sainsbury's supermarket that opened in December 2010. Also in the town centre are discount supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl, the latter of which is located beside the Almondvale Stadium.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Under the original Livingston plans, neighbourhood shopping centres were to be located at strategic points around the town and the first of these to be built was The Mall at Craigshill, which claimed to be one of the first covered shopping centres in Scotland. This was followed by the Carmondean Centre in Deans and groupings of shops in Ladywell and Murieston.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has an excellent 'core path network' which is shared use, and available to pedestrians and cyclists. It connects all of the main areas of the town with shopping and work areas. It is for the most part segregated from roads and uses an extensive network of under/over pass systems to keep pedestrians and cyclists away from motorised traffic.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has excellent connections to the central Scotland road network: the M8 bounds Livingston in the north and the A71 in the south; The A899 dual carriageway spine road passes north south along Livingston's eastern edge and connects the two; The A89 runs east west on the north side of the M8.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has a central bus terminal with seven stances located on Almondvale Avenue between the two shopping centres in the town centre. This provides regular services to surrounding towns and villages. McGill's Scotland East and Lothian Country Buses are the main bus operator in Livingston. Other operators include E&M Horsburgh, Blue Bus, SD Travel, and Stagecoach. Livingston has buses to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Lanark, Fife, Falkirk, and most West Lothian towns and villages.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston North is located adjacent to the Carmondean Shopping Centre between Eliburn and Deans and is on the North Clyde Line. The station opened on 24 March 1986, concurrent with the re-introduction of passenger services on the Edinburgh to Bathgate Line. On 12 December 2010, with the completion of the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link, Livingston North is now served by trains running to and .


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston South is located at the Murieston Shops and is on the Shotts Line and has trains running between and via . It was opened by British Rail on 6 October 1984.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston is west of Edinburgh Airport and east of Glasgow Airport, both of which have regular flights to British and international destinations.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The local newspaper covering Livingston is the West Lothian Courier (published under the Daily Record). There was previously a Livingston Post newspaper which was stopped in the early 1990s. There was also a newspaper called West Lothian Herald & Post that served Livingston but that ceased to print in July 2011. Dedridge Grapevine is a voluntary community magazine, delivering several thousand copies to houses in and around Dedridge, founded and edited by Kathleen Ross-Hale since 1976. Konect is a free local magazine that serves the West Lothian area, including Livingston, with approximately 10,000 copies a month delivered in the Livingston area.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston previously had its own Radio Station called River FM that was broadcast from the Almondvale Stadium, from 1 September 2003 until 29 January 2007. Current local radio includes the local BBC station BBC Radio Scotland and local commercial radio including Capital Scotland and 97.3 Forth One. Livingston also has a hospital radio station called Radio Grapevine which broadcasts to St John's Hospital.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston is the administrative centre of West Lothian Council. Within West Lothian, Livingston is covered by four multi-member wards each electing four councillors. They are Livingston North, Livingston South, East Livingston, and East Calder wards.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Many of the responsibilities of West Lothian Council were previously the responsibility of the Livingston Development Corporation (LDC) until 1997 when the LDC was disbanded.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston is in the Almond Valley constituency for the Scottish Parliament, and the Member of the Scottish Parliament is Angela Constance of the Scottish National Party. Livingston is also covered by the Lothian electoral region which gives the area seven additional MSPs.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has its own constituency in the House of Commons; Livingston, and is represented by the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament (MP) Hannah Bardell.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston for the majority of its existence has returned Labour MPs since the town was founded in 1962. However, in the election of 2015, the constituency voted in Hannah Bardell of the SNP as their member for Parliament.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: It was for the 1983 general election that Livingston gained its own constituency at Westminster. The first MP elected for Livingston was Robin Cook who held the seat for six consecutive elections and held many government positions, most notably Foreign Secretary between 1997 and 2001. In 2005 Robin Cook suddenly died of a heart attack and a by-election was called and won by the Labour Jim Devine. Devine was deselected in 2009 after being caught up in the 2009 expenses scandal.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Before Brexit, Livingston was part of the Scotland European Parliament constituency. It was represented by six MEPs; the nearest ones to Livingston were Alyn Smith (SNP) and Struan Stevenson (Conservative) who were both based in Edinburgh and David Martin (Labour) who was based in Roslin. Livingston used to be part of the Lothians European Parliament constituency.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has 18 nursery schools, 17 primary schools, and five special schools. There are four secondary schools in the town which are Inveralmond Community High School, The James Young High School, St. Margaret's RC Academy and Deans Community High School.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: West Lothian College offers higher and further education and its central campus is based in Livingston. The college has sports facilities, a library, a training restaurant for hospitality students (which was awarded Scottish Restaurant of the Year in 2015 and 2017), and a salon/spa. The college provides educational services to over 8,000 students a year and has 350 staff.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has three public libraries which are Almondbank Library in Craigshill, Lanthorn Library in Dedridge, and Carmondean Library in Deans. A local history library which includes items on the history of Livingston is located in nearby Linlithgow.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The Scotland Japanese School (スコットランド日本語補習授業校 "Sukottorando Nihongo Hoshū Jugyō Kō"), a weekend Japanese school, is held at St. Margaret's Academy in Livingston. It first opened in 1982 and moved to Livingston in April 2003.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston is part of the NHS Lothian region in NHS Scotland. Livingston previously had a psychiatric hospital with a general hospital in the Dechmont area of the town called Bangour Village Hospital. The hospital opened in 1904, and started closing in the 1990s. It closed completely in 2004 after the remaining services were transferred to St John's Hospital.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has a large hospital called St John's Hospital in the Howden. The construction of the hospital began in 1981 and it opened in 1990. The hospital has its own Accident and Emergency and has 550 beds. St John's is a teaching hospital for the University of Edinburgh Medical School.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Howden Park Centre is the arts centre for the town which includes a 300-seat theatre providing arts performances, recitals, plays and other events.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry was created in 1990, to preserve the history of the shale industry in West Lothian and beyond. It is sited on a former mill at Millfield in Livingston and is attached to the Almond Valley Heritage Centre, a large farm and play area in Livingston. The Almond Valley Light Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway running at the Almond Valley Heritage Trust site.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has several public parks, including Eliburn park, Almondvale park, Howden park, Peel park, Campbridge park (Murieston), Quarry park (Dedridge), and Bankton Mains park. Eliburn park (in the north-west of Livingston) is a site owned by West Lothian Council which features a reservoir (fed by the local Nell burn) with fishing access, sports facilities and a children's play area. Almondvale park, located in the centre of town, is an outdoor recreation area, with an adventure playpark, health walk/run and wildflower meadows. Bankton Mains park is a large park with a sports centre, bowling club, tennis and football pitches and play park.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has its own Air Training Corps squadron, 2535 (Livingston) Squadron (located in Craigshill) and Army Cadet Force unit (based at Dedridge). The town also has Cubs, Scouts, Boys' Brigade, Brownies, and Guides units, and other organisations such as LGBT Youth Scotland and the Youth Action Project (WLYAP), and Firefly Youth Theatre (formerly West Lothian Youth Theatre) also operate at Howden Park Centre. The youth action project involves a music session and many gigs and is widely attended by teenagers from the surrounding area.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The Livingston Skatepark opened in 1981, at a time when most commercial skateparks were closing, and was one of the most important facilities in Britain during a critical period in the development of skateboarding. It is an example of a free, unsupervised facility which achieved international status. The park was designed by Scottish architect Iain Urquhart and was the subject of a 2020 BBC Radio 3 documentary 'Curves and Concrete' which explored the impact the design had on other UK skateparks.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The town has a local cricket club, Livingston Cricket Club; a rugby union club, Livingston Rugby Football Club; a professional football club, Livingston F.C.; and a East of Scotland League club, Livingston United.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston is also home to; two competitive swimming clubs, the Livingston & District Dolphins and the Aquanauts of Livingston; Livingston Handball Club, Livingston and West Lothian Hockey Club, which has several men's and women's teams and provides junior coaching; West Lothian Wolves Basketball Club, with men and women's teams at all age groups; and two track and field athletics clubs, Livingston & District AAC and Lothian RC.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston also has a number of youth football teams with the most successful being Murieston United who have teams ranging from the ages of under 9s to under 21s. They have some notable former players: Scott Arfield, Chris Innes, Derek Fleming, and Gary Wales.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston F.C., known to locals as ""Livi"" or ""The Lions"", are the most notable football team in the town. They were formed in 1995 on the relocation of Edinburgh-based side Meadowbank Thistle. The stadium opened in November 1995, but the Livingston name had already been adopted some months earlier when the club was still playing at its former home Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Although they were playing in the Scottish Third Division in their first season in Livingston, six years later the club was promoted to the Scottish Premier League, finished third in their first season and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Relegation to the Scottish First Division in 2006 came after the club entered administration in 2004 as well as other financial problems. In 2009 they narrowly avoided going out of business and as a result were placed back in the Third Division.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: The Lions managed to gain promotion to the Scottish Second Division the following year, and returned to the First Division after back to back league championships, on 6 August 2011. They currently compete in the top tier of Scottish Football (Ladbrokes Premiership).


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has several swimming pools, the main pool being a 20m public pool run by West Lothian Leisure (Xcite). Other public pools are also located in local schools including Deans Community High School and Inveralmond High School and the Bannatyne Health Club has a private pool for members.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston has a cricket club known as the Kingfishers which fields teams for juniors and seniors and has fielded professional paid players. The club plays in the East of Scotland Cricket Association and is based in the Murieston area of Livingston. The Club was founded in 1981 by Dr Salem Patel and Doug Druce, playing its first match in August of that year in Armadale. The club joined the East League for the 1982 season, winning Grade D and promotion. The Club played at several locations in Livingston, including Bankton Mains and at Bangour Hospital sports field. The 1st XI remained in Division 4 until winning the league in 1992. In 1994 sponsorship by the Livingston Development Corporation enabled the club to successfully negotiate the big step up to Division 2 where half of the clubs employed paid professional players. West Indian Mark Harper became the club's first paid player and regularly set new batting records throughout the season. The creation of the National leagues in 1996 and the subsequent re-organisation of feeder leagues saw Livingston become a Division 1 club due to reconstruction of the East League. In 1999 the Club finished third, their highest league position to date. This coincided with a move back into Livingston to a large new ground in the Murieston area. Being almost in the foothills of the Pentlands, rainfall is heavier and the growing season considerably shorter than most of the other grounds in the Central Belt, which causes major problems in getting the ground ready for play in April. A new pavilion, the Gerry Toms Pavilion was officially opened on 22 August 2004.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Uniquely in Scotland, Livingston was from its formation designated an "Ecumenical Parish" in a joint initiative by the Church of Scotland, Scottish Episcopal Church, Methodist Church in Great Britain, and the Congregational Union of Scotland (which subsequently united with the United Reformed Church). The Ecumenical Parish has six places of worship. The ecumenical parish church is based at the Lanthorn Community complex, a ziggurat style building built on Kenilworth Rise in 1976.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Apart from the Ecumenical Parish, Livingston Old Parish is a congregation solely within the Church of Scotland. There are also churches of other denominations. These include the Catholic Church (who have three congregations: Saint Peters in Carmondean, Saint Andrews in Craigshill, and St Philips in Dedridge). St Andrew's Church in Craigshill is seen as a notable architectural example in Brutalist style. Designed by George R M Kennedy and Partners, it was designed in 1968 and completed in 1970. It consists of a dramatic swirl made of shutter-marked concrete and is Category B listed.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Also represented in the community are the Baptist Church (who have two congregations in Dedridge and Ladywell), Jehovah's Witnesses (who have two congregations: Livingston Deans and Livingston Dedridge), the Free Church, and The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (who have a Ward in Deans).


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: There is a mosque in the Craigshill area of the town called Livingston Mosque and Community Centre and also another within the Deans area. In recent years Jehovah Witnesses have built a Kingdom Hall in Eliburn.


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Notable residents of Livingston include Robin Cook (the former MP for Livingston and Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001; died 2005) and Ian Colquhoun (author, born and educated in Livingston).


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Actors, musicians and entertainers include Nina Nesbitt (singer songwriter) and David Cicero (singer/keyboardist and associate of the Pet Shop Boys who moved to Livingston as a child).


title: Livingston, West Lothian

text: Livingston sports personalities include Craig Benson (Olympic swimmer and World junior men's breaststroke champion, born and educated in Livingston), Peter 'Snakebite' Wright (born in Livingston, PDC World darts champion), and Elise Christie (short track skater, who competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2014 Winter Olympics). Livingston is the birthplace and home of several Scottish footplayers, including Scott Arfield (football player for Rangers F.C), Mark Burchill (footballer, educated in Livingston), Paul Dickov (former Arsenal player and former manager Doncaster Rovers from 2013 to 2015), James Penrice (professional footballer for Partick Thistle), David Robertson (footballer for St Johnstone F.C.), Jimmy Scoular (former Portsmouth FC and Newcastle Utd football player and Cardiff City manager), Gary Wales (former Hearts player, and Kilmarnock player), Tommy Walker (former Hearts and Chelsea player and manager for Hearts), Keith Watson (footballer, previously for Hartlepool United), and Danny Wilson (footballer, player for Rangers, Liverpool and a former Hearts captain).


title: Ramla

text: Ramla or Ramle (, "Ramlā"; , "ar-Ramleh") is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations.


title: Ramla

text: The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad prince Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik as the capital of Jund Filastin, the district he governed in Bilad al-Sham before becoming caliph in 715. The city's strategic and economic value derived from its location at the intersection of the "Via Maris", connecting Cairo with Damascus, and the road connecting the Mediterranean port of Jaffa with Jerusalem. It rapidly overshadowed the adjacent city of Lydda, whose inhabitants were relocated to the new city. Not long after its establishment, Ramla developed as the commercial centre of Palestine, serving as a hub for pottery, dyeing, weaving, and olive oil, and as the home of numerous Muslim scholars. Its prosperity was lauded by geographers in the 10th–11th centuries, when the city was ruled by the Fatimids and Seljuks.


title: Ramla

text: It lost its role as a provincial capital shortly before the arrival of the First Crusaders (), after which it became the scene of various battles between the Crusaders and Fatimids in the first years of the 12th century. Later that century, it became the centre of a lordship in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state established by Godfrey of Bouillon.


title: Ramla

text: Ramla had an Arab-majority population before most were expelled or fled during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The town was subsequently repopulated by Jewish immigrants. Today, Ramla is one of Israel's mixed cities, with a population 76% Jewish and 24% Arab (see Arab citizens of Israel).


title: Ramla

text: The Umayyad prince and governor of Palestine, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, founded Ramla as the seat of his administration, replacing Lydda, the Muslims' original provincial capital. Sulayman had been appointed governor by his father Caliph Abd al-Malik before the end of his reign in 705 and continued in office through the reign of his brother Caliph al-Walid I (), whom he succeeded. He died as caliph in 717. Ramla remained the capital of Palestine through the Fatimid period (10th–11th centuries). Its role as the principal city and district capital came to an end shortly before the arrival of the First Crusaders in 1099. It received its name, the singular form of "raml" (sand), from the sandy area in which it sat.


title: Ramla

text: Sulayman's motives for founding Ramla were personal ambition and practical considerations. The location of Ramla near Lydda, a long-established and prosperous city, was logistically and economically advantageous. The area's economic importance was based on its strategic location at the intersection of the two major roads linking Egypt with Syria (the so-called "Via Maris") and linking Jerusalem with the Mediterranean coast. Sulayman established his city in Lydda's vicinity, avoiding Lydda proper. This was likely due to a lack of available space for wide-scale development and agreements dating to the Muslim conquest in the 630s that, at least formally, precluded him from confiscating desirable property within Lydda.


title: Ramla

text: In a tradition recorded by the historian Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari (died 1347), a determined local Christian cleric refused Sulayman's requests for plots in the middle of Lydda. Infuriated, he attempted to have the cleric executed, but his local adviser Raja ibn Haywa dissuaded him and instead proposed building a new city at a superior, adjacent site. In choosing the site, Sulayman utilized the strategic advantages of Lydda's vicinity while avoiding the physical constraints of an already-established urban center. Historian Moshe Sharon holds that Lydda was "too Christian in ethos for the taste of the Umayyad rulers", particularly following the Arabization and Islamization reforms instituted by Abd al-Malik.


title: Ramla

text: According to al-Jahshiyari (died 942), Sulayman sought a lasting reputation as a great builder following the example of his father and al-Walid, the respective founders of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Great Mosque of Damascus. The construction of Ramla was Sulayman's "way to immortality" and "his personal stamp on the landscape of Palestine", according to Luz.


title: Ramla

text: The first structure Sulayman erected in Ramla was his palatial residence, which dually served as the seat of Palestine's administration (). The next structure was the Dar al-Sabbaghin (House of the Dyers). At the center of the new city was a congregational mosque, later known as the White Mosque. It was not completed until the reign of Sulayman's successor Caliph Umar II (). The Sulayman's construction works were financially managed by a Christian from Lydda, Bitrik ibn al-Naka. The remains of the White Mosque, dominated by a minaret added at a later date, are visible in the present day. In the courtyard are underground water cisterns from the Umayyad period. From early on, Ramla developed economically as a market town for the surrounding area's agricultural products, and as a center for dyeing, weaving and pottery. It was also home to many Muslim religious scholars.


title: Ramla

text: Sulayman built an aqueduct in the city called al-Barada, which transported water to Ramla from Tel Gezer, about to the southeast. Ramla superseded Lydda as the commercial center of Palestine. Many of Lydda's Christian, Samaritan and Jewish inhabitants were moved to the new city. Although the traditional accounts are in agreement that Lydda almost immediately fell into obscurity following the founding of Ramla, narratives vary about the extent of Sulayman's efforts to transfer Lydda's inhabitants to Ramla, some holding that he only demolished a church in Lydda and others that he demolished the city altogether. Al-Ya'qubi (died 839) noted Sulayman razed the houses of Lydda's inhabitants to force their relocation to Ramla and punished those who resisted. In the words of al-Jahshiyari, Sulayman "founded the town of al-Ramla and its mosque and thus caused the ruin of Lod [Lydda]".


title: Ramla

text: The Abbasids toppled the Umayyads in 750, confiscating the White Mosque and all other Umayyad properties in Ramla. The Abbasids annually reviewed the high costs of maintaining the Barada canal, though starting under the reign of Caliph al-Mu'tasim it became a regular part of the state's expenditures. In the late 9th century the Muslim inhabitants were composed mainly of Arabs and Persians, while the clients of the Muslims were Samaritans.


title: Ramla

text: The golden age of Ramla under the Umayyads and Abbasids, when the city overtook Jerusalem as a trade center, later gave way to a period of political instability and war beginning in the late 10th century. The Egypt-based Fatimids conquered Ramla in 969 and ten years later the city was destroyed by the Jarrahids, a branch of the Tayy tribe.


title: Ramla

text: Nonetheless, the 10th-century Jerusalemite geographer al-Muqaddasi described Ramla as "a fine city, and well built; its water is good and plentiful; it fruits are abundant". He noted that it "combines manifold advantages, situated as it is in the midst of beautiful villages and lordly towns, near to holy places and pleasant hamlets", as well as bountiful fields, walled towns and hospices. The geographer further noted the city's significant commerce and "excellent markets", lauding the quality of its fruits and bread as the best of their kind. During this period, Ramla was one of the major centers for the production and export of oil extracted from unripe olives, known as "anfa kinon" (Greek: ὀμφάκιον, ὀμφάχινον; Latin: omphacium; ), and used in cuisine and medicine.


title: Ramla

text: Conversely, the city's disadvantages included the severe muddiness of the place during the rainy winter season and its hard, sandy grounds due to its distance from natural water sources. The limited drinking water gathered in the city's cisterns were generally inaccessible to the poorer inhabitants.


title: Ramla

text: By 1011–1012, the Jarrahids controlled all of Palestine, except for the coastal towns, and captured Ramla from its Fatimid garrison, making it their capital. The city and the surrounding places were plundered by the Bedouin, impoverishing much of the population. The Jarrahids brought the Alid emir of Mecca, al-Hasan ibn Ja'far, to act as caliph in defiance of the Fatimids. The development was short-lived, as the Jarrahids abandoned al-Hasan after Fatimid bribes, and the caliphal claimant left the city for Mecca. A Fatimid army led by Ali ibn Ja'far ibn Fallah wrested control of Ramla from the Jarrahids, who continued to dominate the surrounding countryside. The following decade was marked by peace, but, in 1024, the Jarrahids renewed their rebellion. The Fatimid general Anushtakin al-Dizbari secured Ramla for a few months, but the Jarrahids overran the city that year, killing and harassing several inhabitants and seizing much of the population's wealth. They appointed their own governor, Nasr Allah ibn Nizal. In the following year, al-Dizbari drove the Jarrahids out of Ramla, but was recalled to Egypt in 1026. In 1029, he returned and routed the Jarrahids and their Bedouin allies.


title: Ramla

text: Ramla is a great city, with strong walls built of stone, mortared, of great height and thickness, with iron gates opening therein. From the town to the sea-coast is a distance of three leagues. The inhabitants get their water from the rainfall, and in each house is a tank for storing the same, in order that there may always be a supply. In the middle of the Friday Mosque [White Mosque], also, is a large tank: and from it, when it is filled with water, anyone who wishes may take. The area of the mosque measures two hundred paces ("Gam") by three hundred. Over one of its porches ("suffah") is an inscription stating that on the 15th of Muharram, of the year 425 (=10th of December, 1033 CE), there came an earthquake of great violence, which threw down a large number of buildings, but that no single person sustained an injury. In the city of Ramla there is marble in plenty, and most of the buildings and private houses are of this material; and, further, the surface thereof they do most beautifully sculpture and ornament. They cut the marble here with a toothless saw, which is worked with 'Mekka sand'. They saw the marble in length, as is the case with wood, to form the columns; not in across; they also cut it into slabs. The marbles that I saw here were of all colours, some variegated, some green, red, black and white. There is, too, at Ramla, a particular kind of fig, and this they export to all the countries round. This city Ramla, throughout Syria and the West, is known under the name of Filastin.


title: Ramla

text: The armies of the First Crusade took the hastily evacuated town without a fight. In the early years of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem though, control over this strategic location led to three consecutive battles between the Crusaders and Egyptian armies from Ascalon, a Fatimid-held town along the southern coast of Palestine. As Crusader rule stabilized, Ramla became the seat of a seigneury in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Lordship of Ramla within the County of Jaffa and Ascalon. It was a city of some economic significance and an important way station for pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem. The Crusaders identified it with the biblical Ramathaim and called it Arimathea.


title: Ramla

text: Around 1163, the rabbi and traveller Benjamin of Tudela, who also mistook it for a more ancient city, visited "Rama, or Ramleh, where there are remains of the walls from the days of our ancestors, for thus it was found written upon the stones. About 300 Jews dwell there. It was formerly a very great city; at a distance of two miles (3 km) there is a large Jewish cemetery."


title: Ramla

text: In the 1480s, in the late Mamluk era, Felix Fabri visted Ramla and described (among other things) the hammam there; "built in a wonderous and clever fashion".


title: Ramla

text: In the early days of the Ottoman period, in 1548, a census was taken recording 528 Muslim families and 82 Christian families living in Ramla.


title: Ramla

text: On 2 March 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Ramla during his unsuccessful bid to conquer Palestine, using the Franciscan hospice as his headquarters. The village appeared as 'Ramleh' on the map of Pierre Jacotin compiled during this campaign.


title: Ramla

text: In 1838, Edward Robinson found Ramleh to be a town of about 3000 inhabitants, surrounded by olive-groves and vegetables. It had few streets, and the houses were made of stone and were well-built. There were several mosques in the town.


title: Ramla

text: In 1863, Victor Guérin noted that the Latin (Catholic) population was reduced to two priests and 50 parishioners. In 1869, the population was given as 3,460; 3000 Muslims, 400 Greek Orthodox and 60 Catholics.


title: Ramla

text: In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's "Survey of Western Palestine" noted that there was a bazaar in the town, "but its prosperity has much decayed, and many of the houses are falling into ruins, including the Serai." Expansion began only at the end of the 19th century.


title: Ramla

text: In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, 'Ramleh' had a population of 7,312 inhabitants; 5,837 Muslims, 1,440 Christians and 35 Jews. The Christians were further noted by denomination: 1,226 Orthodox, 2 Syriac Orthodox (Jacobites), 150 Roman Catholics, 8 Melkite Catholics, 4 Maronite, 15 Armenian, 2 Abyssinian Church and 36 Anglicans.


title: Ramla

text: Less than a decade later, the population had increased nearly 25%; the 1931 census recorded 10,347 people, of whom there were 8,157 Muslims, 5 Jews, 2,194 Christians and 2 Druze, in a total of 2,339 houses.


title: Ramla

text: Ramla was connected to wired electricity (supplied by the Zionist-owned Palestine Electric Company) towards the end of the 1920s. Economist Basim Faris noted this fact as proof of Ramla's higher standard of living than neighbouring Lydda. In Ramla, he wrote, "economic demands triumph over nationalism" while Lydda, "which is ten minutes' walk from Ramleh, is still averse to such a convenience as electric current, and so is not as yet served; perhaps the low standard of living of the poor population prevents the use of the service at the present rates, which cannot compete with petroleum for lighting".


title: Ramla

text: The 1945/46 survey gives 'Ramle' a population of 15,160, of whom 11,900 were Muslim and 3,260 Christian.


title: Ramla

text: Ramla was part of the territory allotted to a proposed Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. However, Ramla's geographic location and its strategic position on the main supply route to Jerusalem made it a point of contention during the 1947–1948 civil war, followed by the internationalised 1948 Arab–Israeli War. A bomb by the Jewish militia group Irgun went off in the Ramla market on 18 February, killing 7 residents and injuring 45.


title: Ramla

text: After a number of unsuccessful raids on Ramla, the Israeli army launched Operation Dani. Ramla was captured on 12 July 1948, a few days after the capture of Lydda. The Arab resistance surrendered on July 12, and most of the remaining inhabitants were driven out. A disputed claim, advanced by scholars including Ilan Pappé, characterizes this as ethnic cleansing. After the Israeli capture, some 1,000 Arabs remained in Ramla; more were transferred to the town by the IDF from outlying Arab settlements.


title: Ramla

text: Ramla became a mixed Jewish–Arab town within the state of Israel. Arab homes of those who left in Ramla were given by the Israeli government to Jews, first Holocaust refugees from Europe and then immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries. In February 1949, the Jewish population was over 6,000. Ramla remained economically depressed over the next two decades, although the population steadily mounted, reaching 34,000 by 1972.


title: Ramla

text: A 2013 Israeli police report documented that the Central District ranks fourth among Israel's seven districts in terms of drug-related arrests. Today, five of Israel's prisons are located in Ramla, including the maximum-security Ayalon Prison and the country's only women's prison, called Neve Tirza. In 2015, Ramla had one of Israel's highest crime rates.


title: Ramla

text: The Tower of Ramla, also known as the White Tower, was built in the 13th century. It served as the minaret of the White Mosque ("al-Masjid al-Abyad") erected by Caliph Suleiman in the 8th century, of which only remnants are to be seen today. The tower is six stories high, with a spiral staircase of 119 steps.


title: Ramla

text: The Pool of Arches, also known as St. Helen's Pool and Bīr al-Anezīya, is an underground water cistern built during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Haroun al-Rashid in 789 CE (in the Early Muslim period) to provide Ramla with a steady supply of water. Use of the cistern was apparently discontinued at the beginning of the tenth century (the beginning of the Fatimid period), possibly due to the fact that the main aqueduct to the city went out of use at that time.


title: Ramla

text: The Crusaders built a cathedral in the first half on the 12th century, converted into a mosque when the Mamluks conquered Ramla in the second half of the 13th century, when they added a round minaret, an entrance from the north, and a mihrab. The Great Mosque of Ramla, also known as the El-Omari Mosque, it is in architectural terms Israel's largest and best-preserved Crusader church.


title: Ramla

text: The Hospice of St Nicodemus and St Joseph of Arimathea on Ramla's main boulevard, Herzl Street, is easily recognized by its clock-faced, square tower. It belongs to the Franciscan church. Napoleon used the hospice as his headquarters during his Palestine campaign in 1799.


title: Ramla

text: The Ramla Museum is housed in the former municipal headquarters of the British Mandatory authorities. The building, from 1922, incorporates elements of Arab architecture such as arched windows and patterned tiled floors. After 1948, it was the central district office of the Israeli Ministry of Finance. In 2001, the building became a museum documenting the history of Ramla.


title: Ramla

text: The Commonwealth War Cemetery is the largest of its kind in Israel, holding graves of soldiers fallen during both World Wars and the British Mandate period.


title: Ramla

text: A tradition reported by Ishtori Haparchi (1280–1355) and other early Jewish writers is that Ramla was the biblical Gath of the Philistines. Initial archaeological claims seemed to indicate that Ramla was not built on the site of an ancient city, although in recent years the ruins of an older city were uncovered to the south of Ramla. Earlier, Benjamin Mazar had proposed that ancient Gath lay at the site of Ras Abu Hamid east of Ramla. Avi-Yonah, however, considered that to be a different Gath, usually now called Gath-Gittaim. This view is also supported by other scholars, those holding that there was, both, a Gath (believed to be "Tell es-Safi") and Gath-rimmon or Gittaim (in or near Ramla).


title: Ramla

text: Archaeological excavations in Ramla conducted in 1992–1995 unearthed the remains of a dyeing industry ("Dar al-Sabbaghin", House of the Dyers) near the White Mosque; hydraulic installations such as pools, subterranean reservoirs and cisterns; and abundant ceramic finds that include glass, coins and jar handles stamped with Arabic inscriptions. Excavations in Ramla continued as late as 2010, led by Eli Haddad, Orit Segal, Vered Eshed, and Ron Toueg, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).


title: Ramla

text: In January 2021, archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Haifa University announced the discovery of six engraving on 120,000-year-old aurochs bone near the city of Ramla in the open-air Middle Paleolithic site of Nesher Ramla. According to  archaeologist Yossi Zaidner, this finding was definitely the oldest in the Levant. Three-dimensional imaging and microscopic analysis were used to examine the bone. The six lines ranged in length from 38 to 42 millimeters.


title: Ramla

text: In May 2006, a naturally sealed-off underground space now known as Ayyalon Cave was discovered near Ramla, outside Moshav Yad Rambam. The cave sustains an unusual type of ecosystem, based on bacteria that create all the energy they need chemically, from the sulfur compounds they find in the water, with no light or organic food coming in from the surface. A bulldozer working in the Nesher cement quarry on the outskirts of Ramla accidentally broke into the cavern. The finds have been attributed to the cave's isolation, which led to the evolution of a whole food chain of specially developed organisms, including several previously unknown species of invertebrates. With several large halls on different levels, it measures long, making it the third-largest limestone cave in Israel.


title: Ramla

text: One of the finds was an eyeless scorpion, given the name "Akrav israchanani" honouring the researchers who identified it, Israel Naaman and Hanan Dimentman. All ten specimen of the blind scorpion found in the cave had been dead for several years, possibly because recent overpumping of the groundwater has led the underground lake to shrink, and with it the food supply to dwindle. Seven more species of troglobite crustaceans and springtails were discovered in "Noah's Ark Cave", as the cave has been dubbed by journalists, several of them unknown to science.


title: Ramla

text: According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), a total of 63,462 people were living in Ramla at the end of 2004. In 2001, the ethnic makeup of the city was 80% Jewish, 20% Arab (16% Muslim Arabs and 4% Christian Arabs). Ramla is the center of Karaite Judaism in Israel.


title: Ramla

text: Most Jews from Karachi, Pakistan, have immigranted to Israel and have resettled in Ramle, where they have built a synagogue named Magen Shalome, after the Magain Shalome Synagogue from Karachi.


title: Ramla

text: According to CBS data, there were 21,000 salaried workers and 1,700 self-employed persons in Ramla in 2000. The mean monthly wage for a salaried worker was NIS 4,300, with a real increase of 4.4% over the course of 2000. Salaried males had a mean monthly wage of NIS 5,200, with a real increase of 3.3%, compared to NIS 3,300 for women, with a real increase of 6.3%. The average income for self-employed persons was NIS 4,900. A total of 1,100 persons received unemployment benefits, and 5,600 received income supplements.


title: Ramla

text: Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises, Israel's sole producer of cement, maintains its flagship factory in Ramla.


title: Ramla

text: Ramla Railway Station provides an hourly service on the Israel Railways Tel Aviv–Jerusalem line. The station is located in north east side of the city and originally opened in April 1891, making it the oldest active railway station in Israel. It was most recently reopened on April 12, 2003 after having been rebuilt in a new location closer to the town's center.


title: Ramla

text: According to CBS, there are 31 schools and 12,000 students in the city. These include 22 elementary schools with a student population of 7,700 and nine high schools with a population of 3,800. In 2001, 47% of Ramla's 12th grade students graduated with a "bagrut" matriculation certificate. Many of the Jewish schools are run by Jewish orthodox organisations.


title: Ramla

text: The Arabs, both Muslims and Christian, increasingly depend on their own private schools and not Israeli governmental schools. There are currently two Christian schools, such as Terra Santa School, the Greek Orthodox School, and there is one Islamic school in preparations.


title: Ramla

text: The "Owpen House" in Ramla is a preschool and daycare center for Arab and Jewish children. In the afternoons, Open House runs extracurricular coexistence programs for Jewish, Christian, and Muslim children.


title: Tilting train

text: A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about or seated passengers to feel squashed by the outboard armrest, and standing passengers to lose their balance. Tilting trains are designed to counteract this by tilting the carriages towards the inside of the curve, thus compensating for the g-force. The train may be constructed such that inertial forces cause the tilting ("passive tilt"), or it may have a computer-controlled powered mechanism ("active tilt").


title: Tilting train

text: The first passive tilting car design was built in the US in 1937, and an improved version was built in 1939. The beginning of World War II ended development. Talgo introduced a version based on their articulated bogie design in 1950s, and this concept was used on a number of commercial services. Among these was the UAC TurboTrain, which was the first (albeit short-lived) tilting train to enter commercial service in 1968 in the US and Canada. Parallel experiments in Japan and Italy through the 591 Series and the Fiat Y 0160 developed into the highly successful 381 series which began services in 1973 and is in service today, and the Pendolino family currently being used in 11 countries since 1976. All of these had problems with short curves like those in switchyards, where they tended to sway about. Also, because of the way the carriages always swung outward, they placed more weight on the outside of the curve, which limited their improvement in cornering speed to about 20%.


title: Tilting train

text: Starting in the late 1960s, British Rail began experiments with its Advanced Passenger Train (APT) which pioneered the active-tilt concept. This used hydraulic rams on the bottoms of the carriages to tilt them, rotating them around their centre point rather than swinging outward. This had the advantage of keeping the carriage centred over the bogies, which reduced load on the rails, and could be turned off when navigating switches. Due to lengthy delays, the APT did not begin test runs until 1981 and entered commercial service only briefly in 1985. By this time, the Canadian LRC design had become the first active tilting train to enter full commercial service, starting with Via Rail in 1981.


title: Tilting train

text: Fiat developed their Pendolino design into the most successful type of tilting train, with over 500 trains active in Europe. The concept of active tilt as a whole has been independently developed by many companies. Active tilting systems are widely used today.


title: Tilting train

text: Aeroplanes and bicycles tilt inwards when cornering, but automobiles and trains cannot do this on their own. Vehicles with high centres of gravity rounding sharp curves at high speeds may topple over. To make their turns easier, the outer edge of a roadway of a high-speed highway or outer rail of a railway may be canted (raised) upward around the curve. The combination of tilt and centrifugal force combines to produce an effective acceleration that is down through the floor, reducing or eliminating any sideways component.


title: Tilting train

text: The particular angle of tilt ("superelevation") is determined by the intended vehicle speed — higher speeds require more banking. But with a growing desire in the 1960s and 1970s to build high-speed rail networks, a problem arose: the amount of tilt appropriate for high-speed trains would be over-tilted for lower-speed local passenger and freight trains sharing the lines. Japan's early bullet train efforts of the 1960s avoided this problem by laying all-new lines as part of a re-gauging effort, and France's TGV followed the same pattern. Other operators did not have this luxury and were generally limited to much lower speeds.


title: Tilting train

text: Spain's national railway Renfe took a domestic invention, the Talgo, and developed it into a reliable high-speed train for a low-traffic-density railway. British Rail invested heavily in tilting-train technology to overcome the limitations of a rail network located in space-constrained built-up areas. Italy's Trenitalia and the Japan National Railways have used tilting technology to speed express trains on conventional tracks through mountainous terrain.


title: Tilting train

text: Tilting trains are meant to help reduce the effects of centrifugal force on the human body, but they can still cause nausea, a problem that was widely seen on early "passive" tilting trains that exactly balanced the outward force. The effect could be felt under maximum speed and tilt, when the combination of tilting outside view and lack of corresponding sideways force can be disconcerting to passengers, like that of a "thrill ride".


title: Tilting train

text: More limited and slower tilt could be achieved using active, or 'forced', tilting mechanisms. In trains adopting these mechanisms tilt is initiated by computers, which 'force' train bodies to tilt at specific angles based on track information. This information could be stored on board or detected using a sensor at the front of the train or using Automatic train stop beacons. The slight delay in reacting to this information leads to a short period of sideways force while the cars react. It was found that when the cars tilt just at the beginning of the curves instead of while they are making the turns, there was no motion sickness. Researchers have found that if the tilting motion is reduced to compensate for 80% or less of lateral apparent force, then passengers feel more secure. Also, motion sickness on tilting trains can be essentially eliminated by adjusting the timing of when the cars tilt as they enter and leave the curves.


title: Tilting train

text: A similar technology widely adopted across Asia and Oceania, known as controlled passive tilt, achieves a similar effect by using on-board computers to limit tilt, initiated using inertia (as in traditional passive tilt). Automatic train stop beacons are used to inform computers of the precise location of these trains and limit natural tilt to angles specified by track data.


title: Tilting train

text: A high-speed tilting train is a tilting train that operates at high speed, typically defined as by the European Union to include for upgraded track and or faster for new track.


title: Tilting train

text: Tilting trains operating at or more on upgraded track include the Acela in the US, the X 2000 in Sweden, the Pendolinos and Super Voyagers in the United Kingdom, and the ICE TD in Germany (the latter two being diesel powered).


title: Tilting train

text: Some older high-speed lines were built for lower line speeds (≤ ); newer tilting trainsets can maintain higher speeds on them. For example, the Japanese N700 Series Shinkansen may tilt up to one degree on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, allowing the trains to maintain even on radius curves that previously had a maximum speed of .


title: Tilting train

text: Many high-speed trainsets are designed to operate on purpose-built high-speed lines and then continue their journeys on legacy lines, upgraded or not. Where the legacy lines justify it, a tilting train may operate at higher speeds on the latter, even if below the normal threshold, whilst operating at or faster, usually with tilt disabled, on the high speed lines.


title: Tilting train

text: The first experimental tilting train concept was the pendulum-suspension "chair" cars designed by the Pacific Railway Equipment Company. The first prototype, with an articulated bogie system, was built in 1937 and tested on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that year. The company built another three pre-production models in 1939, using more conventional fore-and-aft bogies, and these saw some use with the "San Diegan", among others. Mounted on high springs, the car tilted inwards on curves to counterbalance the cant deficiency with the induced centrifugal force. The opening of World War II prevented any immediate orders, and the concept was not revived in the post-war era.


title: Tilting train

text: In 1956, SNCF experimented with a self-propelled pendulum car, which also relied on centrifugal force. This experiment demonstrated the need for an active suspension system to tilt the coach bodies.


title: Tilting train

text: The Spanish Talgo company had introduced the first widely successful shared-bogie system, which allowed cars to be connected end-to-end using a single bogie instead of each car having its own bogies at either end. This design saves weight and can reduce rail wear.


title: Tilting train

text: In the early 1950s, Renfe experimented with passenger cars that combined the Talgo bogie with a new passive tilting system. This system used a large A-frame connected to the centre of the bogie that was as high as the cars. At the top of the A was a bearing system that the cars attached to, and a spring and damping system to smooth its motion. Because the cars were connected at this high point, they could swing to either side around the bearing axis, and this caused them to naturally pendulum outward on curves.


title: Tilting train

text: The first test of a Talgo in the United States was the "John Quincy Adams" with Fairbanks-Morse P-12-42 tested by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad in 1957–1958. Due to technical troubles and the precarious financial state of the New Haven railroad, the trainset was stored. The idea caught the interest of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, who began development of what would become the UAC TurboTrain using the same system. The TurboTrain entered service in the US and Canada in 1968.


title: Tilting train

text: The first successful European tilting train design was the Talgo in Spain, developed in the 1970s as a lightweight, fast train using passive tilt. The Spanish National Railway, Renfe, adopted the system widely, but was restricted to the Iberian peninsula initially.


title: Tilting train

text: The first full commercial application of passive tilting trains appeared in early 1980s with the Talgo Pendular. Talgo is currently in its 21st generation of production. Talgo trains are in service in various parts of Europe, and built under licence in Latin America and Asia. In North America, Amtrak uses Talgo trains in its "Cascades" service in the Northwest.


title: Tilting train

text: The first tilting train to enter into regular service in North America was the UAC TurboTrain, used by Canadian National in 1968. It should be rightfully considered the first tilting train in service in the world. It provided daily service between Montreal and Toronto at speeds of 160 km/h, until it was replaced by Bombardier LRC trains in 1982, reaching the maximum speed of 225 km/h during Canadian trials. United Aircraft Turbos were also used by Amtrak between Boston and New York. The UAC Turbos had a passive tilt mechanism based on a four-bar arrangement, and they inspired the second generation of TALGO trains.