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Wincheck, the Wood River Branch Railroad's second locomotive

The Wood River Branch Railroad was a shortline railroad in Rhode Island. Chartered in 1872 and opened on July 1, 1874, the 5.6-mile (9.0 km) freight and passenger line connected the village of Hope Valley to the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (NYP&B) mainline at Wood River Junction. While it was nominally independent, finances were tough from the start; it heavily relied on support from the NYP&B and its successor, the New Haven Railroad. Ralph C. Watrous became its president in 1904, and remained involved for the next 33 years. A major flood in November 1927 severed the line and the company considered abandonment, but local citizens and the New Haven agreed to rebuild the line for freight only under New Haven control, using a gasoline locomotive. The New Haven sold the line in 1937 for $301 to local grain mill owner Roy Rawlings. He ran the company until 1947 when a fire destroyed his mill and other local industries. The railroad was abandoned in August 1947, and little remains of it. (Full article...)

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Roxani Soutzos

... that, commenting on her support for the egalitarian Greek Republic as a Phanariote dame, Roxani Soutzos (pictured) said it was "[b]etter to be a servant in Greece liberated than a princess in Greece enslaved"?
... that 900 West Randolph, Chicago's first high-rise building built by a black-owned construction firm, has penthouses that can be rented for over $20,000 per month?
... that Brian Kalbas helped recruit the player who would replace him in the number-one spot on his college tennis team?
... that a company controlled by Lady Bird Johnson bought a Texas TV station from one of her college classmates?
... that the "extreme lightness and luminous agility" of Michael McCown's voice in the roles of the Tempter and Nebuchadnezzar has been likened to that of Peter Pears?
... that The Wizard of the Kremlin depicts a fictional éminence grise based on Vladislav Surkov, who was called one of Russia's "most intriguing figures" by The New York Times?
... that Barcroft Boake, the author of one of Australia's most anthologised poems, hanged himself with a stockwhip a few months after it was published?
... that the Knock Knock Gang's modus operandi involves deceiving drivers and passengers before robbing them?

In the news

Wildfire damage to Lahaina

Wildfires in Hawaii kill more than 90 people and destroy much of Lahaina (damage pictured) on the island of Maui.
Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio is assassinated in Quito, eleven days before the general election.
The Hazara Express train derails in Sindh, Pakistan, killing 30 people.
In cricket, the Ashes concludes with Australia retaining the trophy, drawing the series against England.

On this day

August 13

Soldier of the Coldstream Guards

1650 – General George Monck founded the predecessor to the Coldstream Guards (soldier pictured), the oldest regular regiment of the British Army in continuous active service.
1868 – A major earthquake near Arica, Peru (now in Chile), caused an estimated 25,000 casualties; the subsequent tsunami caused considerable damage as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand.
1876 – The first Bayreuth Festival, created by Richard Wagner and his wife Cosima to showcase his stage works, was opened with Das Rheingold.
1906 – Members of the U.S. Army's all-black 25th Infantry Regiment were accused of killing a white bartender and wounding a white police officer in Brownsville, Texas, despite exculpatory evidence.
2010 – After being boarded by Canadian authorities, MV Sun Sea docked in British Columbia and the 492 Sri Lankan Tamil refugee claimants on board were placed into detention.

al-Muktafi (d. 908)
Gerard David (d. 1523)
Marjorie Paxson (b. 1923)
Yana Kasova (b. 1981)

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Today's featured picture

Lestes barbarus is a species of damselfly of the family Lestidae, the spreadwings. Its common names in English include the southern emerald damselfly, the shy emerald damselfly, and the migrant spreadwing. The species is found across southern Europe in a band across Spain, France, Italy and Greece, and its range also extends east to India and Mongolia. It is less common in northern Europe, although some can be found as far north as Sweden. This female L. barbarus damselfly was photographed in Blankaart Nature Reserve near Diksmuide, Belgium.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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