Tymon Mellor: At the turn of the 19th century, railways and steam ships were changing the world and demanding new infrastructure to support them. With the construction of the Kowloon-Canton Railway – British Section in full swing, attention turned to the location of the terminus station in Kowloon. There were many competing requirements for the location; resulting in the site […]
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James Chan: Dragages Hong Kong, is a very familiar company name on signs at major construction projects around Hong Kong. It’s parent company is Bouygues Construction The company was founded in Vietnam in 1902 as Société Française Industrielle D’Extreme-Orient. It undertook its first project, the dredging and maintenance of a 2,000 kilometre canal system in the Mekong Delta. In 1910 […]
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Fung Chi Ming: Right after the British re-occupation of Hong Kong, an interim military administration was set up as a provisional authority until the civil administration took over on 1 May 1946. The Hong Kong Government Gazette dated 29 August 1946 announced that “public passenger tricycles”, as they were called, would have to register and be licensed. A schedule of […]
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AC wrote a comment following the article, Cross Harbour bridge proposal – road 1901, tram 1920s. “There were suggestions (not detailed proposals) during the planning of the Shing Mun Reservoir scheme to construct a road tunnel together with the cross harbour pipeline, much like the first Lion Rock Tunnel for the Plover Cove scheme. It was however not taken forward.” […]
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Tymon Mellor: In November 1937, the Whampoa docks at Hung Hom were connected to the KCR by a 1.090ft siding down Baker Street. The line would provide access to the new 100T tower crane that was to be completed in 1938. As reported in the KCR 1937 Report for the year; “The crane is located alongside water which is deep […]
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By Fung Chi Ming The tricycle or ‘cycle rickshaw’, as some people now call it, combines the characteristics of bicycle and rickshaw. Tricycles could be found in Asia and around the world, but they differed significantly in design and appearance. In Malacca and Singapore, it was a carriage with a passenger seat on the left side of the rider. In […]
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James Chan: Whampoa is the second in a four tug series constructed by Cheoy Lee Shipyards for Hong Kong United Dockyards (HUD). The first was Taikoo which was also named after the two shipyards Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock (founded 1863) and Taikoo Dockyard (1902) which merged to form HUD. The Whampoa is a RAmparts 3000 Class Terminal Support Tug specifically designed […]
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Sham Wai Chi wrote his MPhil thesis for Lingnam University in 2007 on the History of the Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company covering the years 1923 up to the 1970s. HF: The original company was founded by Lau Tak Po in 1897 when he purchased 5 wooden boats and provided services from HK Island to Kowloon under the company name Yaumati […]
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HF: How many cities have multi-storey depots for double decker buses? Hong Kong does. Here’s one at 391 Chai Wan Road/Sheung On Street, the former head office of Hong Kong’s first bus company China Motor Bus. A five storey concrete parking facility it was the company’s largest depot but now appears empty and unused. In February 1998, the government announced the […]
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Many thanks to IDJ for sending the article below. It announces that following Stanley Ho being awarded the Macau gambling franchise which took effect from 1st January 1962 he planned to introduce a helicopter service between Hong Kong and Macau. There are no further details about these proposals regarding locations, timetables, costs, helicopters etc. IDJ says the helicopter plan was […]
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