This exceedingly old photograph shows a group of Russian Gendarmes in Moscow around 1890, the chap in the middle of the frame is sitting atop what is quite clearly a Penny-farthing designed for use on the railway lines. There is a counterweight on the shaft leading to the offset left wheel, I assume to keep him from falling off to his right, he also has a long handle in his right hand and I can’t for the life of me figure out what it’s for. Any ideas?
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
The Rolls-Royce V12 Meteor tank engine was a direct derivative of the legendary Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 – an engine used in aircraft like the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters, the Lancaster bomber, and in Packard-built form in the American P-51D Mustang fighter. Rolls-Royce Meteor is a liquid-cooled V12 with a swept capacity of 27 litres or…
This is the only privately owned F-4 Phantom II capable of flight in the world, and it’s currently for sale. The McDonnell F-4 Phantom II is one of the most beloved jet fighters of all time, its speed and power were record breaking when it was released in the late 1950s and it continued breaking…
This Land Rover Defender SOV (also known as the RSOV) was originally built as a prototype for the American Special Forces, specifically the US Army Rangers. The vehicle was one of three prototypes built and saw extensive military service, it’s also been demonstrated in the Middle East and at arms exhibitions, and it’s been featured…
The Pink Panther, often referred to as the “Pinkie”, is a heavily customised Land Rover Series 2A built for British Special Air Service desert warfare operations in the Middle East. The SAS are globally renowned as being one of the single toughest and most effective special forces units in the world, so building them a…
Captain Malcolm Campbell, who would later become Sir Malcolm Campbell, had a genuinely fascinating life that included being a racing driver at Brooklands, a war time despatch motorcycle rider and pilot, a multiple time land speed record holder, and the man tasked with taking the royal family into hiding if the Nazis invaded Britain. Sir Malcolm…
The Ford GTB-G622 “Burma Jeep” was developed during World War 2 for carrying up to 1.5 tons of cargo over difficult or unusual terrain. It’s best remembered for its work on the legendary Burma Road, a 717 mile stretch of mostly dirt tracks that extended from Burma (now Myanmar) up into southern China through some…
