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.
Anthony Ryan Schmidt is a talented 12 year old photographer on the autism spectrum who has amassed a following of thousands of people on social media who love his unusual, life-like images of miniature cars…
The M274 Mule 1/2 Ton 4×4 was used extensively in the Vietnam War as both a weapons platform and a specialist transportation vehicle that could traverse exceedingly difficult jungle terrain with 1/2 a ton of…
This is a 1940 Royal Navy instructional film about the safe operation of ship-based catapults for launching aircraft like the Supermarine Walrus. The film does an excellent job of showing and explaining each step…
This is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Owner’s Workshop Manual by Haynes, it’s an essential reference book for any SR-71 owner and it makes a good read for those of us who can’t quite afford the…
The Guiberson 1020 series is a radial diesel engine design that was used in both aircraft and tanks in the 1940s, it was a development of the Guiberson A-918 and A-980 engines from the 1930s,…
The story of the WWII-era Radioplanes can’t be told without mentioning that it was in the Radioplane factory that Marilyn Monroe was discovered, thanks in part to future US President Ronald Reagan who was then…
