Early Transport In Photos

~ beetleypete

A man and his son both riding Penny Farthing cycles, 1890.

A young lady proudly photographed with her bicycle, 1890.

The first electrically-powered taxi in London, 1897.

Businessmen on a horse-drawn bus in Westminster, 1900

Three forms of transport crossing a bridge in London, 1905.
(My guess is that whoever was previously driving the motorcycle was also the photographer.)

A famous London Suffragette on her electric folding scooter, 1907.

A happy lady on a very early type of moped, 1909.

70 thoughts on “Early Transport In Photos”

    1. The electric cab company went bust, as the taxis had limited range before needing a long recharge. I doubt they were any more dangerous to ride in than petrol driven cabs, and certainly a lot quieter. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  2. I like the lady’s bicycle! I was surprised to see the moped and scooter- never knew they went back that far! I thought the earliest were in the 1950s.

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      1. HI Pete, thank you for this link. A most interesting story. It’s a pity the inventor of the service went bankrupt. I looked up this museum and the closest tub station is Covent Garden. I hope to get there sometime soon. It looks like a place my family would enjoy.

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  6. As a child our neighbour’s brother had a bike shop and he had quite a penny farthing bike collection every year he displayed some of them at the local, church fete and treated us to a demonstration of how to ride them…and how to get on and off he always dressed for the occasion whenever we saw him riding one of his penny-farthings…xx

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  11. Interesting. A while back I read a Jay Leno article where he said 130 years and electric vehicles still have approximately the same range… the sensible girl with a bike worth riding in 1890 made the daredevils on the ass buster p/f riders look downright silly.

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    1. Leno was more or less correct, Phil. There were no ‘charging stations’ back then of course, and the batteries had to be charged each time using the original ‘crocodile-clip’ trickle chargers.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  13. (1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXmuhmtwz4
    (2) “Yes, my dress flies up when I do wheelies. But how else am I going to get a hot date?”
    (3) “Elon Musk, eat your heart out!” (Babook Popplebottom)
    (4) Overheard:
    A horse named Trotsky: “It’s almost 3:30. Ready to race?”
    A horse named Portneigh: “No, and neither are you!”
    (5) Headline: “Bus 33 Swerves! Passengers Flung Off, Tumble Off Bridge into Thames, End Up in Fishing Nets, Request Fare Reimbursement.”
    (6) The rider of the electric folding scooter has folds in her dress that produce static electricity.
    (7) My sister and I once rode Mobylettes on the Corniche Inférieure from Nice to Monaco. (Just to clarify: The lady in the photo is not my sister.)

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    1. I guessed she was not your sister, or she would be very old! Come to think of it, I have known you for around 10 years, and have no recollection of you ever mentioning a sister! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  17. Pingback: Early Transport In Photos | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

    1. Yes, the first lady was a famous campaigner for Votes For Women, and was making a ‘statement’ by riding her electric scooter. I think the lady on the moped is a model, hired to make the machine look more attractive. Much like the bikini-clad girls who were shown next to new cars in 1960s advertisements. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  22. I do not understand how anyone could mount up on a Farthing cycle and once they got on the thing how they could keep from killing themselves trying to dismount it. That electric folding scooter looks like something that is whizzing around our roads over here right now .. and they are dangerous.

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    2. Oh wow, the Suffragette on her scooter! And interesting to see the horse drawn bus…my grandfather was a saddler for those, and that’s the first image I have seen of one, so thanks!

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