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From today's featured article

Locomotive No. 1 Talyllyn arriving at Nant Gwernol

The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge preserved railway in Wales running for 7.25 miles (11.67 km) from Tywyn on the Mid Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow-gauge railway in Britain authorised by act of Parliament to carry passengers using steam haulage. Despite severe under-investment, the line remained open, and on 14 May 1951 it became the first railway in the world to be operated as a heritage railway by volunteers. Since preservation, the railway has operated as a tourist attraction, significantly expanding its rolling stock through acquisition and an engineering programme to build new locomotives and carriages. The fictional Skarloey Railway, which formed part of the Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W Awdry, was based on the Talyllyn Railway. The preservation of the line inspired the Ealing comedy film The Titfield Thunderbolt. (Full article...)

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On this day

May 14: Feast day of Saint Matthias (Catholicism)

First page of score of BWV 43

1726 – J. S. Bach composed the cantata Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen (first page pictured) in Leipzig for the Feast of the Ascension.
1856 – Major Henry C. Wayne arrived in Indianola, Texas, with 34 camels to form the short-lived United States Camel Corps.
1868 – Boshin War: Troops of the Tokugawa shogunate withdrew from the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle and retreated north towards Nikkō and Aizu.
1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: Refugees trying to flee El Salvador across the Sumpul River to Honduras were attacked by both Salvadoran and Honduran forces, resulting in at least 300 deaths.
2008 – On the day of the UEFA Cup Final, violence erupted between football hooligan supporters of both teams and the Greater Manchester Police, resulting in 39 arrests and 39 injured officers.

Walcher (d. 1080)
Théodore Guérin (d. 1856)
George Lucas (b. 1944)
Rose Lavelle (b. 1995)

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Today's featured picture

The Usambiro barbet (Trachyphonus usambiro) is a bird in the family Lybiidae, the African barbets, found in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Formerly treated as a subspecies of d'Arnaud's barbet, it was recognised as a distinct species by the International Ornithologists' Union in 2021. First described in 1908 by Oscar Neumann from specimens collected in Usambiro, Tanzania, it differs from d'Arnaud's barbet in having a longer wing, a shorter tail and a darker bill. The species inhabits open savanna, grassland, shrubland and pasture habitats, including Maasai Mara in Kenya and the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, at elevations of 1,100 to 2,100 metres (3,600 to 6,900 ft). It likely feeds on seeds, fruit and insects, and is listed as a Least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Usambiro barbet has a yellow head with black spots, black wings with white spots, and a yellow breast marked by a dark breast band. Its belly is pale yellow with a reddish vent, and the sexes are similar in appearance. This Usambiro barbet was photographed on a branch in the Serengeti National Park.

Photograph credit: Giles Laurent

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