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Nash Motors

Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1916 until 1937. From 1937 through 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. As sales of smaller firms declined after 1950 in the wake of the domestic Big Three automakers’ (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) advantages in production, distribution, and revenue, Nash merged with Hudson Motors to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). Nash automobile production continued from 1954 through 1957 under AMC.

Innovations by Nash included the introduction of an automobile heating and ventilation system in 1938 that is still used today, unibody construction in 1941, seat belts in 1950, a U.S.-built compact car in 1950, and an early muscle car in 1957.

History

Nash Motors was founded in 1916 by former General Motors president Charles W. Nash, who acquired the Thomas B. Jeffery Company. Jeffery's best-known automobile was the Rambler whose mass production from a plant in Kenosha began in 1902.

The 1917 Nash Model 671 was the first vehicle produced to bear the name of the new company's founder. Sales for 1918 were 10,283 units. More models were added in 1919, and sales rose to 27,081.

The decades of success enjoyed by Nash were said to be due to its focus on building cars "embodying honest worth [at] a price level which held out possibilities of a very wide market."

The four-wheel drive Jeffery Quad truck became an important product for Nash. Approximately 11,500 Quads were built between 1913 and 1919. They served to move material during World War I under severe conditions. The Quad used Mehul differentials with half-shafts mounted above the load-bearing dead axles to drive the hubs through hub-reduction gearing. In addition, it featured four-wheel steering. The Quad achieved the reputation of being the best four-wheel drive truck produced in the country. The newly formed Nash Motors became the largest producer of four-wheel drives. By 1918, capacity constraints at Nash meant the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company began to assemble the Nash Quad under license and Nash patents. Nash became the leading producer of military trucks by the end of World War I. After the War ended, surplus Quads were used as heavy work trucks in fields such as construction and logging.

Charles Nash convinced the chief engineer of GM's Oakland Division, Finnish-born Nils Eric Wahlberg, to move to Nash's new company. The first Nash engine introduced in 1917 by Wahlberg had overhead valves, which Nash had learned about while working for Buick. Wahlberg is also credited with helping design the flow-through ventilation used since then in nearly every motor vehicle.

Introduced in 1938, Nash's Weather Eye directed fresh, outside air into the car's fan-boosted, filtered ventilation system, where it was warmed (or cooled), and then removed through rearward placed vents. The process also helped to reduce humidity and equalize the slight pressure differential between the outside and inside of a moving vehicle.

Another unique feature of Nash cars was the unequal wheel tracks. The front wheels were set slightly narrower than the rear, thus adding stability and improving cornering. Wahlberg was also an early proponent of wind tunnel testing for vehicles and, during World War II, worked with Theodore (Ted) Ulrich in the development of Nash's radically styled Airflyte models.

Nash's slogan from the late 1920s and 1930s was "Give the customer more than he has paid for," and the cars lived up to it. Innovations included a straight-eight engine with overhead valves, twin spark plugs, and nine crankshaft bearings in 1930. The 1932 Ambassador Eight had synchromesh transmissions and free wheeling, automatic centralized chassis lubrication, a worm-drive rear end, and its suspension was adjustable inside the car. A longtime proponent of automotive safety, Nash was among the early mid- and low-priced cars that offered four-wheel brakes.

The Nash was a success among consumers, which meant for the company, "selling for a long time has been 100% a production problem... month after month, all the cars that could be produced were sold before they left the factory floor."

Development of the Ajax
For the 1925 model year, Nash introduced the entry-level marque Ajax. The Ajax was produced in the newly acquired Mitchell Motor Car Company plant in Racine, Wisconsin. Mitchell was the manufacturer of Mitchell-brand automobiles between 1903 and 1923. Sales of Ajax automobiles, while quite respectable, were disappointing. It was believed that the same car would sell better if it were called a Nash. Thus, the Ajax became the "Nash Light Six" in June 1926, and sales improved as expected.

In an unusual move, Nash Motors offered all Ajax owners a kit to "convert" their Ajax into a Nash Light Six. This kit, supplied at no charge, included a set of new hubcaps, a radiator badge, and all other parts necessary to change the identity of an Ajax into that of a Nash Light Six. This was done to protect Ajax owners from the inevitable drop in resale value when the Ajax marque was discontinued. In this way, Nash Motors showed high value for its customers' satisfaction and well-being. Most Ajax owners took advantage of this move, and "unconverted" Ajax cars are rare today.

Acquisition of LaFayette
Nash was the principal stockholder in LaFayette Motors, a company started in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1920. It later moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and became the producer of a large, powerful, and expensive luxury car. Other significant stockholders were Charles W. Nash and his friends and business associates. However, the LaFayette cars did not sell well.

In 1924, Nash absorbed LaFayette and converted its plant to produce Ajax automobiles. The LaFayette marque was reintroduced in 1934 as a lower-priced companion to Nash. LaFayette ceased to be an independent marque with the introduction of the 1937 models. From 1937 through 1940, the Nash LaFayette was the lowest-priced model, replaced by the new unibody Nash 600 for the 1941 model year.

Era of George Mason and Nash Kelvinator

Before retiring, Charles Nash chose Kelvinator Corporation head George W. Mason to succeed him. Mason accepted, but placed one condition on the job: Nash would acquire controlling interest in Kelvinator, which at the time was the leading manufacturer of high-end refrigerators and kitchen appliances in the United States. As of 4 January 1937, the resulting company was known as Nash-Kelvinator. As a brand name, Nash continued representing automobiles for the merged firm. This was the largest merger of companies in two different industries until then.

In 1938, Nash introduced an optional conditioned air heating/ventilating system, an outcome of the expertise shared between Kelvinator and Nash. This was the first hot-water car heater to draw fresh air from outside the car and is the basis of all modern internal combustion engine car heaters in use today. Also in 1938, Nash, along with other car manufacturers Studebaker and Graham, offered vacuum-controlled shifting, an early approach to removing the gearshift from the front floorboards. Automobiles equipped with the Automatic Vacuum Shift (supplied by the Evans Products Company) had a small gear selector lever mounted on the dashboard, immediately below the radio controls.

In 1936, Nash introduced the "Bed-In-A-Car" feature, which converted the car's interior into a sleeping compartment. The rear seatbacks were hinged to go up, allowing the back seat cushion to be propped up into a level position. This also created an opening between the passenger compartment and the trunk. Two adults could sleep in the car with their legs and feet in the trunk and their heads and shoulders on the rear seat cushions. In 1949, this arrangement was modified so that fully reclining front seatbacks created a sleeping area within the passenger compartment. In 1950, these reclining seatbacks were made to lock into several intermediate positions. Nash soon called these "Airliner Reclining Seats".

In 1939, Nash added a thermostat to its "Conditioned Air System", and thus the famous Nash Weather Eye heater was introduced. The 1939 and 1940 Nash streamlined cars were designed by George Walker and Associates and freelance body stylist Don Mortrude. They were available in three series - LaFayette, Ambassador Six, and Ambassador Eight. For the 1940 model cars, Nash introduced independent coil spring front suspension and sealed beam headlights.

Introduced for the 1941 model year, the Nash 600 was the first mass-produced unibody construction automobile made in the United States. Its lighter weight compared to body-on-frame automobiles and lower air drag helped it to achieve excellent fuel economy for its day. The "600" model designation is said to have been derived from overdrive-equipped examples of this car's ability to travel 600 mi on a 20 USgal tank of gasoline. It would achieve 30 mpgus. The 600 models used an unusual steering/front suspension system with extremely long kingpins. Inadequate lubrication became a problem for these systems, commonly resulting in premature failures. The design of the cars was improved by new front ends, upholstery, and chrome trim from 1942 through 1948. The larger Ambassador models shared the same bodies with the 600 but placed this unibody structure on top of a conventional frame, resulting in a robust design.

Post-World War II passenger car production resumed on 27 October 1945, with an Ambassador sedan first off the assembly line. There were a few changes from the 1942 models. The extended, slimmer upper grille bars and a projecting center section on the lower grille were most noticeable. The 600 models featured a conventional front suspension and steering system. Postwar Nashes were six-cylinder only; eight-cylinder engines did not return. The large Ambassador engine thus was the seven main bearing, overhead-valve, 234 cuin, six-cylinder developing 112 bhp.

Nash was considering the potential of offering a pickup truck and developed a prototype built on the existing chassis with a modified 600 front end and cab along with an outsourced cargo bed. For the 1946 model year, Nash introduced the Suburban model that used wood framing and panels on the body. It was similar to the Chrysler Town and Country and Ford Sportsman models. Suburbans were continued in 1947 and 1948, with 1,000 built over the three years. In 1948, the Ambassador convertible returned with 1,000 made.

Introduction of the Nash Airflyte
The aerodynamic 1949 Nash "Airflyte" was the first car of an advanced design introduced by the company after the War. Its aerodynamic body shape was developed in a wind tunnel. A "radically aerodynamic" format was first proposed around 1943 by two independent designers, Ted Pietsch and Bob Koto, to Nash's vice president of engineering, Nils E. Wahlberg. The resulting all-new 1949 production cars were similar to the proposed sketches. The objective was to reduce the automobile's body's drag coefficient by using a smooth shape and enclosed front fenders. Closed fenders were conceived by Nash engineers also in the exploration for added strength of unibody construction. In contrast, Hudson, a close competitor, incorporated an actual unibody frame section into its closed rear wheel openings at about the same time. The "cutting-edge aerodynamics" of the all-new postwar design were the most "alarming" in the industry since the Chrysler Airflow. It was built at one of two new factories in El Segundo, California, where the factory is still being used, having been re-purposed as the Boeing Satellite Development Center, immediately south of Los Angeles International Airport, on Nash Street.

A one-piece curved safety glass windshield was used on both models. Wide and low, the automobile featured more interior room than its 1948 predecessor, although its height was 6 inches lower. Due to its enclosed front fenders, Nash automobiles had a larger turning radius than most other cars. The 600 models used a 112 in wheelbase while the Ambassador models stretched to 121 in. Both shared the same bodies. Coil springs were used on all four wheels. Both models offered Three trim lines: Super, Super Special, and the top-line Custom. Power was provided by an 82 hp, 176 cuin flathead I6 cylinder in the 600 and a 112 hp OHV, 234 cuin I6 in the Ambassador.

In 1949, Nash became the first American car with seat belts as a factory option. They were installed in 40,000 cars, yet buyers did not want them and had dealers remove them. There was "heated debate despite increasing scientific research" about their value and the option was "met with insurmountable sales resistance" with Nash reporting that after one year "only 1,000 had been used" by customers.

The few changes for the 1950 Airflytes were a wider rear window, concealed fuel filler cap, some dashboard features, and the addition on Ambassadors of a GM Hydramatic automatic transmission option. The 600 models were renamed the "Statesman". A five-position "Airliner" reclining front passenger seatback was optional for both models. The stroke on the Statesman engine was increased 1/4 inch, giving 186 cuin and 85 hp, and the Ambassador received a new cylinder head that increased hp to 115.

Changes for the 1951 model Airflytes were to the rear fenders, elongated to incorporate vertical taillights, a new conventional dashboard replacing the Uniscope mounted on the steering column, and a new upright bar grille with horizontal parking lights as well as the addition of GM Hydramatic as a Statesman option. The three best sales years for Nash up to that time were 1949, 1950, and 1951.

Nash-Kelvinator's president, George Mason, felt Nash had the best chance of reaching a larger market by building small cars. He directed Nash towards developing the first compact of the post-war era, the 1950 Nash Rambler, which was marketed as an up-market, feature-laden convertible. Mason orchestrated a contract manufacturing arrangement with Austin of the UK to build Nash's new subcompact car, the Metropolitan. It was introduced in March of 1954.

The full-size Nash Airflytes were wholly re-designed for the 1952 model year. They were promoted as the Golden Airflytes in honor of Nash Motors' 50th anniversary as an automobile builder because the company was counting the years of the Thomas B. Jeffery Company as part of their heritage. Therefore, "Great Cars Since 1902" became one of the company's advertising slogans. Nash was the only American car manufacturer besides Ford Motor Company to introduce an all-new 1952 model.

The new Golden Airflytes presented a more modern, squared-off look than did the 1949 through 1951 models, which were often compared to inverted bathtubs. Nash contracted Battista "Pinin" Farina of Italy to design a body for the new Golden Airflyte. Management wanted a better design, and the result was a combination of an in-house design and Pinin Farina's model. Also in 1952, Nash began offering automatic transmissions, either a GM Hydramatic or a Borg-Warner overdrive transmission. Power was provided by a six-cylinder engine that was now bored out to 252 cuin.

Using its Kelvinator refrigeration experience, the automobile industry's first single-unit heating and air conditioning system was introduced by Nash in 1954. This was a compact, affordable system for the mass market with controls on the dash and an electric clutch. Entirely incorporated within the engine bay, the combined heating and cooling system had cold air for passengers enter through dash-mounted vents. Competing systems used a separate heating system and an engine-mounted compressor with an evaporator in the car's trunk to deliver cold air through the rear package shelf and overhead vents. The alternative layout pioneered by Nash "became established practice and continues to form the basis of the modern and more sophisticated automatic climate control systems."

Introduction of the Nash-Healey

The Anglo-American Nash-Healey sports car was introduced in 1951. This was a collaborative effort between George Mason and British sports car manufacturer Donald Healey. Healey designed and built the chassis and suspension and, until 1952, the aluminum body, which another British manufacturer, Panelcraft Sheet Metal Co. Ltd., fabricated in Birmingham West Midlands. Nash shipped the powertrain components to England, and Healey assembled the cars, then shipped finished vehicles to the U.S. In 1952, the Italian designer Battista Farina restyled the body, and its construction changed to steel and aluminum. High costs, low sales, and Nash's focus on the Rambler line led to the termination of Nash-Healey's production in 1954 after 506 automobiles had been produced.

While a welcome attempt to improve Nash's stodgy image, the Nash-Healey did little to enhance showroom traffic as Nash sales fell steadily from 1951 onward. The Airflyte had initially sold well in the postwar "seller's" market. Still, its bulbous styling, rooted in 1940s design trends, quickly became passé, and its underpowered six-cylinder engine proved to be a significant liability against GM's new OHV short-stroke V8s. Like fellow independents Hudson, Studebaker, and Packard, Nash charged higher prices for their cars than Ford and GM, which benefited from the economies of scale. The independents also lacked the Big Three's extensive dealer network or advertising budget. Low-profit Rambler sales gradually made up more and more of Nash's total production. In 1953 and 1954, Ford and GM also waged an all-out price war on each other, further damaging the independents' sales. Mainline Nashes also lacked body styles; despite introducing a hardtop coupe in 1952, there was no convertible or station wagon, although the Rambler lineup featured all of these versions.

In addition, while Nash had profited from military contracts during the Korean War, that conflict ended in mid-1953. At the same time, the new Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, ex-GM president, began steering defense contracts to his former employer at the expense of the rest of the automotive industry.

Mason commissioned Farina to design a Rambler-based two-seater coupe called the Palm Beach, which may have been intended as a successor to the Nash-Healey. However, the project only progressed to a concept car.

For European endurance racing, Healey and his staff designed and built three special Nash-Healeys with lightweight aluminum racing bodies. These competition versions entered four consecutive Le Mans races and one Mille Miglia. At Le Mans, they achieved fourth overall in 1950, sixth overall and fourth in class in 1951, third overall and first in class in 1952, and eleventh overall in 1953. In the Mille Miglia, they finished ninth overall in 1950 and seventh overall, as well as placing fourth in class in 1952.

Formation of American Motors Corporation

In January 1954, Nash announced the acquisition of the Hudson Motor Car Company as a friendly merger, creating American Motors Corporation (AMC). To improve the financial performance of the combined companies, all production, beginning with the 1955 Nash and Hudson models, would happen at Nash's Kenosha plant. Nash would focus most of its marketing resources on its smaller Rambler models, and Hudson would focus its marketing efforts on its full-sized cars.

One of the first things Mason did as CEO of the new company was to initiate talks with James J. Nance, president of Packard, for parts-sharing arrangements between AMC and Packard. At this time, AMC did not have its own V8 engine, and an agreement was made for the new 320 CID Packard V8 engine and Packard's Ultramatic automatic transmission to be used in the 1955 Nash Ambassador and Hudson Hornet models.

In July 1954, Packard acquired Studebaker to form Studebaker-Packard Corporation, however, further talks of a merger between AMC and Packard-Studebaker were cut short when Mason died on 8 October 1954. A week after his death, Mason's successor, George W. Romney, announced "there are no mergers under way either directly or indirectly". Nevertheless, Romney continued with Mason's commitment to buy components from Studebaker-Packard Corporation. Although Mason and Nance had previously agreed that Studebaker-Packard would purchase parts from AMC, it did not do so. Moreover, Packard's engines and transmissions were comparatively expensive, so AMC began development of its own V8 engine, and replaced the outsourced unit by mid-1956.

For the 1955 model year, all the large Nash and Hudson automobiles were based on a Nash-derived shared unitized body shell using styling themes by Pinin Farina, Edmund E. Anderson, and Frank Spring. Each had individual powertrains and separate, non-interchangeable body parts. This mimicked the longtime practice Big Three (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) that allowed for maximum manufacturing economy. Anderson set up separate design studios for Nash, Hudson, and Rambler.

George Romney ordered the removal of the front fender skirts on Nashes and Ramblers for the 1955 models. Customers disliked this feature, yet it was reportedly demanded by George Mason, who liked their appearance.

Even with the merger forming AMC, they were held to a total of about four percent of the market and thus were under pressure to lower expenses and tooling costs for new models, perhaps by innovation.

The Nash Metropolitan, marketed under either the Nash or Hudson brands, became a make unto its own in 1957, as did the Rambler. By this point, Rambler sales comprised most of AMC's volume, so George Romney decided to phase out the Nash and Hudson nameplates and focus solely on Rambler. This move would pay off the following year when an economic recession struck the United States and created a strong demand for economical compact cars. Nash and Hudson production ended with the last Hornet made on 25 June, 1957. From 1958 until 1962, Rambler and the Metropolitan were the only brands of cars sold by AMC. By 1965, the Rambler name would begin to be phased out, and AMC would take over as the brand name until the 1988 model year.

In 1970, American Motors acquired Kaiser Jeep (the descendant of Willys-Overland Motors) and its Toledo, Ohio, based manufacturing facilities. In 1979, AMC established a technology partnership with Renault. In 1987, Chrysler Corporation made a public offering to acquire all shares of AMC on the NYSE. The shareholders approved the offer, and AMC became a division of Chrysler Corporation.

International markets
Since the early days, Nash vehicles were exported as complete cars or in knock-down kit form for local assembly to many countries around the world including right-hand-drive markets such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. International production for both the Nash and Hudson Marques was consolidated after the merger of Nash and Hudson to form American Motors Corporation (AMC) in 1954, after which international-bound operations were conducted at the former Nash factory in Kenosha and the Brampton plant in Canada until 1957, when both the Nash and Hudson Marques were retired.

Australia
Several distributors for each Australian state built and sold Nash vehicles in the 1920s. As was the practice for all car brands during the early 20th Century, the chassis and engines were imported, and Australian coach builders locally built the bodies. Early distributors were Wilsford Limited for New South Wales, Richards Brothers for Victoria and the Riverina, Peels Limited for Queensland, Eric Madren Motors (later Nash Cars (W.A) Limited) for Western Australia, and Northern Motors for Tasmania. The recovery period following the end of World War II saw a lull in car manufacturing, petrol rationing, and currency shortages. Some cars were imported in the late 1940s and 1950s despite these factors. In 1950, a few Nash trucks were assembled by Davies Pty Ltd in Launceston, Tasmania.

After the Nash-Hudson merger in 1954, AMC's new Rambler vehicles were imported into Australia and distributed by Ira L. & A.C Berk Pty Ltd which had previously held the Hudson franchise since 1939. Hudson was the more recognized brand in Australia, so they were initially sold as Hudson. The Nash Metropolitan was not sold in Australia. The first Rambler-badged vehicles were imported in 1957. This first shipment consisted of 24 cars, 10 of which were Rambler station wagons. Small numbers of Rambler Sixes were imported into Australia up until 1960. AMC made a new deal with Port Melbourne vehicle assembler Australian Motor Industries (AMI) in 1960 to build AMC vehicles from knock-down kits, production of which ran from 1961 until 1976. AMI eventually became Toyota Australia.

New Zealand
From 1935, Nash motor vehicles were assembled in New Zealand by Christchurch company Motor Assemblies Limited. The plant also made Studebaker and Standard vehicles and was acquired by Standard Motors in 1954. Production was then moved to Auckland company VW Motors at their Volkswagen plant in Otahuhu, Auckland until 1962. New Zealand saw the Nash Ramblers and the British-built, right-hand-drive Nash Metropolitan. In 1963, AMC struck a deal with Thames company Campbell Motors to build a new vehicle assembly plant for AMC vehicles, which began production in 1964. Renamed Campbell Motor Industries (CMI), the plant built Rambler vehicles from knock-down kits until 1971. CMI eventually became "Toyota New Zealand".

South Africa
Following World War II, Nash motor vehicles were assembled in South Africa by a newly built assembly operation in East London Car Distributors and Assemblers (CDA). The plant also built Packard, Renault, and Standard motor vehicles. CDA was eventually taken over, first by Chrysler, and finally by Peugeot.

United Kingdom
Nash vehicles were imported into the United Kingdom by London company Nash Concessionaires. After 1961, Rambler imports switched to the former U.K Hudson operation in Chiswick which was accordingly renamed Rambler Motors (A.M.C.) Limited. AMC's deal with Austin for the production of the Nash Metropolitan was independent of the Chiswick Rambler operation.

Nash automobile brands

 * LaFayette
 * Ajax
 * Rambler
 * Nash-Healey
 * Jeffery

Nash automobiles

 * Nash 600
 * Nash Statesman
 * Ambassador
 * Metropolitan
 * Nash-Healey, in cooperation with Donald Healey, was assembled in the UK and Italy.
 * Nash Rambler
 * Rambler

Motorsport
Like most American manufacturers of the fifties, Nash participated in the Grand National Stock Car series.

title: Nash Motors


text:
Nash

Nash or NASH may refer to:

United Kingdom

 * Nash, Buckinghamshire
 * Nash, London, a hamlet near Keston in the London Borough of Bromley
 * Nash, Newport, Wales
 * Nash, south Shropshire, a small village and parish in southern Shropshire
 * Nash, Telford and Wrekin, a "lost" village near Wrockwardine, Shropshire
 * Nash Lee, Buckinghamshire
 * Nash Mills, Hertfordshire
 * Nash Point, a headland in the Vale of Glamorgan

United States

 * Nash, California, former name of Nashmead
 * Nash, North Dakota
 * Nash, Oklahoma
 * Nash, Texas
 * Nash County, North Carolina
 * Nashville, Tennessee, United States, nicknamed "Nash Vegas"

Other places

 * Nash, Iran

Surname

 * Nash (surname)

Given name or nickname

 * Nash Aguas (born 1998), Filipino actor and politician
 * Nash Buckingham (1880–1971), American author and conservationist
 * Nash Candelaria (1928–2016), American novelist
 * Nash Edgerton (born 1973), Australian film director and stuntman
 * Nash Grier (born 1997), American social media personality and actor
 * Nash Grose (1740–1814), British judge
 * Nash Higgins (1896–1984), American football player and coach
 * Nash Jensen (born 1999), American football player
 * Nash Kato (born 1965)
 * Nash Rawiller (born 1974), Australian jockey
 * Nash Roberts (1918–2010), American meteorologist
 * Nash Turner (1881–1937), American jockey
 * Nash Winstead (1925–2008), American university administrator

Stage name or assumed name

 * Nash the Slash (1948–2014), Canadian rock musician

Fictional characters

 * Nash, Street Fighter character Charlie
 * Nash Brennan, in TV soap One Life to Live
 * Nash Bridges, in US TV show
 * Nash Gorey, in M.A.S.K.
 * Nash Latkje, in Genso Suikogaidejkkn Vol.1 and Suikoden III
 * Nash, a waitress in the 1986 film The Hitcher
 * Harrison "Nash" Wells, in The Flash

Other arts, entertainment, and media

 * NASH (band), formerly D'NASH, Spanish
 * Nash (brand), a US media brand
 * Nash (sculpture), 1978–1979 by Lee Kelly, in Portland, Oregon, US
 * Hex (board game) or Nash

Makes and models

 * Frazer Nash, later AFN Limited
 * Nash Metropolitan
 * Nash-Healey
 * Nash Rambler

Manufacturers

 * Frazer-Nash Research, a vehicle company
 * Nash Ambassador
 * Nash Kelvinator
 * Nash Motors

Other brands and enterprises

 * Nash & Thompson, an aircraft equipment manufacturer
 * Nash Format, a publishing house based in Kyiv, Ukraine

Medicine

 * Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, a liver disease

Science and mathematics

 * Gamma2 Sagittarii, a star also known as Nash
 * John Forbes Nash Jr. (1928-2015), American mathematician
 * Nash bargaining game, studies
 * Nash embedding theorems
 * Nash equilibrium, a game theory solution
 * Sodium hydrosulfide (NaSH)

Other uses

 * Nash (tugboat)
 * North Allegheny Senior High, Wexford, Pennsylvania, US

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Nash


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Requiem (Verdi)

The Messa da Requiem is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass (Requiem) for four soloists, double choir and orchestra by Giuseppe Verdi. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi admired, and therefore also referred to as the Manzoni Requiem. The first performance, at the San Marco church in Milan on 22 May 1874, conducted by the composer, marked the first anniversary of Manzoni's death. It was followed three days later by the same performers at La Scala. Verdi conducted his work at major venues in Europe.

Verdi composed the last part of the text, Libera me, first, as his contribution to the Messa per Rossini that he had initiated after Gioachino Rossini had died, containing already the music later beginning the Dies irae sequence.

Considered too operatic to be performed in a liturgical setting, the Requiem is usually given in concert form; it takes around 90 minutes to perform. Musicologist David Rosen calls it "probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed since the compilation of Mozart's Requiem".

Composition history
After Gioachino Rossini's death in 1868, Verdi suggested to his publisher Ricordi that a number of Italian composers collaborate on a Requiem in Rossini's honour. He began the effort by submitting the concluding movement, the Libera me. During the next year a Messa per Rossini was compiled by Verdi and twelve other famous Italian composers of the time. The premiere was scheduled for 13 November 1869, the first anniversary of Rossini's death, but on 4 November, nine days before the premiere, the organising committee abandoned it. Verdi blamed this on the scheduled conductor, Angelo Mariani. He pointed to Mariani's lack of enthusiasm for the project, although in fact the conductor had been a part of the organising committee and did his best to support Verdi, this episode marked the beginning of the end of their friendship. The composition remained unperformed until 1988, when Helmuth Rilling premiered the complete Messa per Rossini in Stuttgart, Germany, presented at festivals and recorded.

On 22 May 1873, the Italian writer and humanist Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi had admired all his adult life and met in 1868, died. Upon hearing of his death, Verdi resolved to complete a Requiem—this time entirely of his own writing—for Manzoni. Verdi traveled to Paris in June, where he commenced work on the Requiem, giving it the form we know today. It included a revised version of the Libera me originally composed for Rossini.

19th century
The Requiem was first performed in the church of San Marco in Milan on 22 May 1874, the first anniversary of Manzoni's death, as part of a church liturgy. Verdi himself conducted, and the four soloists were Teresa Stolz (soprano), Maria Waldmann (mezzo-soprano), Giuseppe Capponi (tenor) and Ormondo Maini (bass).

As Aida, Amneris and Ramfis respectively, Stolz, Waldmann, and Maini had all sung in the European premiere of Aida in 1872, and Capponi was also intended to sing the role of Radames at that premiere but was replaced due to illness. Teresa Stolz went on to a brilliant career, Waldmann retired very young in 1875, but the male singers appear to have faded into obscurity. Also, Teresa Stolz was engaged to Angelo Mariani in 1869, but she later left him.

The Requiem was repeated at La Scala three days later on 25 May with the same soloists and Verdi again conducting. It won immediate contemporary success, although not everywhere. It received seven performances at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, but the new Royal Albert Hall in London could not be filled for such a Catholic occasion. In Venice, impressive Byzantine ecclesiastical decor was designed for the occasion of the performance.

Its first performance in the United States was in Boston in 1878, by the Handel and Haydn Society.

It later disappeared from the standard choral repertoire, but made a reappearance in the 1930s and is now regularly performed and a staple of many choral societies.

20th century and beyond
The Requiem was reportedly performed approximately 16 times between 1943 and 1944 by prisoners in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt (also known as Terezín) under the direction of Rafael Schächter. The performances were presented under the auspices of the Freizeitgestaltung, a cultural organization in the Ghetto.

Since the 1990s, commemorations in the US and Europe have included memorial performances of the Requiem in honor of the Terezín performances. On the heels of previous performances held at the Terezín Memorial, Murry Sidlin performed the Requiem in Terezin in 2006 and rehearsed the choir in the same basement where the original inmates reportedly rehearsed. Part of the Prague Spring Festival, two children of survivors sang in the choir with their parents sitting in the audience.

The Requiem has been staged in a variety of ways several times. Achim Freyer created a production for the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2006 that was revived in 2007, 2011 and 2013. In Freyer's staging, the four sung roles, "Der Weiße Engel" (The White Angel), "Der Tod-ist-die-Frau" (Death is the Woman), "Einsam" (Solitude), and "Der Beladene" (The Load Bearer) are complemented by choreographed allegorical characters.

In 2011, Oper Köln premiered a full staging by Clemens Bechtel where the four main characters were shown in different life and death situations: the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Turkish writer in prison, a young woman with bulimia, and an aid worker in Africa.

In 2021, the New York Metropolitan Opera performed the Requiem for the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Versions and arrangements
For a Paris performance, Verdi revised the "Liber scriptus" to allow Maria Waldmann a further solo for future performances. Previously, the movement had been set as a choral fugue in a classical Baroque style. With its premiere at the Royal Albert Hall performance in May 1875, this revision became the definitive edition that has been most performed since, although the original version is included in critical editions of the work published by Bärenreiter and University of Chicago Press.

Franz Liszt transcribed the Agnus Dei for solo piano (S. 437). It has been recorded by Leslie Howard.

Carus-Verlag published a version in 2013 for a small ensemble of horn, double bass, gran cassa, timpani, marimba and piano, edited by Michael Betzner-Brandt, in order to make the music accessible for more choirs.

Structure
Verdi structured the liturgical text in movements as follows; Differently from traditional settings of the Requiem mass, he assigned several parts to one soloist. He also wrote duets such as Recordare, Lacrymosa and Agnus Dei, and a quartet of solo voices in the Domine Jesu Christe in the offertory.
 * 1. Requiem
 * Introit (chorus)
 * Kyrie (soloists, chorus)
 * 2. Dies irae
 * Dies irae (chorus)
 * Tuba mirum (chorus)
 * Mors stupebit (bass)
 * Liber scriptus (mezzo-soprano, chorus – chorus only in original version)
 * Quid sum miser (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor)
 * Rex tremendae (soloists, chorus)
 * Recordare (soprano, mezzo-soprano)
 * Ingemisco (tenor)
 * Confutatis maledictis (bass, chorus)
 * Lacrymosa (soloists, chorus)
 * 3. Offertory
 * 4. Sanctus (double chorus)
 * 5. Agnus Dei (soprano, mezzo-soprano, chorus)
 * 6. Lux aeterna (mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass)
 * 7. Libera me (soprano, chorus)
 * Lux aeterna (mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass)
 * Libera me (soprano, chorus)

Music
Throughout the work, Verdi used vigorous rhythms, sublime melodies, and dramatic contrasts—much as he did in his operas—to express the powerful emotions engendered by the text.

Movements
The work begins with the introit, with muted cellos and later all strings playing a slow descending motif in A minor, into which the choir mutters in low register the prayer for eternal rest. The soloists enter in turn for the Kyrie, with an "exalted theme which soars up over a chromatically descending bass".

The Dies irae begins, evoking Last Judgment in "thunderous chords, a jagged rising phrase, a wailing chant lurching backwards and forwards, giant bass-drum blows on the offbeat, precipitous woodwind scales, strings tremolando, uprushes of violins, and rapid rhythmic figures splayed out by the trumpets". The terrifying and recognizable passage is repeated several times, within the section and in the final Libera me. Trumpets surround the stage to produce a call to judgement in the "Tuba mirum". "Liber scriptus" is a passionate mezzo-soprano solo. "Rex tremendae" alternates a "majestic dotted theme" for the lower voices with a "wide-spanned phrase" salva me, building to a climax. "Ingemisco" is a lyrical tenor solo "with a moment of profound peace". "Confutatis", a bass solo of "dignity and resignation", pleads for God's mercy. After a return of Dies irae, "Lacrymosa" closes the sequence with a "desolate theme", repeated and each time orchestrated more densely, leading to a muted melancholic end. The final Amen, however, is sung as a G major chord, "like a revelation".

The Offertory is sung by the quartet of soloists.

The Sanctus, a complex eight-part fugue scored for double chorus, begins with a brassy fanfare to announce him "who comes in the name of the Lord". The orchestra plays animated accompaniment throughout the fugue. "Pleni sunt coeli" is a "serene version of the fugue subject", still to vivid strings.

For the Agnus Dei, soprano and mezzo-soprano sing a long theme unison in octaves without accompaniment. The movement consists of variations of this theme, harmonised in soft colours, with a calm counterpoint of three flutes, alternating between the soloists and the choir.

In "Lux aeterna", mezzo-soprano, tenor and bass sing alone, the mezzo-soprano beginning in B-flat major to a tremolo of divided violins, shimmering as a depiction of eternal light. It is answered by the bass in B flat minor, with bassoons, trombones and tuba. The movement ends in a serene and hopeful mood.

In the "Libera me", the oldest music by Verdi in the Requiem, the soprano soloist interacts with the choir for the prayer "Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death ... when you will come to judge the world by fire". The soprano first recites the prayer invoking a mood of "terrible urgency". The choir murmurs, praying for salvation from everlasting death. The soprano interrupts, with accompaniment recalling the music of the Dies irae. In the following "Tremens factus", the soprano gasps breathless phrases above a dense texture of muted strings and low flutes. The "crashing chords" of the Dies irae break in, with the passage repeated completely. Then the choir repeats the very beginning, "Requiem aeternam", with the solo soprano joining softly. The soprano repeats the first "Libera me", calling the choir to an agitated four-part fugue that illustrates the shattering of the world by fire, with a "devastating climax". The soprano finally mutters a two-fold "Libera me" on a single low note, ever softer, interpreted as "a prayer as much for the living as for the dead".

Female voices
When the Requiem was composed, female singers were not permitted to perform in Catholic Church rituals (such as a requiem mass). However, from the beginning Verdi intended to use female singers in the work. In his open letter proposing the Requiem project (when it was still conceived as a multi-author Requiem for Rossini), Verdi wrote: "If I were in the good graces of the Holy Father—Pope Pius IX—I would beg him to permit—if only for this one time—that women take part in the performance of this music; but since I am not, it will fall to someone else better suited to obtain this decree." In Verdi's Requiem, two of the four soloists were women, and the chorus included female voices. This may have slowed the work's acceptance in Italy.

Reception
At the time of its premiere, the Requiem was criticized by some as being too operatic in style for the religious subject matter. According to Gundula Kreuzer, "Most critics did perceive a schism between the religious text (with all its musical implications) and Verdi's setting". Some viewed it negatively as "an opera in ecclesiastical robes", or alternatively, as a religious work, but one in "dubious musical costume". While the majority of critics agreed that the music was "dramatic", some felt that such treatment of the text was appropriate, or at least permissible. As to the quality of the music, the critical consensus agreed that the work displayed "fluent invention, beautiful sound effects and charming vocal writing". Critics were divided between praise and condemnation with respect to Verdi's willingness to break standard compositional rules for musical effect, such as his use of consecutive fifths.

Instrumentation
The work is scored for four vocal soloists and the following orchestra:

 * woodwind: 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 4 bassoons
 * brass: 4 horns, 8 trumpets (4 offstage), 3 trombones, ophicleide (an obsolete instrument usually replaced by a tuba or cimbasso in modern performances)
 * percussion: timpani, bass drum
 * strings: violins I, II, violas, violoncellos, double basses.

title: Requiem (Verdi)


text:
User talk:Joe Canuck/ban

What did he do? Pizza Puzzle

 * Repeatedly uploading probably-copyrighted images and refusing to provide information on their source, and (I think) a variety of personal attacks on other users. --Camembert

title: User talk:Joe Canuck/ban


text:
Timeline of United States railway history

The Timeline of U.S. Railway History depends upon the definition of a railway, as follows: A means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks.

1795-1829
name=BackBay>William A. Newman, Wilfred E. Holton,, Northeastern University Press, Boston,
 * 1795–96 & 1799–1804 or '05 — In 1795, Charles Bulfinch, the architect of Boston's famed State House first employed a temporary funicular railway with specially designed dumper cars to decapitate 'the Tremont's' Beacon Hill summit and begin the decades long land reclamation projects which created most of the real estate in Boston's lower elevations of today from broad mud flats, such as South Boston, Eastern parts of Dorchester, much of the shorelines of the entire Charles River basin on both the left and right banks and Brighton from mud flats, and most famously and tellingly especially the Back Bay.<ref
 * 1815-1820s One interpretation of historical documents indicates the same equipment was used for a longer, more ambitious period to level and effectively remove 'The Tremont', Copely, Cope's, and Beacon Hills again into what became Boston's Back Bay. These moves were far from completing the project, photos in the 1850s and recent scholarship show the majority of the Back Bay was still tidewater.

1810s–1830s

 * 1800–1825 Various inventors and entrepreneurs make suggestions about building model railways in the United States. Around Coalbrookdale in the United Kingdom, mining railways become increasingly common.  An early steam locomotive is given a test run in 1804, but is then wrecked carelessly.  For unknown reasons, the inventor does not rebuild it for nearly two decades.
 * 1809 Scottsman quarry owner Thomas Leiper, in 1809 when denied a charter to build a canal along the Crum Creek from his quarry to the docks in the tidewater,  commissions a short temporary 60 yd railroad test track in the yard of the Bull's Head Tavern in Philadelphia.  The track had a grade of one inch and a half to the yard, with a 4% grade to test whether a horse could successfully pull 10,000 lbs against the slope.
 * 1810–1829 The Leiper Railroad was a short horse drawn railroad of three quarters of a mile opens in 1810 after the quarry owner, Thomas Leiper, failed to obtain a charter with legal rights-of-way to instead build his desired canal along Crum Creek. The quarry man's 'make-do' railroad solution was the continent's  first chartered railway, first operational non-temporary railway , first well documented railroad, and first constructed railroad also meant to be permanent.  It was perhaps the only railroad replaced by a canal, and also one of the first to close, and of those, perhaps is alone in reopening again in 1858.

1825-1832
Inspired by the speedy success of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (1825) in England's railway historical record, capitalists in the United States — already embarking upon great public works infrastructure projects to connect the new territories of the United States with the older seaboard cities industries by the canals of America's Canal Age, almost overnight began dreaming up projects using railroads — a technology in its infancy, but one employing steam engines which were rapidly becoming widely known from their successful use on steamboats. American steam engine pioneers were willing to experiment with Heat Engines using higher pressures than the mainly Atmospheric engines still fashionable in Great Britain. The rest of the world lagged the two English speaking nations. Railroads began to be proposed where canals wouldn't do, or would be too costly and with an increase in rolling stock tonnage capacity, locomotive power, and a growing confidence born of experience and new materials in less than three decades, the United States generally would discard canals as the principal design choice in favor of far more capable freight haulage technologies.

name=Hazard> "During the summer of 1827, a railroad was built from the mines at Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk. With one or two unimportant exceptions, this was the first railroad in the United States." The resultant Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad, where mules rode special cars down as well, after the coal hoppers, then returned empties up the nine mile return trip, became the first U.S. railway to carry passengers in the same year of 1827. In less than two years the railway was attracting so many visitors, it began charging fares, and then added and operated special tourism excursions on Sunday as a tourist road — which role it carried into 1932 as the world's acknowledged first roller coaster. In 1847 the cable railway return track was constructed with planes climbing two prominences along Pisgah Ridge, shortening the up trip to twenty minutes from nearly four hours by mule. Railroads gradually replace canals as the first-choice mode of transportation infrastructure to champion and build, while canals hold a whip hand on economy for decades more, but falter on flexible destinations, speed, and where they suffer seasonal stoppages yet service year round needs. By the 1860s, in any case, where all the important older canals were to be found any canal with functions satisfiable by parallel railways (excepting by definition, ship canals) is eyed by investors to be supplanted by a competing railroad. The idea of a rail network in the US, which is by then showing early signs some areas have overbuilt in the Eastern United States is still not a common business model. Cut throat competitive capitalism, not co-operation are the rule, and the decade kicks off the forty years or so of the robber barons and excesses in capitalism.
 * 1825 American John Stevens (inventor), builds a test track and runs a locomotive around it in his summer home estate, Hoboken, New Jersey. This partially settles the tractive power questions, showing that on level track, metal on metal wheels can provide tractive effort and pull a load.  The ability for any engine to do so on a grade is still widely doubted in the press and minds of potential investors (pubs, clubs, boardrooms, etc.), while the minds of many potential investors were well aware that most railroads in the capital poor United States would have to surmount significant grades to be useful technology.  And while news from Europe was delayed 4–8 weeks, well connected Americans were aware in general of United Kingdom news coverage's and to a lesser extent, that of continental European developments.  In consequence, the 1825 success of the Stockton and Darlington Railway only gradually eroded the three-way nay-sayer beliefs that the careful expensive gentle engineered grades extant in the early British railways was impracticable in most cases in America and that such grades were necessary since steel on iron rails would not provide traction on hills, were it possible to build an locomotive engine powerful enough to surmount such grades.  In each case, it would take experience and success against such over at least several months before the misconceptions fell into disdain.
 * 1826: The 3 mi industrial animal powered Granite Railroad opens in Quincy, Massachusetts, to convey quarried granite for the Bunker Hill monument. It later becomes a common carrier railroad.
 * 1827: Taking advantage of seasonal freezing of the Lehigh Canal, and with materials prepared in advance, the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N) converts their 1818–19 built uniformly graded wagon road into a gravity railroad in just four months of construction.<ref
 * 1830s
 * The Baltimore and Ohio is incorporated in 1827 and officially opens in 1830. Other railroads soon follow, including the Camden and Amboy by 1832.
 * August 8, 1829: The Stourbridge Lion, first steam locomotive imported into the US, is tested along tracks built by the Delaware and Hudson company. Deemed too heavy for the company's rails, it and its three brethren are converted to stationary engines for cable railway parts of the transportation system.
 * 1830 ushers in a flurry of railroad incorporations, charter applications, grants and beginnings of construction. The B&O opens its first 13 mi stretch to Ellicott's Mills and begins regular scheduled passenger services on schedule, May 24, 1830.
 * 1830 the 26 mi Beaver Meadows Railroad from Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania, is incorporated and constructed to open a second major coal field to the Lehigh Canal at Parryville beyond the Lehigh Gap. This would form the seed company of the first class Lehigh Valley Railroad after the 1870s.
 * 1831 The DeWitt Clinton locomotive, built by the West Point Foundry in New York for the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, made its first test run on July 2, 1831.
 * 1830s–1860s: Enormous railway building booms in the United States. The mill owners of Lowell and New Hampshire launch the Boston and Lowell Railroad to parallel the historic Middlesex Canal, which had enabled their mills success; this is the first direct attack rail companies mounted against canal interests.

1850-1900

 * 1854 Indianapolis' Union Station, the first "union station" in the world, opened by the Terre Haute & Richmond, Madison & Indianapolis, and Bellefontaine railroads.
 * 1862 Chattanooga The Great Locomotive Chase, in which Union raiders led by James J. Andrews commandeered a 4-4-0 American locomotive, "The General" and attempted to sabotage Confederate tracks, telegraph lines, and bridges to prevent Confederate troops from moving by rail to Chattanooga.
 * 1865: George Pullman becomes well known for luxury sleeping cars, called Pullman cars in his honor, after he loaned one of his cars to be in the funeral train of Abraham Lincoln from Chicago to Springfield, IL.
 * 1869: Union Pacific and Central Pacific complete first transcontinental railway link at Promontory Summit.
 * 1869: George Westinghouse establishes the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.
 * 1870s: Railroads begin to install automatic block signals which improve safety, allow faster train speeds, and allow more efficient utilization of trackage.
 * 1870s and 1880s: Strikes break out against railroads and the Pullman Palace Car Company. Corporations hire Pinkerton guards to break up the strikes. Nonetheless, much violence occurs in the strikes. Many people were killed, buildings and rolling stock were burned, and reports of rioting shocked middle-class Americans.
 * 1883: Standard time zones adopted by railroads.
 * 1886: Many southern states convert from broad gauges such as to standard gauge . (See also Broad gauge.)
 * 1887: Congress creates the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate railroads and ensure fair prices.
 * 1891: Webb C. Ball establishes first Railway Watch official guidelines for railroad chronometers.
 * 1893: Railroad Safety Appliance Act requires air brakes and automatic couplers on all trains, which greatly reduces railroad worker injuries and deaths.
 * 1896: Supreme Court rules in United States v. Gettysburg Electric Ry. Co. that the Takings Clause under eminent domain could be applied for historic preservation

1900-1970

 * 1901: Nine locomotive manufacturing companies are combined in a merger to form the American Locomotive Company (ALCO).
 * 1902: 20th Century Limited inaugurated by the New York Central Railroad.
 * 1910s: Pennsylvania Railroad builds Pennsylvania Station in New York City; New York Central builds current version of Grand Central Terminal.
 * 1911: The Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad completes the Lackawanna Cut-Off in Northwestern New Jersey and Northeastern Pennsylvania.
 * 1916: US railroad trackage was 230468.32 mi, the highest in history. The trackage would increase to over 300,000 mi by the next decade.
 * 1917: President Woodrow Wilson orders nationalization of the railroads shortly after the US enters World War I. The United States Railroad Administration manages the system until 1920, when Congress returns control to the railroad companies.
 * 1920s and 1930s: Automobiles, airplanes and the Great Depression contribute to a decline in railroad ridership and mileage.
 * 1926: Congress passes the Railway Labor Act to settle disputes and avoid strikes (law amended in 1934 and 1936).
 * 1934: Burlington railroad's Pioneer Zephyr completes its inaugural run from Denver, Colorado, to Chicago, Illinois, first diesel-powered streamliner in America.
 * May 12, 1936: The Santa Fe railroad inaugurates the all-Pullman Super Chief between Chicago and Los Angeles.
 * 1940s: World War II brings railroads the highest ridership in American history, as soldiers are being sent to fight overseas in the Pacific Theater and the European Theater. However, automobile travel causes ridership to decline after the war ends.
 * March 20, 1949: The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad and Western Pacific Railroad jointly launch the California Zephyr between Chicago and San Francisco as the first passenger train to include Vista Dome cars in regular service.
 * 1950s and 1960s: Drastic decline in passenger travel in the United States, due to automobiles and also airplanes, as first jetliners take to the air. Railroads respond through mergers and attempts to shed unprofitable trains and rail routes. The speed of these efforts is reduced through the difficulties of Interstate Commerce Commission hearings.
 * 1957: The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway is absorbed into its parent road the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
 * December 1, 1959: ICC approved Virginian Railway merger into Norfolk & Western begins modern-day period of railroad mergers and consolidation.
 * July 1, 1967: Rivals Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merge to form Seaboard Coast Line after 9 years of negotiations and ICC hearings.
 * August 1, 1967: UAC TurboTrain maiden voyage.
 * December 3, 1967: 20th Century Limited makes last run.
 * February 1968: Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central merge to form Penn Central. The New Haven was added in 1969.

1970-present

 * 1970s: Era of deregulation.
 * March 1, 1970 Burlington Northern is created with the consolidation of the *Chicago Burlington & Quincy, Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Spokane Portland & Seattle railroads.
 * March 22, 1970: The California Zephyr, on its last run, arrives in Oakland, California, from Chicago; the train name will soon be resurrected by Amtrak on a train travelling almost the same route as the original train.
 * June 21, 1970 the Penn Central files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, becoming the largest corporate failure up to that time in US history.
 * 1971: Amtrak created by act of Congress to assume and operate a national network of passenger trains from private railroads after years of dropping ridership and massive deficits force railroads to drop passenger service and ask for government help.
 * March 1972: the Gulf Mobile & Ohio is merged into the Illinois Central, forming the Illinois Central Gulf.
 * 1970s: Conrail is created from the remains of the bankrupt Penn Central, Erie Lackawanna, Central of New Jersey, Reading and Lehigh Valley Railroads in the Northeast, beginning operations April 1, 1976.
 * 1970s and 1980s: Amtrak introduces double-deck Superliner rolling stock. Auto-Train Corporation begins running as independent line (1971), but fails in 1981; In 1983, Amtrak revives service and runs slightly renamed "Auto Train" as one of its more-heavily promoted lines.
 * 1977: Amtrak carried 19.2 million passengers an average of 226 miles.
 * 1980: Railroads deregulated by Congress by Staggers Rail Act of 1980.
 * March 1, 1980, the Rock Island ceases operations after bankruptcy liquidation.
 * September 15, 1981: The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when it runs under its own power inside Washington, DC.
 * 1981: Union Pacific 3985 is restored to operating condition, making it the largest operable steam locomotive in the world.
 * July 1, 1982, Norfolk & Western and Southern Railway merge to form Norfolk Southern.
 * January 1, 1986: The Milwaukee Road is merged into the Soo Line Railroad in the largest railroad bankruptcy proceedings to date.
 * July 1, 1986, Seaboard System and Chessie System merge to form CSX Transportation corp.
 * 1990s: Amtrak funding comes under heavier scrutiny by Congress, while Amtrak creates new trains such as the Talgo and the Acela Express.
 * 1995: ICC abolished; Congress creates Surface Transportation Board to assume the remaining regulatory functions.
 * 1997–99: Conrail assets sold to Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation.
 * September 11, 2001: Terrorists destroy World Trade Center in New York and destroy part of the PATH system in the process. Full PATH service resumed November 23, 2003.
 * 2015: Total rail traffic declined 2.5 percent to 28 million carloads. Coal remains the largest volume, at 5.1 million carloads. Coal volume fell 12 percent in 2015, as natural gas replaces coal and electricity plants. The lower volume allowed better service and faster speed, but low fuel prices are giving an advantage to trucking.
 * 2021: Moynihan Train Hall opens in New York City, partially replacing New York Penn Station.

Video

 * Railroads in U.S. History (1830–2010) (2010), set of 4 DVDs, directed by Ron Meyer; #1, "Railroads come to America (1830 - 1840);" #2, "The First Great Railroad Boom (1841- 1860)"; #3, "A New Era in American Railroading (1861 - 1870)," #4, "The Second Great Railroad Boom (1871 - 2010)" link


text:
Postal Reorganization Act

The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 was a law passed by the United States Congress that abolished the then U.S. Post Office Department, which was a part of the Cabinet, and created the U.S. Postal Service, a corporation-like independent agency authorized by the U.S. government as an official service for the delivery of mail in the United States. President Richard Nixon signed the Act in law on August 12, 1970.

The legislation was a direct outcome of the U.S. postal strike of 1970. Prior to the act, postal workers were not permitted by law to engage in collective bargaining. In the act, the four major postal unions (National Association of Letter Carriers, American Postal Workers Union, National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association) won full collective bargaining rights: the right to negotiate on wages, benefits and working conditions, although they still were not allowed the right to strike.

The first paragraph of the act reads:

"The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by Act of Congress, and supported by the people. The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities. The costs of establishing and maintaining the Postal Service shall not be apportioned to impair the overall value of such service to the people."

The Postal Reorganization Act (at 39 USC 410(c)(2)) exempts the USPS from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure of "information of a commercial nature, including trade secrets, whether or not obtained from a person outside the Postal Service, which under good business practice would not be publicly disclosed".

title: Postal Reorganization Act


text:
Linati schema for Ulysses

This schema, or explanatory outline, for the novel Ulysses was produced by its author, James Joyce, in 1920 in order to help a friend (Carlo Linati) understand the fundamental structure of the book. The schema has been split into two tables for better ease of reading.

title: Linati schema for Ulysses


text:
Lynn Crosbie

Lynn Crosbie (born 7 August 1963) is a Canadian poet and novelist. She teaches at the University of Toronto.

Life and career
Crosbie was born in Montreal, Quebec, and now lives in Toronto, Ontario.

She received her PhD in English from the University of Toronto, writing her PhD thesis on the work of the American poet Anne Sexton.

She has taught at York, U of T, Guelph, and OCAD universities, and has taught shorter classes/workshops at Rutgers, Workman, Sistering, Flying Books And more.

In 1997, Insomniac Press published her controversial book on the Canadian criminal Paul Bernardo, Paul's Case.

In 2006, Crosbie published a book-length poem titled Liar, available through House of Anansi Press. Liar is a personal work that deals with the end of her seven-year relationship with the professional wrestling fan Michael Holmes, author of the poetry book Parts Unknown. Her long relationship with the writer Tony Burgess is chronicled in Pearl (1996).

Crosbie is a cultural critic, and the author of several books of poetry including Miss Pamela's Mercy, Corpses of the Future, and Missing Children.

Crosbie has lectured on and written about visual art at the AGO, the Power Plant, the McMichael Gallery, the Oakville Gallery, and OCAD University (where she taught for six years.) She is a journalist with who has a regular column titled "Pop Rocks" in the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail and was a regular contributor to Toronto Life Fashion.

Her Trampoline Hall Lecture was entitled "Don't Have Casual Sex".

Her book Life Is About Losing Everything, a roman à clef/fictional memoir, was released in April 2012 by House of Anansi. The book won the 2013 ReLit Award in the fiction category.

Her novel Where Did You Sleep Last Night was published in 2015 from House of Anansi. It was shortlisted for Ontario's Trillium Award.

Her 2018 novel Chicken was optioned by filmmaker Bruce McDonald.

title: Lynn Crosbie


text:
Lorna Crozier

Lorna Crozier, OC (born 24 May 1948) is a Canadian poet, author, and former chair of the Writing Department at the University of Victoria. She is the author of twenty-five books and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2011 as one of Canada's pre-eminent poets and for her teaching. Crozier is credited as Lorna Uher on some of her earlier works.

Life
Crozier was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan in 1948. Alcohol and poverty was a common backdrop in her childhood, which later became inspiration for her poetry.

Crozier attended the University of Saskatchewan where she received her B.A. in 1969, and the University of Alberta where she received her M.A. in 1980. Crozier then went on to become a high school English teacher and guidance counsellor. During these years, her first poem was published in Grain magazine.

In addition to her professorship at the University of Victoria, Crozier has taught creative writing at the Banff School of Fine Arts, the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts, and the Sechelt Summer Writing Festival. Crozier has served as the writer-in-residence at the Cypress Hills Community College in 1983, the Regina Public Library, and the University of Toronto in 1989.

Crozier has authored twenty-five books of work, which typically focus on human relationships, the natural world, language, memory, and perception. Alongside partner Patrick Lane, Crozier has co-authored No Longer Two People (1979), and co-edited Breathing Fire: Canada's New Poets (1995) and Breathing Fire 2 (2004). A glowing book review from The Globe and Mail by Jacqueline Baker on Crozier's book, Small Beneath the Sky: A Prairie Memoir emphasized Crozier's prairie roots.

She has received a 1992 Governor General's Award, the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry, the National Magazine Award (Gold Medal), and first prize in the National CBC Literary Competition. Crozier received the University of Victoria's Distinguished Professors Award and the University of Regina presented her with an honorary Doctorate of Law in 2004. In 2015, she received honorary degrees from Simon Fraser University and McGill University.

Crozier has given various benefit readings for organizations such as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Wintergreen Studios, The Land Conservancy of British Columbia, the Victoria READ Society, and PEERS, a group devoted to getting sex workers off the streets. She has read her poetry on every continent other than Antarctica, and on 19 May 2005 Crozier recited a poem for Queen Elizabeth II as part of Saskatchewan's Centennial Celebration.

In 2009 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 2011 Crozier became an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Her memoir Through the Garden: A Love Story (with Cats) was shortlisted for the 2020 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

Crozier is a supporter of literacy, animal rights, and the environment.

Poetry

 * Inside Is the Sky – 1976 (as Lorna Uher)
 * Crow's Black Joy – 1979 (as Lorna Uher)
 * Humans and Other Beasts – 1980 (as Lorna Uher)
 * No Longer Two People: A Series of Poems (with Patrick Lane) – 1981
 * The Weather – 1983
 * The Garden Going on Without Us – 1985 (nominated for a Governor General's Award)
 * Angels of Flesh, Angels of Silence – 1988 (nominated for a Governor General's Award)
 * Inventing the Hawk – 1992 (winner of the Governor General's Award for Poetry and the Pat Lowther Award)
 * Everything Arrives at the Light – 1995 (winner of the Pat Lowther Award)
 * A Saving Grace: Collected Poems – 1996
 * What the Living Won't Let Go – 1999
 * Apocrypha of Light – 2002
 * Bones in Their Wings: Ghazals – 2003
 * Whetstone – 2005
 * Before the First Word: The Poetry of Lorna Crozier (selected by Catherine Hunter) – 2005
 * The Blue Hour of the Day: Selected Poems – 2007
 * Small Mechanics – 2011 (nominated for the Pat Lowther Award)
 * The Wrong Cat – 2015 (winner of the Pat Lowther Award)
 * The Wild in You: Voices from the Forest and the Sea (with photographs by Ian McAllister) – 2015
 * What the Soul Doesn't Want – 2017
 * God of Shadows – 2018
 * The House the Spirit Builds (with photographs by Peter Coffman and Diane Laundy) – 2019

Anthologies

 * A Sudden Radiance (with Gary Hyland) – 1987
 * Breathing Fire (with Patrick Lane) – 1995
 * Desire in Seven Voices – 2000
 * Addicted: Notes from the Belly of the Beast (with Patrick Lane) – 2001
 * Breathing Fire 2 (with Patrick Lane) – 2004
 * The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2010 – 2010

Non-fiction

 * Small Beneath the Sky – 2009
 * The Book of Marvels: A Compendium of Everyday Things – 2012 (nominated for the Pat Lowther Award)
 * Through the Garden: A Love Story (with Cats) – 2020

title: Lorna Crozier


text:
Motocross

Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom.

History
Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competitions, such as the Auto-Cycle Clubs's first quarterly trial in 1909 and the Scottish Six Days Trial that began in 1912. When organisers dispensed with delicate balancing and strict scoring of trials in favour of a race to become the fastest rider to the finish, the activity became known as "hare scrambles", said to have originated in the phrase, "a rare old scramble" describing one such early race. Though known as scrambles racing (or just scrambles) in the United Kingdom, the sport grew in popularity and the competitions became known internationally as "motocross racing", by combining the French word for motorcycle, motocyclette, or moto for short, into a portmanteau with "cross country".

The first known scramble race in the Camberley, Surrey in 1924. The 100th anniversary of the very first Motocross race will be commemorated in March 2024. The same cub that ran the 1924 event will be running it again over the same land. The entry will be limited to 150 competitors – see https://www.camberleyanddistrictmotorclub.co.uk/ During the 1930s the sport grew in popularity, especially in Britain where teams from the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA), Norton, Matchless, Rudge, and AJS competed in the events. The first motocross race held on an artificial track inside a stadium took place on August 28, 1948, at Buffalo Stadium in the Paris suburb of Montrouge. The event was the forerunner to supercross competitions.

Off-road motorcycles from that era differed little from those used on the street. The intense competition over rugged terrain led to technical improvements in motorcycles. Rigid frames gave way to suspensions by the early 1930s, and swinging fork rear suspension appeared by the early 1950s, several years before manufacturers incorporated it in the majority of production street bikes. The period after World War II was dominated by BSA, which had become the largest motorcycle company in the world. BSA riders dominated international competitions throughout the 1940s.

In 1952 the FIM, motorcycling's international governing body, set up an individual European Championship using a 500 cc engine displacement formula. In 1957 it was upgraded to World Championship status. In 1962 a 250 cc world championship was established and, new rules were adopted dividing the races into two 45 minute heat races that were referred to as motos.

In the smaller 250 cc category companies with two-stroke motorcycles came into their own. Companies such as Husqvarna from Sweden, CZ from the former Czechoslovakia, Bultaco from Spain and Greeves from England became popular due to their lightness and agility.

A significant moment in motocross history occurred during the 1963 FIM Motocross World Championship when ČZ factory rider Vlastimil Valek rode a 263cc two-stroke motorcycle to win the first moto of the 500cc Czechoslovakian Motocross Grand Prix ahead of a field of top-class, four stroke motorcycles. The victory marked a turning point in motocross history as, it was the first win by a two-stroke powered motorcycle in the premier division of the Motocross World Championships.

By the mid-1960s, advances in two-stroke engine technology meant that the heavier, four-stroke machines were relegated to niche competitions. Riders from Belgium and Sweden began to dominate the sport during this period. Motocross arrived in the United States in 1966 when Swedish champion, Torsten Hallman rode an exhibition event against the top American TT riders at the Corriganville Movie Ranch also known as Hopetown in Simi Valley, California. The following year Hallman was joined by other motocross stars including Roger DeCoster, Joël Robert, and Dave Bickers. They dominated the event, placing their lightweight two-strokes into the top six finishing positions. A motorcycle sales boom in the United States fueled by the Baby Boomer generation, helped to spark a growth in the popularity of motocross among young Americans.

Japanese motorcycle manufacturers began challenging the European factories for supremacy in the motocross world by the late 1960s. Suzuki claimed the first world championship for a Japanese factory when Joël Robert won the 1970 250 cc crown. In 1972, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) inaugurated the AMA Motocross Championships and, held its first stadium race at the Los Angeles Coliseum, promoted by Mike Goodwin and Terry Tiernan, then-president of the AMA. The stadium event, won by 16-year-old Marty Tripes, paved the way for constructed, stadium-based motocross events known as supercross.

In 1975, the FIM introduced a 125 cc world championship. European riders continued to dominate international motocross competitions throughout the 1970s with Belgian or Swedish riders winning ten Motocross des Nations (MXDN) events between 1969 and 1980 but, by the 1980s, American riders had caught up with American teams winning a string of 13 consecutive MXDN victories between 1981 and 1993. In 1978, Akira Watanabe became the first non-European competitor to win a motocross world championship and, in 1982 Brad Lackey became the first individual American motocross world champion.

From the late 1970s to early 1990s, Japanese motorcycle manufacturers presided over a boom period in motocross technology. The typical air-cooled two-strokes with twin-shock rear suspension and telescopic front forks gave way to water-cooled engines and single-shock absorber rear suspension and "upside-down" (or inverted) front forks. Although the advancement of two-stroke engine technology was the primary focus of the major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers well into the mid 1990s, a rekindled interest in engineering a competitive, lightweight four-stroke motocross race bike was expressed among several brands, including Yamaha Motor Corporation and Husqvarna.

Facing tightening federal emissions regulations in the United States, the AMA increased the allowable displacement capacity for four-stroke engines in 1997, in an effort to encourage manufacturers to develop environmentally friendlier four-stroke machines. Due to the low relative power output of a four-stroke engine compared to the then-dominating two-stroke design, the displacement limit of a four-stroke power motocross bike was raised to 250cc in the 125 class and 550cc in the 250 class.

The new regulations resulted in competitors aboard four-strokes made by smaller European manufacturers, with Husqvarna, Husaberg, and KTM winning world championships on four-stroke machinery. In 1997, Yamaha unveiled a prototype 400cc four-stroke motorcycle, the YZM 400, which was debuted in the FIM Motocross World Championship. The motorcycle made its U.S. debut in 1997, where Yamaha Factory Racing rider Doug Henry led every lap of the main event at the 1997 AMA Supercross Finale and became the first person to win an AMA Supercross race on a four-stroke powered motorcycle. Following Yamaha's release of the production model YZ400F in 1998, Henry won the 250 AMA Motocross Championship and became the first person to win a major AMA Motocross title on a four-stroke powered motorcycle. This success motivated the remaining major manufacturers, Honda, Kawasaki, and Suzuki, to develop their own four-stroke motocross race bikes. By 2006, every manufacturer had begun competing with four-stroke machines in the AMA 125 (FIM MX2) and 250 (MX1) classes.

The sport has further evolved into a sub-discipline similar to supercross known as arenacross, which is held in small indoor arenas. Classes were also formed for all-terrain vehicles. Freestyle motocross (FMX) events where riders are judged on their jumping and aerial acrobatic skills have gained popularity, as has supermoto, where motocross machines race both on tarmac and off-road. Vintage motocross (VMX) events take place – usually for motorcycles predating the 1975 model year. Many VMX races also include a "Post Vintage" portion, which usually includes bikes dating until 1983.

FIM Motocross World Championship

The FIM Grand Prix Motocross World Championship is predominantly held in Europe, but also includes events in North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. It is the major Motocross series worldwide. There are three classes: MXGP for 450cc machines, MX2 for 250cc machines, and Women's MX. Competitions consist of two races which are called motos with a duration of 30 minutes plus two laps.

AMA Motocross Championship
The AMA Motocross Championship begins in mid May and continues until late August. The championship consists of eleven rounds at eleven major tracks all over the continental United States. There are three classes: the 250cc Motocross Class for 150–250 cc 4-stroke machines, the 450cc Motocross Class for 251–450 cc 4-stroke machines and a 250cc Women's Class, using the same rules as men's 250cc. Race events take place over two motos of 30 minutes plus two laps each.

Motocross des Nations

The annual Motocross des Nations is held at the end of the year when National and World Championship series have ended. The competition involves teams of three riders representing their nations. Each rider competes in a different class (MX1, MX2, and "Open"). There are three motos with two classes competing per moto. The location of the event changes from year to year. The United States, Belgium and Great Britain have had the greatest success.

British Motocross Championship
Th British Motocross Championship is the main UK off-road competition and organised into classes of MX1 and MX2. MX1 is for 250 cc to 450 cc (fourstroke) and MX2 for 175 cc to 250 cc fourstroke motorcycles. In 2007 an additional youth class, the MXY2 class, was added to the programme at selected rounds.

A "Veterans" series was introduced in 2009 with just two rounds but the demand for places was so high that from 2011 the Veterans series will have three rounds, held over six races.

Sports derived from motocross
A number of other types of motorcycle sport have been derived from Motocross.

Supercross

Supercross is a cycle racing sport involving specialized high-performance off-road motorcycles on constructed dirt tracks with steep jumps and obstacles. Compared to regular motocross, supercross tracks generally have much shorter straights and tighter turns. Professional supercross races, held as the AMA Supercross Championship in the United States, are held almost exclusively in professional baseball and football stadiums.

The supercross season takes place during the winter and spring months, with races in a different city every weekend. There are 17 races in the AMA Supercross Championship schedule, normally beginning in Anaheim, California, and ending in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 250 cc class is split into two series, east and west. The 450 cc class has one large series with events across the US and Canada.

In 2022, the World Supercross Championship was demerged from the AMA Supercross Championship, to be held as a standalone series once more. The series previously ran from 2003 to 2008. Supercross events are also held in Australia, known as the Australian Supercross Championship promoted by Motorcycling Australia. Along with the SX Open held in Auckland, New Zealand, the country's biggest event the Aus X-Open forms part of the Oceania Supercross Championship.

Freestyle
Freestyle Motocross (FMX), a relatively new variation of supercross started by the South African champion, Marco Urzi, does not involve racing and instead it concentrates on performing acrobatic stunts while jumping motocross bikes. The winner is chosen by a group of judges. The riders are scored on style, level of trick difficulty, best use of the course, and frequently, crowd reactions. FMX was introduced to the X Games and mainstream audiences in 1999.

SuperMoto
Supermoto uses motocross bikes converted for racing on tracks consisting of three sections: flat dirt, dirt obstacles, and paved road. The bikes have special road-racing tires with grooved tread to grip both the pavement and dirt. Some tracks for these race events have jumps, berms, and whoops like motocross tracks. For special events, the Supermoto track may incorporate metal ramps for jumps that can be disassembled and taken to other locations. Supermoto races may take place at modified go-kart tracks, road racing tracks, or even street racing tracks. There are also classes for children, such as the 85 cc class.

Supermoto began in the US the late 1970s when TV journalist Gavin Trippe envisioned a racing event that would prove who the best motorcycle racer was. From 1980 to 1985, he organized a yearly event called "The Superbikers", which pitted the top riders from three disciplines, flat track, road racing, and motocross against one another on modified bikes raced on special tracks on the television show. Its first exposure to a wide audience came on the American television program ABC's Wide World of Sports in 1979. After 1985, the sport declined and received little exposure in the US, but in Europe, it started gaining popularity, and in 2003 it was revived in the US, when the name became Supermoto.

ATV/Quad Motocross
Throughout the United States and the United Kingdom there are many quad racing clubs with enduro and quadcross sections. GNCC Racing began around 1980 and includes hare scramble and enduro type races. To date, events are mainly held in the eastern part of the United States. GNCC racing features many types of obstacles such as, hill climbing, creek and log crossings, dirt roads and wooded trails.

The ATV National Motocross Championship was formed around 1985. ATVMX events are hosted at motocross racetracks throughout the United States. ATVMX consists of several groups, including the Pro (AMA Pro) and Amateur (ATVA) series. Championship mud racing (CMR) saw its infancy in 2006 as leaders of the ATV industry recognized a need for uniformity of classes and rules of various local mud bog events. Providing standardized rules created the need for a governing body that both racers and event promoters could turn to and CMR was born. Once unified, a true points series was established and lead to a national championship for what was once nothing more than a hobby for most. In 2007 the finalized board of directors was established and the first races were held in 2008. Currently, the CMR schedule includes eight competition dates spanning from March to November. Points are awarded throughout the season in several different competition classes of ATV and SxS Mud Racing. The 2008 year included Mud Bog and Mudda-Cross competitions, but the 2009 and future seasons will only have Mudda-Cross competitions. Classes range from 0 to 499 cc, to a Super-Modified class which will allow any size ATV in competition.

Sidecarcross
Sidecar racing, known as Sidecarcross has been around since the 1950s but has declined in popularity since the mid‑1980s. This variant is common in Europe, with a few followers in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. The premier competition, the Sidecarcross World Championship, is contested on European tracks only and almost exclusively by Europeans.

Motocross sidecars are purpose built frames that resemble an ordinary motocross-cycle with a flat platform to stand on attached to either side and a handlebar at waist height to hold on to. The side of the "chair" (slang for the platform) usually follows the side of the road the nation in question drives upon, but not always. The passenger balances the bike by being a counterweight, especially in corners and on jumps. It is driven on ordinary crosstracks.

It is very physically demanding, especially for the passenger. This is reflected in most in the Swedish term for passenger, burkslav, roughly translated as trunk/barrel-slave. This name comes from the early sidecars which resembled road motorcycle sidecars and not today's platform.

The major frame builders today are VMC, BSU, AYR, EML and Woodenleg. Ordinary engines can be used, but size matters and two engines purpose built for sidecars exist, Zabel (Germany) and MTH (Austria) are most common. Four-strokes are becoming more common, usually KTM (Austria).

Pit bikes and mini-motocross
Pit bikes are small motorbikes that participants in powersports events use to ride around the pits, which are the staging areas where team support vehicles are located. More recently, they have been used in races held on either supercross or motocross tracks. Numerous performance and aesthetic upgrades are often applied to pit bikes.

Originally, there was only one way to acquire a pit bike. A rider would buy a child's minibike, usually a Honda CRF110 or Kawasaki KLX110, and apply all the necessary upgrades and modifications to build a competitive pit bike. Of course, a rider could also buy a used bike. Since 2004, manufacturers like Thumpstar have begun designing, manufacturing, importing, and selling already complete pit bikes. These bikes are less expensive, and require less time to complete.

Pit bikes are powered by 4-stroke, horizontal, single-cylinder engines ranging anywhere in displacement from 49 cc to 195 cc. A typical pit bike is usually a small dirt bike, but it has become common to be able to buy pit bikes with street-style wheels and tires. Pit bikes with street tires, as opposed to knobby tires, are used in Mini Supermoto Racing.

Pit bikes are frequently heavily customized with decorative add-ons and performance-enhancing parts. Many riders and mechanics bore-out or replace engines in order to increase displacement and therefore power output. Heavy duty suspension systems are often a necessary addition, since the stock mini-bike suspension was designed for a small child. Wheel, brake, and tire upgrades are sometimes performed to improve handling.

Pit bikes also have their own separate competitions held with classes generally corresponding to wheel size. This is a notable difference from Motocross and Supercross competition, where classes are separated by engine displacement. Pit bike racing is a relatively new niche of motocross, and as such, there is no official governing body similar to the AMA.

Motocross motorcycle
Manufacturers that have ceased production
 * Major manufacturers
 * Minor
 * TM (Italy), TM holds the largest market share for motocross bikes, outside the major seven.
 * Fantic (Italy), well known for there models XX and XXF that are the same as the YZ and the YZF from Yamaha but with changes in esthetic and motorparts.
 * Niche market manufactures
 * Chinese manufacturers:

Governing bodies
Motocross is governed worldwide by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), with federations in many nations.

 * Australia – Motorcycling Australia (MA)
 * Austria – Osterreichische Automobil, Motorrad und Touring Club (OAMTC)
 * Belgium – Federation Motocycliste de Belgique (FMB)
 * Brazil – Confederação Brasileira de Motociclismo (CBM)
 * Canada – Canadian Motorsport Racing Corp.(CMRC) and Canadian Motorcycle Association (CMA)
 * Czech Republic – Autoklub České republiky (ACCR)
 * Denmark – Danmarks Motor Union (DMU)
 * Estonia – Eesti Motorrattaspordi Föderatsioon (EMF)
 * Finland – Suomen Moottoriliitto (SML)
 * France – Fédération Française de Motocyclisme (FFM)
 * Germany – Deutscher Motor Sport Bund (DMSB)
 * India – Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI)
 * Ireland – Motorcycle Union of Ireland (MCUI) – NB covers the whole island
 * Italy – Federazione Motociclistica Italiana (FMI)
 * Latvia – Latvijas Motosporta Federācija (LaMSF)
 * Lithuania – Lietuvos Motociklų Sporto Federacija (LMSF)
 * The Netherlands – Koninklijke Nederlandse Motorrijdersvereniging (KNMV), Motorsport Organisatie Nederland (MON)
 * New Zealand – Motorcycling New Zealand (MNZ) and New Zealand Dirt Bike Federation
 * Norway – Norges Motorsportforbund (NMF)
 * Poland – Polski Związek Motorowy (PZM)
 * Portugal – Federação Motociclismo Portugal (FMP)
 * Russia – Motorcycle Federation of Russia (MFR)
 * South Africa – Motorsport South Africa (MSA)
 * Spain – Real Federación Motociclista Española (RFME)
 * Slovakia – Slovak motorcycle federation (SMF)
 * Slovenia – Auto-Cycle Union of Slovenia (AMZS)
 * Sweden – Svenska Motorsportförbundet (SVEMO)
 * Switzerland – Federation Motocycliste Suisse (FMS)
 * Thailand – Federation of Motor Sport Clubs of Thailand (FMSCT)
 * United Kingdom – Auto-Cycle Union (ACU), with other separate bodies like the Amateur Motorcycling Association (AMCA), ORPA, BSMA, and YSMA.
 * United States – American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)

title: Motocross