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Providence and Worcester GE locomotive

The Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) is an American Class II railroad operating 612 miles (985 km) of tracks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. It was formed in 1844 to connect its eponymous cities, and ran its first trains in 1847. P&W later built a branch to East Providence, Rhode Island, and double-tracked its main line after a fatal train collision. P&W remained independent until 1888, when the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad leased it; the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (the New Haven) assumed the lease in 1892. P&W remained leased until the New Haven was merged into Penn Central (PC) in 1968. When PC threatened to abandon the line, P&W's shareholders convinced regulators to give them back their railroad, and P&W returned to independence in 1973 after 85 years. P&W grew from under 100 miles (161 km) by purchasing other lines, expanding more than sixfold. In 2016, P&W was purchased by railroad holding company Genesee & Wyoming. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Apartment block at Alterlaa

... that residents at Alterlaa (building pictured), a housing complex in Vienna, have large concrete planters in which plants can be grown?
... that Swedish footballer Taha Ayari made his Allsvenskan debut by coming on as a substitute for his older brother?
... that the court case Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. helped allow the game rental market to thrive for the years that followed the case?
... that when he was the rector of the University of Indonesia, Asman Boedisantoso Ranakusuma sometimes took the train to campus to overhear criticism of the school?
... that Fairleigh Dickinson's upset victory over Purdue was the biggest upset in terms of point spread in NCAA tournament history, with Purdue being a 23+1⁄2-point favorite?
... that the Friedrichshafen FF.19 became the first German aircraft to conduct successful tests with wireless telegraphy?
... that both candidates in the 1866 Helston by-election received the same number of votes?
... that there are no werewolves in Mexican Werewolf in Texas?

In the news

JUICE's trajectory

In Sudan, at least 185 people die in clashes between rival factions of the military regime.
R21/Matrix-M, a proven-effective malaria vaccine, is approved for use in Ghana.
The European Space Agency launches the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) to study Ganymede, Europa and Callisto (trajectory pictured).
In the Myanmar civil war, the military junta's air force kills at least 130 civilians in Pazigyi.

On this day

April 18

Robert Mugabe

1775 – American Revolutionary War: Colonists Paul Revere and William Dawes, later joined by Samuel Prescott, began a midnight ride to warn residents of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, about the impending arrival of British troops.
1938 – Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster of DC Comics, made his debut in Action Comics #1, the first true superhero comic book.
1946 – The final session of the League of Nations concluded in Geneva, with delegates agreeing to transfer much of its assets to the United Nations.
1980 – Robert Mugabe (pictured) became the first prime minister of Zimbabwe, beginning a 37-year period in power.
2007 – A ladle spilled 30 tonnes (33 tons) of molten steel in a factory in Liaoning, China, killing 32 workers.

Theobald of Bec (d. 1161)
Clara Elsene Peck (b. 1883)
Universo 2000 (b. 1963)

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Today's featured picture

B-515, sometimes known as U-434 after her pennant number, is a Tango-class submarine that served in the Soviet Navy and later the Russian Navy. Built in 1976 in Nizhny Novgorod, the submarine remained in active service until 2001. She was used for hunting, espionage, and patrol purposes, operated by a 78-man crew. Now docked in Hamburg, Germany, she is open to the public as a museum ship. This 2020 photograph shows a panorama of B-515's interior.

Photograph credit: Tim Rademacher

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