The interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms used outside it. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 and 1925 and were used primarily for passenger travel between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural communities. The concept spread to countries such as Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and Poland. Interurban as a term encompassed the companies, their infrastructure, their cars that ran on the rails, and their service. In the United States, the early 1900s interurban was a valuable economic institution, when most roads between towns, many town streets were unpaved, and transportation and haulage was by horse-drawn carriages and carts.

The interurban provided reliable transportation, particularly in winter weather, between towns and countryside. In 1915,  of interurban railways were operating in the United States and, for a few years, interurban railways, including the numerous manufacturers of cars and equipment, were the fifth-largest industry in the country. But due to preference given to autombobiles, by 1930, most interurbans in North America had stopped operating. A few survived into the 1950s.

Outside of the US, other countries built large networks of high-speed electric tramways that survive today. Notable systems exist in the Low Countries, Poland and Japan, where populations are densely packed around large conurbations such as the Randstad, Upper Silesia, Greater Tokyo Area and Keihanshin. Switzerland, particularly, has a large network of mountain narrow-gauge interurban lines.

In addition, since the early 21st century many tram-train lines are being built, especially in France and Germany but also elsewhere in the world. These can be regarded as interurbans since they run on the streets, like trams, when in cities, while out of them they either share existing railway lines or use lines that were abandoned by the railway companies.

Definition

The term "interurban" was coined by Charles L. Henry, a state senator in Indiana. The Latin, , means "between cities". The interurban fit on a continuum between urban street railways and full-fledged railroads. George W. Hilton and John F. Due identified four characteristics of an interurban:

 Electric power for propulsion.
 Passenger service as the primary business.
 Equipment heavier and faster than urban streetcars.
 Operation on tracks in city streets, and in rural areas on roadside tracks or private rights-of-way.

The definition of "interurban" is necessarily blurry. Some town streetcar lines evolved into interurban systems by extending streetcar track from town into the countryside to link adjacent towns together and sometimes by the acquisition of a nearby interurban system. Following initial construction, there was a large amount of consolidation of lines. Other interurban lines effectively became light rail systems with no street running whatsoever, or they became primarily freight-hauling railroads because of a progressive loss of their initial passenger service over the years.

In 1905, the United States Census Bureau defined an interurban as "a street railway having more than half its trackage outside municipal limits." It drew a distinction between "interurban" and "suburban" railroads. A suburban system was oriented toward a city center in a single urban area and served commuter traffic. A regular railroad moved riders from one city center to another city center and also moved a substantial amount of freight.

The typical interurban similarly served more than one city, but it served a smaller region and made more frequent stops, and it was oriented to passenger rather than freight service.

History

Emergence

The development of interurbans in the late nineteenth century resulted from the convergence of two trends: improvements in electric traction, and an untapped demand for transportation in rural areas, particularly in the Midwestern United States. The 1880s saw the first successful deployments of electric traction in streetcar systems. Most of these built on the pioneering work of Frank J. Sprague, who developed an improved method for mounting an electric traction motor and using a trolley pole for pickup. Sprague's work led to widespread acceptance of electric traction for streetcar operations and end of horse-drawn trams.

The late nineteenth-century United States witnessed a boom in agriculture which lasted through the First World War, but transportation in rural areas was inadequate. Conventional steam railroads made limited stops, mostly in towns. These were supplemented by horse and buggies and steamboats, both of which were slow and the latter of which were restricted to navigable rivers. The increased capacity and profitability of the city street railroads offered the possibility of extending them into the countryside to reach new markets, even linking to other towns. The first interurban to emerge in the United States was the Newark and Granville Street Railway in Ohio, which opened in 1889. It was not a major success, but others followed. The development of the automobile was then in its infancy, and to many investors interurbans appeared to be the future of local transportation.

Growth

From 1900 to 1916, large networks of interurban lines were constructed across the United States, particularly in the states of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Utah, and California. In 1900,  of interurban track existed, but by 1916, this had increased to , a seven-fold expansion. At one point in time beginning in 1901, it was possible to travel from Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, to Little Falls, New York, exclusively by interurban. During this expansion, in the regions where they operated, particularly in Ohio and Indiana,  "...they almost destroyed the local passenger service of the steam railroad." To show how exceptionally busy the interurbans radiating from Indianapolis were in 1926, the immense Indianapolis Traction Terminal (nine roof covered tracks and loading platforms) scheduled 500 trains in and out daily and moved 7 million passengers that year. At their peak the interurbans were the fifth-largest industry in the United States.

In Belgium, a sprawling, nation-wide system of narrow-gauge vicinal tramways have been built by the NMVB / SNCV to provide transport to smaller towns across the country; the first section opened in 1885. These lines were either electrically operated or run with diesel tramcars, included numerous street-running sections, and inter-operated with local tram networks in the larger cities. Similar to Belgium, Netherlands constructed a large network of interurbans in the early 1900s called streektramlijnen.

A large network of interurbans started developing around Milan in the late 1800s; they were originally drawn by horses and later powered as steam trams. These initial interurban lines were gradually upgraded with electric traction in the early 1900s with some assistance from Thomas Edison. By the 1930s a vast network of interurbans, the Società Trazione Elettrica Lombarda, connected Milan with surrounding towns.

The first interurban railway in Japan is the Hanshin Electric Railway, built to compete with mainline steam trains on the Osaka to Kobe corridor and completed in 1905. As laws of that time did not allow parallel railways to be built, the line was legally defined as a tramway and included street running at the two ends, but was based on American interurbans and operated with large tramcars on mostly private right-of-way. In the same year, the Keihin Express Railway, or Keikyu, completed a section of what is today part of the Keikyū Main Line between Shinagawa, Tokyo and Kanagawa, Yokohama. This line competes with mainline Japanese National Railways on this busy corridor. Predecessors of the Meitetsu opened their first interurban lines in 1912, what today form parts of the Meitetsu Inuyama Line and Tsushima Line. In 1913, the first section of what will become the Keiō Line opened connecting Chōfu to just outside Shinjuku with street running on what is today the Kōshū Kaidō or National Route 20. Kyushu Electric Railroad, predecessor to Nishitetsu opened its first interurban line in 1914 serving Kitakyushu and surrounding areas, taking heavy inspiration from Hanshin Electric Railway.

In the first half of the 20th century, an extensive interurban tramway network covered Northern England, centered on South Lancashire and West Yorkshire.  At that time, it was possible to travel entirely by tram from Liverpool Pier Head to the village of Summit, outside Rochdale, a distance of , and with a short  bus journey across the Pennines, to connect to another tram network that linked Huddersfield, Halifax and Leeds.

Diverging fortunes

Decline in North America

The fortunes of the industry in the US and Canada declined during World War I, particularly into the early 1920s. In 1919 President Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Electric Railways Commission to investigate the financial problems of the industry. The commission submitted its final report to the President in 1920. The commission's report focused on financial management problems and external economic pressures on the industry, and recommended against introducing public financing for the interurban industry. One of the commission's consultants, however, published an independent report stating that private ownership of electric railways had been a failure, and only public ownership would keep the interurbans in business.

Many interurbans had been hastily constructed without realistic projections of income and expenses. They were initially financed by issuing stock and selling bonds. The sale of these financial instruments was often local with salesmen going door to door aggressively pushing this new and exciting "it can't fail" form of transportation. But many of those interurbans did fail, and often quickly. They had poor cash flow from the outset and struggled to raise essential further capital. Interurbans were very vulnerable to acts of nature damaging track and bridges, particularly in the Midwestern United States where flooding was common. Receivership was a common fate when the interurban company could not pay its payroll and other debts, so state courts took over and allowed continued operation while suspending the company's obligation to pay interest on its bonds. In addition, the interurban honeymoon period with the municipalities of 1895–1910 was over.

The large and heavy interurbans, some weighing as much as 65 tons, caused damage to city streets which led to endless disputes over who should bear the repair costs. The rise of private automobile traffic in the middle 1920s aggravated such trends. As the interurban companies struggled financially, they faced rising competition from cars and trucks on newly paved streets and highways, while municipalities sought to alleviate traffic congestion by removing interurbans from city streets. Some companies exited the passenger business altogether to focus on freight, while others sought to buttress their finances by selling surplus electricity in local communities. Several interurbans that attempted to exit the rail business altogether ran afoul of state commissions which required that trains remain running "for the public good", even at a loss.

Many financially weak interurbans did not survive the prosperous 1920s, and most others went bankrupt during the Great Depression. A few struggling lines tried combining to form much larger systems in an attempt to gain operating efficiency and a broader customer base. This occurred in Ohio in year 1930 with the long Cincinnati & Lake Erie Railroad (C&LE), and in Indiana with the very widespread Indiana Railroad. Both had limited success up to 1937–1938 and primarily earned growing revenues from freight rather than passengers. The  long Sacramento Northern Railway stopped carrying passengers in 1940 but continued hauling freight into the 1960s by using heavy electric locomotives.

Oliver Jensen, author of American Heritage History of Railroads in America, commented that "...the automobile doomed the interurban whose private tax paying tracks could never compete with the highways that a generous government provided for the motorist." William D. Middleton, in the opening of his 1961 book The Interurban Era, wrote: "Evolved from the urban streetcar, the Interurban appeared shortly before the dawn of the 20th century, grew to a vast network of over 18,000 miles in two decades of excellent growth, and then all but vanished after barely three decades of usefulness."

Interurban business increased during World War II due to fuel oil rationing and large wartime employment. When the war ended in 1945, riders went back to their automobiles, and most of these lines were finally abandoned. Several systems struggled into the 1950s, including the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad (passenger service ended 1950), Lehigh Valley Transit Company (1951), West Penn Railways (1952), and the Illinois Terminal Railroad (1958). The West Penn was the largest interurban to operate in the east at 339 miles and had provided Pittsburgh-area coal country towns with hourly transportation since 1888.

By the 1960s only five remaining interurban lines served commuters in three major metropolitan areas: the North Shore Line and the South Shore Line in Chicago, the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway in northern New Jersey, and the Long Beach Line in Long Beach and Los Angeles, California (this was the last remaining part of the Pacific Electric system). The Long Beach Line was cut in 1961, the North Shore Line in 1963; the Philadelphia Suburban's route 103 and the NYS&W in New Jersey both ended passenger service in 1966.

Some former interurban lines retained freight service for up to several decades after the discontinuance of passenger service. Most were converted to diesel operation, although the Sacramento Northern Railway retained electric freight until 1965.

Consolidation in Europe
After World War II, many interurbans in other countries were also cut back. In Belgium, as intercity transport shifted to cars and buses; the large sections of the vicinal tramways were gradually shut down by the 1980s.  At their peak in 1945, the mileage of vicinal tramways reached 4,811 kilometres and exceeded the length of the national railway network.

Sprawling tram networks in the Netherlands have been extended to neighbouring cities. The vast majority of these interurban lines were not electrified and operated with steam and sometimes petrol or diesel tramcars. Many did not survive the 1920s and 30s for the same reasons American interurbans went bust, but those that did were put back into service during the war years, or at least the remaining parts not yet demolished. One of the largest systems, nicknamed the Blue Tram, was run by the Noord-Zuid-Hollandsche Stoomtramweg-Maatschappij and survived until 1961. Another, the RTM (Rotterdamse Tramweg Maatschappij), which ran in the river delta south-west of Rotterdam, survived until early January 1966. Its demise sparked the rail-related heritage movement in the Netherlands in earnest with the founding of the Tramweg Stichting (Tramway Foundation). Many systems, such as the Hague tramway and the Rotterdam tramway, included long interurban extensions which were operated with larger, higher-speed cars. In close parallel to North America, many interurban systems were abandoned from the 1950s after tram companies switched to buses.

Instigated by the oil crisis in the 1970s, the remaining interurban tramways have enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance in the form of the Sneltram, a modern light rail system that uses high floor, metro-style vehicles and could interoperate into metro networks. Various other interurbans in Europe were folded into local municipal tramway or light rail systems. Switzerland retained many of its interurban lines which now operate as tramways, local railways, S-Bahn, or tram-trains. Milan's vast interurban network was progressively closed in the 1970s but parts of it were reused as the outer parts of the Milan Metro.

Evolution in Japan
Development of Japanese interurbans strayed from their American counterparts from the 1920s, after which motorisation did not develop as quickly as in North America. The second boom of interurbans occurred as late as the 1920s and 1930s in Japan, with predecessors of the extensive Kintetsu Railway, Hankyu, Nankai Electric Railway and Odakyu Electric Railway networks starting life during this period. These interurbans, built with straighter tracks, electrified at 1500V and operated using larger tramcars, were built to even higher standards than the Japanese National Railways network at the time. The (former JNR) Hanwa Line was a wartime acquisition from Nankai, operating 'Super Express' trains on the line at an average speed of 81.6 km/h, a national record at the time. The old Sendai station terminus of the Miyagi Electric Railway (the predecessor of the JR Senseki Line) was situated in a short single-track underground tunnel built in 1925; this was the first stretch of underground railway in all of Asia, predating the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line by two years.

After the war, interurbans and other private railway companies received large investments and were allowed to compete not only with mainline trains but also with each other, in order to rejuvenate the country's railway infrastructure and cater to the post-war baby boom. Lines were reconstructed to allow higher speeds, mainline-sized trains were adopted, street-running sections were rebuilt to elevated or underground rights-of-way, and link lines to growing metro systems were built to allow for through operations. Many of these private railway companies started to construct lines using standards similar to the national rail network, and, like JR commuter routes, are operated as 'metro-style' commuter railways with mainline-sized vehicles and metro-like frequencies of very few minutes.  In 1957, the Odakyu Electric Railway introduced the Odakyu 3000 series SE, the first in a line of luxurious tourist Limited Express trains named 'Romancecars'. These units set the narrow-gauge speed record of 145 km/h on its runs to a mountain spa resort.

The handful of Japanese National Railways acquisitions of interurban railways – including the Hanwa Line, Senseki Line and the Iida Line – remain outliers on the national network, with short station distances, (in the case of the Iida Line) lower-grade infrastructure, and independent termini (such as Aobadori Station and the upper level of the Tennōji Station).Today, trackage of the major sixteen private railways, initially designed as American-style interurban railways, has been upgraded beyond recognition to high capacity urban heavy railways.  However, numerous operational characteristics of interurbans are preserved to this day, in the form of inter-operation with city center local railways (in this case, through services to metro lines), wide varieties of stopping patterns (including premium services), and stations that are often in close proximity to each other. Multinational department store chains are still operated by private railway companies that started out as interurbans such as Tokyu, Seibu, Odakyu, Hankyu and Tobu at their city termini; these form only a small part of their extensive business empires, which often include real estate, hotels and resorts, tourist attractions, stadiums and smaller rail subsidiaries in addition to their interurban networks upgraded to high capacity urban railway operations. For example, the Keikyu network has changed unrecognizably from its early days, operating Limited Express services at up to 120 km/h to compete with JR trains, and inter-operating with subway and Keisei Electric Railway trains on through runs extending up to 200 km; the trains retain a red livery based on the Pacific Electric's 'Red Cars', true to the company's interurban roots. The Keiō Line did not fully remove the streetrunning section on the Kōshū Kaidō outside of Shinjuku Station until the 1960s, replacing it with an underground section.

Similar to passenger railway conditions in early 1900s America, intense competition still exists today between private railways and mainline railways operated by the Japan Railways Group along highly congested corridors is a hallmark of suburban railway operations in Japan. For example, on the Osaka to Kobe corridor, JR West competes intensely with both Hankyu Kobe Line and Hanshin Main Line trains in terms of speed, convenience and comfort.

However, a number of interurbans in Japan did close down into the 2000s, with networks in Kitakyushu and Gifu being shut down.

Today

Austria
Between Vienna and Baden bei Wien the Badner Bahn, operates a classic interurban passenger service, in addition to some freight services. Some interurban lines survive today a local railways in Upper Austria are such as the Linzer Lokalbahn, Lokalbahn Vöcklamarkt–Attersee and Lokalbahn Lambach–Vorchdorf-Eggenberg. While others operate as extension of a local city tramway such as the Traunseebahn which is now connected to the Gmunden Tramway.

Belgium

Today, two surviving interurban networks descending from the vicinal tramways exist in Belgium. The famous Belgian Coast Tram, built in 1885, traverses the entire Belgian coastline and, at a length of 68 km (42 miles), which is the longest tram line in the world. The Charleroi Metro is a never fully completed pre-metro network upgraded and developed from the dense vicinal tramway network around the city.

Canada
Similar to the United States, in Canada most passenger interurbans were removed by the 1950s. One example of continuous passenger service still exists today, the Toronto Transit Commission 501 Queen streetcar line. The western segment of the 501 Streetcar operates largely on what was the T&YRR Port Credit Radial Line, a radial line that remains intact through the Borough of Etobicoke and up to the border of the neighboring City of Mississauga, unlike other Toronto radial lines which all have been abandoned outside of the Borough of Old Toronto.

Germany
In Germany various networks have continued to operate.  Karlsruhe revitalized the interurban concept into the Karlsruhe model by renovating two local railways Alb Valley Railway, which already had interoperation with local tram trackage, and the Hardt Railway. Other examples include:

 Interurban tram routes serving Mannheim, Heidelberg, Weinheim (Route 5) and Bad Dürkheim (Route 4) as part of the Mannheim/Ludwigshafen Tram System.
 Various interurbans upgraded as part of the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn system such as Düsseldorf to Krefeld (U76) and Duisburg (U79), Bochum/Gelsenkirchen (Route 302), Mülheim to Essen and Essen to Gelsenkirchen (Route 107).
 interurban route between Cologne to Bonn (Route 16)

Italy
Milan operates one remaining interurban tramway to Limbiate with another interurban route to Carate Brianza/Giussano suspended since 2011. These two lines were once part of large network of interurbans surrounding Milan that were gradually closed in the 1970s.

Japan

In Japan, the vast majority of the major sixteen private railways have roots as interurban electric railway lines that were inspired by the US. But instead of demolishing their trackage in the 1930s, many Japanese interurbans companies upgraded their networks to heavy rail standards, becoming today's large private railways.  To this day, private railway companies in Japan operate as highly influential business empires with diverse business interests, encompassing department stores, property developments and even tourist resorts. Many Japanese private railway companies compete with each other for passengers, operate department stores at their city termini, develop suburban properties adjacent to stations they own, and run special tourist attractions with admission included in package deals with rail tickets; similar to operations of large interurban companies in the US during their heyday.

While most interurbans in Japan have been upgraded beyond recognition to high-capacity urban railways, a handful have remained relatively untouched, with street running and using 'lighter-rail' stock. To this day they retain a distinct character similar to classic American interurbans.

These include:
The Keihan Keishin Line, operating between Kyoto and Otsu, with through services to a Tozai Line on the Kyoto side and street running on the Otsu side. Originally was entirely streetrunning into Kyoto but was partly replaced by the opening of the Tozai Subway Line which trains through operate into.
The Keihan Ishiyama Sakamoto Line a primary north south line operating in Otsu with some street running sections in the city center where it connects with the Keishin Line.
The Eizan Electric Railway originally an interurban that once through operated into the  network but was isolated after the closure of the Kyoto City Tram. To this day operates light, one or two car consists.
 The Enoshima Electric Railway, which is a 10-km line with elevated and on-street trackage, and operated with light, two-car articulated trains.
 The Fukui Railway Fukubu Line, which operates a variety of express and local services using light rail cars acquired from Nagoya Railroad's defunct interurban network in Gifu, over a line with an extended on-street section.
 The Kumamoto Electric Railway, which operates ex-Tokyo subway stock on a line which includes a short on-street section.
 The Chikuhō Electric Railroad Line still operates articulated tramcars on private right-of-way, a holdover from its former inter-operation with the defunct Nishitetsu Kitakyushu street tram network.

Netherlands

The only surviving interurban line is also the oldest regional tramway in the Netherlands a line from The Hague to Delft. Which opened as horse-tramway in 1866. Nowadays the line operates as Line 1 of The Hague Tramway.
Line E, run by Randstadrail, was an interurban line connecting Rotterdam to The Hague and in the past also to Scheveningen. It now interoperates with the Rotterdam Metro.

Poland

A large interurban network called the Silesian Interurbans still exists today connecting the urban areas of the Upper Silesia. It is one of the largest interurban networks in Europe.

United States

Only three continuously operating passenger interurbans in the US remain with most being abandoned by the 1950s.

The South Shore Line is now owned by the state of Indiana and uses mainline-sized electric multiple units. Its last section of street running, in Michigan City, Indiana, was finally closed in 2022 for conversion to a grade-separated double-track line.

SEPTA operates three former Philadelphia Suburban lines: the Norristown High Speed Line as an interurban heavy rail line, and Route 101 and 102 as light rail lines.

In Chicago the Skokie Valley portion of the North Shore Line from Dempster Street to Howard Street was acquired by the Chicago Transit Authority and is now the Yellow Line. The Yellow Line initially operated with third rail from Howard Street to the Skokie Shops and switched to overhead wire for the remainder of the journey to Dempster Street, until 2004 when the overhead wire was replaced with third rail.

Several former interurban rights of way have been reused for modern light rail lines, including the A and E lines of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system and one section of the Baltimore Light RailLink system. Several museums and heritage railways, including the Western Railway Museum and Seashore Trolley Museum, operate restored equipment on former interurban lines.  The Iowa Traction Railway still operates freight service today using interurban equipment and infrastructure. The River Line in New Jersey is also considered an interurban.

Switzerland

Switzerland operated a huge number of interurbans which today many have been upgraded into a number of different modes with a few remaining interurban features left. Several still have interurban characteristics such as unprotected alignments next to the road right of ways and/or street running. Today former interurban lines have been upgraded to operate as:

 Extensions of local tram system such as Bern Tramway Line 6 to Worb and Baselland Transport Line 10 formed from combining two narrow-gauge interurbans.
 Local private railway networks such as Aargau Verkehr, Aare Seeland mobil, Transports Publics du Chablais, Rhaetian Railway, Chemins de fer du Jura or as individual railways like the Lausanne–Bercher line and Waldenburg railway. These lines commonly retain some street running sections and unprotected roadside alignments.
 Tram-trains such as the Forch railway which is part of the Zürich S-Bahn operating on the Zürich Tram System in the city center or the St. Gallen–Trogen and Frauenfeld–Wil railways as part of the St. Gallen S-Bahn.

Infrastructure and design

Right of way

Interurbans typically ran along or on a public right-of-way. In towns, interurbans ran in the street, sharing track with existing street railroads. While street running limited acquisition costs, it also required sharp turns and made interurban operations susceptible to traffic congestion. Unlike conventional railroads, it was rare for an interurban to construct long unencumbered stretches of private right-of-way. The torque characteristics of electric operation allowed interurbans to operate on steeper grades than conventional steam locomotives.

Trackage

Compared to conventional steam railroad trackage, interurban rail was light and ballasted lightly, if at all. Most interurbans in North America were built to standard gauge (), but there were exceptions. In Europe narrow-gauge interurbans were more common. In Japan the national mainlines were built to  narrow gauge however due to influence from for US interurban operations the first interurban companies in Japan built trackage to standard gauge. This remains the case today with Keikyu and Hanshin, forerunners of Japan's interurbans, still using standard gauge today. Later companies regauged or outright built lines to  narrow gauge for better intercompatibility and consistency with the Japanese mainline standards. Interurbans often used the tracks of existing street railways through city and town streets, and if these street railways were not built to standard, the interurbans had to use the non-standard gauges as well or face the expense of building their own separate trackage through urban areas. Some municipalities deliberately mandated non-standard gauges to prevent freight operations on public streets. In Pennsylvania, many interurbans were constructed using the wide "Pennsylvania trolley gauge" of . In Los Angeles, the Pacific Electric Railway, using standard  gauge track, and the Los Angeles Railway, the city's streetcar system, using  narrow gauge, shared dual-gauge track in downtown Los Angeles with one rail common to each.

Electrification

Most interurban railways in North America were constructed using the same low-voltage 500 to 600 V DC trolley power in use by the street railways to which they connected. This enabled interurban cars to use the same overhead trolley power on town street car tracks with no electrical change on the cars to accommodate a different voltage. However, higher voltages became necessary to reduce power loss on long-distance transmission lines and routes, though substations were established to boost voltage. In 1905 Westinghouse introduced a 6600 V 25 Hz alternating current (AC) system which a number of railroads adopted. This required fewer substations than DC, but came with higher maintenance costs. The necessary on-board 6600 AC voltage reduction plus AC to DC rectification on each powered car to run DC traction motors added to greater car construction expense plus the operational dangers that such on-board high voltages created.

More common were high-voltage DC systems – usually 1200 V DC, introduced in 1908 by Indianapolis & Louisville Traction Company for their Dixie Flyer and Hoosier Flyer services. In the streets, where high-speed service was not feasible, the cars ran at half speed at 600 V or got a voltage changeover device. such as on the Sacramento Northern. A 2400 V DC third-rail system was installed on the Michigan United Railways's Western Division between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids in 1915, but was abandoned because of the electrocution potential safety hazard. Even 5000 V DC was tested.

Most interurban cars and freight locomotives collected current from an overhead trolley wire. The cars contacted this wire through the use of a trolley pole or a pantograph. Other designs collected current from a third rail. Some interurbans used both: in open country, the third rail was used and in town, a trolley pole was raised. An example of this was the Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin Railroad where a trolley pole was used in both Aurora and Elgin, Illinois. Third rail was cheaper to maintain and more conductive, but it was more expensive to construct initially and it did not eliminate the need for AC transformers, AC transmission lines, and AC/DC conversion systems. In addition, third rail posed a serious danger to trespassers and animals and was difficult to keep clear of ice.

Trains and equipment

Rolling stock

From 1890 to 1910, roughly, interurban cars were made of wood and often were very large, weighing up to  and measuring as long as . These featured the classic arch-window look with truss-rods and cow-catchers. Three of the best known early companies were Jewett, Niles, and Kuhlman, all of Ohio. These interurbans required a two men crew, an operator and a conductor. By 1910, most new interurban cars were constructed of steel, weighing up to . As competition increased for passengers and costs needed to be reduced in the 1920s, interurban companies and manufacturers attempted to reduce car weight and wind resistance in order to reduce power consumption. The new designs also required only a one-man crew with the operator collecting tickets and making change. The trucks were improved to provide a better ride, acceleration, and top speed but with reduced power consumption. Into the 1930s, better quality and lighter steel and aluminum use reduced weight, and cars were redesigned to ride lower in order to reduce wind resistance. Car design peaked in the early 1930s with the light weight Cincinnati Car Company-built Red Devil cars of the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad.

In addition to passenger cars, interurban companies acquired freight locomotives and line maintenance equipment.  A "box motor"  was a powered car exclusive for freight that looked like a passenger interurban without windows and had wide side doors for loading freight. A freight motor was geared for power rather than speed and could pull up to six freight cars depending upon the load and grades. Freight cars for interurbans tended to be smaller than those for steam railroads, and they had to have special extended couplers to prevent car corner contact at the very tight grinding turns at city street corners. Maintenance equipment included "line cars" with roof platforms for the trolley wire repair crew, snow plows and snow sweepers with rotating brushes, a car for weed control and to maintain track and ballast. In order to save money, many companies constructed these in their shops using retired or semi-wrecked passenger cars for the frame and the traction motor mounted trucks.

Passenger trains

Passenger interurban service grew out of horse-drawn rail cars operating on city streets. As these routes electrified and extended outside of towns interurbans began to compete with steam railroads for intercity traffic. Interurbans offered more frequent service than steam railroads, with headways of up to one hour or even half an hour. Interurbans also made more stops, usually  apart. As interurban routes tended to be single-track this led to extensive use of passing sidings. Single interurban cars would operate with a motorman and conductor, although in later years one-man operation was common. In open country, the typical interurban proceeded at . In towns with the middle of the street operation, speeds were slow and dictated by local ordinance. The result was that the average speed of a scheduled trip was low, as much as under .

Freight trains
Many interurbans did substantial freight business. In 1926, the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway moved  of freight per month. By 1929, this had risen to  per month. During the 1920s freight revenue helped offset the loss of passenger business to automobiles. A typical interurban freight train consisted of a powered box motor pulling one to four freight cars. These often operated at night as local ordinances forbade daytime freight operation on city streets. Interurban freight in the Midwest was so extensive that Indianapolis constructed a very large freight handling warehouse which all of Indianapolis' seven interurbans companies used.

In literature
In Raymond Chandler's short story The Man who liked Dogs, the narrator trails a suspect in the Los Angeles area:
Carolina Street was away off at the edge of the little beach city. The end of it ran into a disused inter-urban right of way, beyond which stretched a waste of Japanese truck farms. There were just two house in the last block ... the rails were rusted in a forest of weeds.

Similarly in Mandarin's Jade:
The Hotel Tremaine was far out of Santa Monica, near the junk yards. An inter-urban right of way split the street in half, and just as I got to the block that would have the number I had looked up, a two-car train came racketing by at forty-five miles an hour, making almost as much noise as a transport plane taking off. I speeded up beside it and passed the block.

In E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime, a character rides on interurban systems from New York to Boston.

Preservation
Numerous museums, heritage railways and societies have preserved equipment:

 California State Railroad Museum
 Connecticut Trolley Museum
 East Troy Electric Railroad Museum
 Electric City Trolley Museum
 Fox River Trolley Museum
 Fraser Valley Historical Railway Society
 Halton County Radial Railway
 Illinois Railway Museum
 National Museum of Transportation
 Orange Empire Railway Museum
 Oregon Electric Railway Museum
 Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
 Rockhill Trolley Museum
 Seashore Trolley Museum
 Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum
 Shore Line Trolley Museum
 Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway
 Western Railway Museum

See also
 List of interurbans
 Streetcar suburb
 Rapid transit
 Interurban Press
 Light rail, a contemporary successor to interurbans
 Tram-train, a similar concept with streetcars sharing mainline intercity tracks for interurban sections
 Elektrichka, a similar system in Russia and post-Soviet states

Notes

References

Further reading

External links
 Central Electric Railfans Association
 Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society
 East Penn Traction Association

1900s in rail transport
1910s in rail transport
1920s in rail transport
1920s in the United States
1910s in the United States
1900s in the United States

fi:Kiskobussi

Interurban


Merenre Nemtyemsaf II was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth and penultimate ruler of the 6th Dynasty. He reigned for 1 year and 1 month in the first half of the 22nd century BC, at the very end of the Old Kingdom period. Nemtyemsaf II likely ascended the throne as an old man, succeeding his long-lived father Pepi II Neferkare at a time when the power of the pharaoh was crumbling.

Attestations
Merenre Nemtyemsaf II is attested on the 4th line, column 6 of the Turin canon, a king list redacted in the early Ramesside Period. Although his name is lost in the canon, the duration of its reign is still readable as 1 year and 1 month, following the reign of Pepi II Neferkare. Nemtyemsaf II is also attested on the 39th entry of the Abydos King List, which dates to the reign of Seti I and constitutes one of the best preserved historical records for the end of the Old Kingdom and beginning of the First Intermediate Period. The Abydos king list is the only document where Nemtyemsaf II bears the throne name Merenre. A later historical source also records the existence of Nemtyemsaf II: indeed he is mentioned in Manetho's Aegyptiaca, a history of Egypt written in the 3rd century BC. Manetho gives Nemtyemsaf II's name as Menthesouphis and credits him with one year of reign.

There is only one contemporary artefact known for sure to belong to Nemtyemsaf II. It is a damaged false door inscribed with  Sa-nesu semsu Nemtyemsaf meaning "The elder king's son Nemtyemsaf" and discovered near the site of the pyramid of Neith, Pepi II's half-sister and queen and most likely Nemtyemsaf II's mother. As indicated by the epithet of "elder king's son", this inscription was made before Nemtyemsaf's accession to the throne, when he was the heir apparent and also shows that he bore this name before becoming a pharaoh. A second artefact may possibly belong to Nemtyemsaf II: a decree to protect the funerary cults of queens Ankhesenpepi I and Neith discovered in the mortuary temple of queen Neith. If this decree was indeed issued by Nemtyemsaf II, his Horus name would be S[...]tawy meaning "He who causes the two lands to...".

Reign
Nemtyemsaf II succeeded his father Pepi II after his extremely long reign, believed to have been between 64 and 94 years long. Nothing is known for certain of Nemtyemsaf's activities but he likely had to face the collapse of the royal power and the rise of the provincial nomarchs. Less than 3 years after his death, the Old Kingdom period ended and the chaos of the First Intermediate Period started. Nemtyemsaf II may possibly have started a pyramid for himself and, if so, it would likely have been in Saqqara, close to that of his father.

Herodotus story
In his Histories, the Greek historian Herodotus records a legend according to which an Egyptian queen Nitocris took revenge on the murder of her brother and husband by a rioting mob, allegedly Nemtyemsaf II, by drowning all his murderers during a banquet where she had gathered them. It is now recognized that the name "Nitocris" is a result of conflation and distortion from the name of a real male pharaoh, Neitiqerty Siptah, who succeeded Nemtyemsaf II.

Notes

22nd-century BC Pharaohs
Nemtyemsaf 02
22nd-century BC deaths
Pepi II Neferkare
Ancient murdered monarchs

Merenre Nemtyemsaf II


Alfalfa () (Medicago sativa), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as well as a green manure and cover crop. The name alfalfa is used in North America. The name lucerne is more commonly used in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The plant superficially resembles clover (a cousin in the same family), especially while young, when trifoliate leaves comprising round leaflets predominate. Later in maturity, leaflets are elongated. It has clusters of small purple flowers followed by fruits spiralled in two to three turns containing 10–20 seeds. Alfalfa is native to warmer temperate climates. It has been cultivated as livestock fodder since at least the era of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Etymology
The word alfalfa is a Spanish modification of the Arabic word al-faṣfaṣa.

History
Alfalfa seems to have originated in south-central Asia, and was first cultivated in Central Asia. According to Pliny (died 79 AD), it was introduced to Greece in about 490 BC when the Persians invaded Greek territory. Alfalfa cultivation is discussed in the fourth-century AD book Opus Agriculturae by Palladius, stating: "One sow-down lasts ten years. The crop may be cut four or six times a year ... A jugerum of it is abundantly sufficient for three horses all the year ... It may be given to cattle, but new provender is at first to be administered very sparingly, because it bloats up the cattle."

The medieval Arabic agricultural writer Ibn al-'Awwam, who lived in Spain in the later 12th century, discussed how to cultivate alfalfa, which he called  (). A 13th-century general-purpose Arabic dictionary, Lisān al-'Arab, says that alfalfa is cultivated as an animal feed and consumed in both fresh and dried forms. It is from the Arabic that the Spanish name alfalfa was derived.

In the 16th century, Spanish colonizers introduced alfalfa to the Americas as fodder for their horses.

In the North American colonies of the eastern US in the 18th century, it was called "lucerne", and many trials at growing it were made, but generally without sufficiently successful results. Relatively little is grown in the southeastern United States today. Lucerne (or luzerne) is the name for alfalfa in Britain, Australia, France, Germany, and a number of other countries. Alfalfa seeds were imported to California from Chile in the 1850s. That was the beginning of a rapid and extensive introduction of the crop over the western US States and introduced the word "alfalfa" to the English language. Since North and South America now produce a large part of the world's output, the word "alfalfa" has been slowly entering other languages.

Ecology
Alfalfa is a perennial forage legume which normally lives four to eight years, but can live more than 20 years, depending on variety and climate. The plant grows to a height of up to , and has a deep root system, sometimes growing to a depth of more than  to reach groundwater. Typically the root system grows to a depth of  depending on subsoil constraints. Owing to this deep root system, it helps to improve soil nitrogen fertility and protect from soil erosion. This depth of root system, and perenniality of crowns that store carbohydrates as an energy reserve, make it very resilient, especially to droughts. Alfalfa has a tetraploid genome.

Alfalfa is a small-seeded crop, and has a slowly growing seedling, but after several months of establishment, forms a tough "crown" at the top of the root system. This crown contains shoot buds that enable alfalfa to regrow many times after being grazed or harvested; however, overgrazing of the buds will reduce the new leaves on offer to the grazing animal.

This plant exhibits autotoxicity, which means it is difficult for alfalfa seed to grow in existing stands of alfalfa. Therefore, alfalfa fields are recommended to be rotated with other species (for example, corn or wheat) before reseeding. The exact mechanism of auto-toxicity is unclear, with medicarpins and phenols both seeming to play a role. Levels of autotoxicity in soil depends on soil type (clay soils maintain autotoxicity for longer), cultivar and age of the previous crop. A soil assay can be used to measure autotoxicity. Resistant to autotoxicity also varies by cultivar, a tolerant one being 'WL 656HQ'.

Culture

Alfalfa is widely grown throughout the world as forage for cattle, and is most often harvested as hay, but can also be made into silage, grazed, or fed as greenchop. Alfalfa usually has the highest feeding value of all common hay crops. It is used less frequently as pasture. When grown on soils where it is well-adapted, alfalfa is often the highest-yielding forage plant, but its primary benefit is the combination of high yield per hectare and high nutritional quality.

Its primary use is as feed for high-producing dairy cows, because of its high protein content and highly digestible fiber, and secondarily for beef cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. Alfalfa hay is a widely used protein and fiber source for meat rabbits. In poultry diets, dehydrated alfalfa and alfalfa leaf concentrates are used for pigmenting eggs and meat, because of their high content in carotenoids, which are efficient for colouring egg yolk and body lipids. Humans also eat alfalfa sprouts in salads and sandwiches. Dehydrated alfalfa leaf is commercially available as a dietary supplement in several forms, such as tablets, powders and tea. Fresh alfalfa can cause bloating in livestock, so care must be taken with livestock grazing on alfalfa because of this hazard.

Like other legumes, its root nodules contain bacteria, Sinorhizobium meliloti, with the ability to fix nitrogen, producing a high-protein feed regardless of available nitrogen in the soil. Its nitrogen-fixing ability (which increases soil nitrogen) and its use as an animal feed greatly improve agricultural efficiency.

Alfalfa can be sown in spring or fall, and does best on well-drained soils with a neutral pH of 6.8–7.5. Alfalfa requires sustained levels of potassium and phosphorus to grow well. It is moderately sensitive to salt levels in both the soil and irrigation water, although it continues to be grown in the arid southwestern United States, where salinity is an emerging issue. Soils low in fertility should be fertilized with manure or a chemical fertilizer, but correction of pH is particularly important. Usually a seeding rate of  is recommended, with differences based upon region, soil type, and seeding method. A nurse crop is sometimes used, particularly for spring plantings, to reduce weed problems and soil erosion, but can lead to competition for light, water, and nutrients.

In most climates, alfalfa is cut three to four times a year, but it can be harvested up to 12 times per year in Arizona and southern California. Total yields are typically around  in temperate environments, but yields have been recorded up to . Yields vary with region, weather, and the crop's stage of maturity when cut. Later cuttings improve yield, but with reduced nutritional content.

Beneficial insects

Alfalfa is considered an insectary, a place where insects are reared, and has been proposed as helpful to other crops, such as cotton, if the two are interplanted, because the alfalfa harbours predatory and parasitic insects that would protect the other crop. Harvesting the alfalfa by mowing the entire crop area destroys the insect population, but this can be avoided by mowing in strips so that part of the growth remains.

Pests and diseases

Like most plants, alfalfa can be attacked by various pests and pathogens. Diseases often have subtle symptoms which are easily misdiagnosed and can affect leaves, roots, stems and blossoms.

Some pests, such as the alfalfa weevil, aphids, and potato leafhopper, can reduce alfalfa yields dramatically, particularly with the second cutting when weather is warmest. Spotted alfalfa aphid, broadly spread in Australia, not only sucks sap but also injects salivary toxins into the leaves. Registered insecticides or chemical controls are sometimes used to prevent this and labels will specify the withholding period before the forage crop can be grazed or cut for hay or silage. Alfalfa is also susceptible to root rots, including Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia, and Texas root rot. Alfalfa is also susceptible to downy mildew caused by the oomycete species Peronospora aestivalis.

Harvesting

When alfalfa is to be used as hay, it is usually cut and baled. Loose haystacks are still used in some areas, but bales are easier for use in transportation, storage, and feed. Ideally, the first cutting should be taken at the bud stage, and the subsequent cuttings just as the field is beginning to flower, or one-tenth bloom because carbohydrates are at their highest. When using farm equipment rather than hand-harvesting, a swather cuts the alfalfa and arranges it in windrows. In areas where the alfalfa does not immediately dry out on its own, a machine known as a mower-conditioner is used to cut the hay. The mower-conditioner has a set of rollers or flails that crimp and break the stems as they pass through the mower, making the alfalfa dry faster. After the alfalfa has dried, a tractor pulling a baler collects the hay into bales.

Several types of bales are commonly used for alfalfa. For small animals and individual horses, the alfalfa is baled into small, two-string bales, commonly named by the strands of string used to wrap it. Other bale sizes are three-string, and so on up to half-ton (six-string) "square" bales – actually rectangular, and typically about . Small square bales weigh from  depending on moisture, and can be easily hand separated into "flakes". Cattle ranches use large round bales, typically  in diameter and weighing from . These bales can be placed in stable stacks or in large feeders for herds of horses or unrolled on the ground for large herds of cattle. The bales can be loaded and stacked with a tractor using a spike, known as a bale spear that pierces the center of the bale, or they can be handled with a grapple (claw) on the tractor's front-end loader.

When used as feed for dairy cattle, alfalfa is often made into haylage by a process known as ensiling. Rather than being dried to make dry hay, the alfalfa is chopped finely and fermented in silos, trenches, or bags, where the oxygen supply can be limited to promote fermentation. The anaerobic fermentation of alfalfa allows it to retain high nutrient levels similar to those of fresh forage, and is also more palatable to dairy cattle than dry hay. In many cases, alfalfa silage is inoculated with different strains of microorganisms to improve the fermentation quality and aerobic stability of the silage.

Worldwide production

During the early 2000s, alfalfa was the most cultivated forage legume in the world. Worldwide production was around 436 million tons in 2006. In 2009, alfalfa was grown on approximately  worldwide; of this North America produced 41% (), Europe produced 25% (), South America produced 23% (), Asia produced 8% (), and Africa and Oceania produced the remainder. The US was the largest alfalfa producer in the world by area in 2009, with , but considerable production area is found in Argentina (), Canada (), Russia (), Italy (), and China ().

United States
In the United States in 2012, the leading alfalfa-growing states were California, Idaho, and Montana. Alfalfa is predominantly grown in the northern and western United States; it can be grown in the southeastern United States, but leaf and root diseases, poor soils, and a lack of well-adapted varieties are often limitations.

California
Varieties resistant to the spotted alfalfa aphid (Therioaphis maculata) are necessary there, but even that is not always enough due to constant resistance evolution. See also .

Australia

New South Wales
New South Wales produces 40% of Australia's lucerne. Due to the introduction of the spotted alfalfa aphid (Therioaphis maculata) in 1977  all varieties grown there must be resistant to it (see also ).

Alfalfa and bees

Alfalfa seed production requires the presence of pollinators when the fields of alfalfa are in bloom. Alfalfa pollination is somewhat problematic, however, because western honey bees, the most commonly used pollinator, are less than ideal for this purpose; the pollen-carrying keel of the alfalfa flower trips and strikes pollinating bees on the head, which helps transfer the pollen to the foraging bee. Western honey bees, however, do not like being struck in the head repeatedly and learn to defeat this action by drawing nectar from the side of the flower. The bees thus collect the nectar, but carry no pollen, so do not pollinate the next flower they visit. Because older, experienced bees do not pollinate alfalfa well, most pollination is accomplished by young bees that have not yet learned the trick of robbing the flower without tripping the head-knocking keel.

When western honey bees are used to pollinate alfalfa, the beekeeper stocks the field at a very high rate to maximize the number of young bees. However, Western honey bee colonies may suffer protein stress when working alfalfa only, because alfalfa pollen protein is deficient in isoleucine, one of the amino acids essential in the diet of honeybee larvae.

Today, the alfalfa leafcutter bee (Megachile rotundata) is increasingly used to circumvent these problems. As a solitary but gregarious bee species, it does not build colonies or store honey, but is a very efficient pollinator of alfalfa flowers. Nesting is in individual tunnels in wooden or plastic material, supplied by the alfalfa seed growers. The leafcutter bees are used in the Pacific Northwest, while western honeybees dominate in California alfalfa seed production.

M. rotundata was unintentionally introduced into the United States during the 1940s, and its management as a pollinator of alfalfa has led to a three-fold increase in seed production in the U.S. The synchronous emergence of the adult bees of this species during alfalfa blooming period in combination with such behaviors as gregarious nesting, and utilization of leaves and nesting materials that have been mass-produced by humans provide positive benefits for the use of these bees in pollinating alfalfa.

A smaller amount of alfalfa produced for seed is pollinated by the alkali bee, mostly in the northwestern United States. It is cultured in special beds near the fields. These bees also have their own problems. They are not portable like honey bees, and when fields are planted in new areas, the bees take several seasons to build up. Honey bees are still trucked to many of the fields at bloom time.

The rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis, is important to the agricultural industry as well as for the pollination of alfalfa. It is known that members of this species pollinate up to 65 different species of plants, and it is the primary pollinator of key dietary crops, such as cranberries, plums, apples, onions, and alfalfa.

Varieties

Considerable research and development has been done with this important plant. Older cultivars such as 'Vernal' have been the standard for years, but many public and private varieties better adapted to particular climates are available. Private companies release many new varieties each year in the US.

Most varieties go dormant in the fall, with reduced growth in response to low temperatures and shorter days. 'Nondormant' varieties that grow through the winter are planted in long-season environments such as Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California, whereas 'dormant' varieties are planted in the Upper Midwest, Canada, and the Northeast. 'Nondormant' varieties can be higher-yielding, but they are susceptible to winter-kill in cold climates and have poorer persistence.

Most alfalfa cultivars contain genetic material from sickle medick (M. falcata), a crop wild relative of alfalfa that naturally hybridizes with M. sativa to produce sand lucerne (M. sativa ssp. varia). This species may bear either the purple flowers of alfalfa or the yellow of sickle medick, and is so called for its ready growth in sandy soil.<ref>Joseph Elwyn Wing, Alfalfa Farming in the U.S. 79 (Sanders Publishing Co. 1912)".</ref> Traits for insect resistance have also been introduced from M. glomerata and M. prostrata, members of alfalfa's secondary gene pool.

Most of the improvements in alfalfa over the last decades have consisted of better disease resistance on poorly drained soils in wet years, better ability to overwinter in cold climates, and the production of more leaves. Multileaf alfalfa varieties have more than three leaflets per leaf.

Alfalfa growers or lucerne growers have a suite of varieties or cultivars to choose from in the seed marketplace and base their selection on a number of factors including the dormancy or activity rating, crown height, fit for purpose (i.e., hay production or grazing), disease resistance, insect pest resistance, forage yield, fine leafed varieties and a combination of many favourable attributes. Plant breeding efforts use scientific methodology and technology to strive for new improved varieties.

The L. Teweles Seed Company claimed it created the world's first hybrid alfalfa.

Wisconsin and California and many other states publish alfalfa variety trial data. A complete listing of state variety testing data is provided by the North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference (NAAIC) State Listing, as well as additional detailed alfalfa genetic and variety data published by NAAIC.

 Genetic modification
Roundup Ready alfalfa, a genetically modified variety, was released by Forage Genetics International in 2005. This was developed through the insertion of a gene owned by Monsanto Company that confers resistance to glyphosate, a broad-spectrum herbicide, also known as Roundup. Although most grassy and broadleaf plants, including ordinary alfalfa, are killed by Roundup, growers can spray fields of Roundup Ready alfalfa with the glyphosate herbicide and kill the weeds without harming the alfalfa crop.

 Legal issues in the US
In 2005, after completing a 28-page environmental assessment (EA) the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) granted Roundup Ready alfalfa (RRA) nonregulated status under Code of Federal Regulations Title 7 Part 340, which regulates, among other things, the introduction (importation, interstate movement, or release into the environment) of organisms and products altered or produced through genetic engineering that are plant pests or that there is reason to believe are plant pests. Monsanto had to seek deregulation to conduct field trials of RRA, because the RRA contains a promoter sequence derived from the plant pathogen figwort mosaic virus. The USDA granted the application for deregulation, stating that the RRA with its modifications: "(1) Exhibit no plant pathogenic properties; (2) are no more likely to become weedy than the nontransgenic parental line or other cultivated alfalfa; (3) are unlikely to increase the weediness potential of any other cultivated or wild species with which it can interbreed; (4) will not cause damage to raw or processed agricultural commodities; (5) will not harm threatened or endangered species or organisms that are beneficial to agriculture; and (6) should not reduce the ability to control pests and weeds in alfalfa or other crops." Monsanto started selling RRA and within two years, more than 300,000 acres were devoted to the plant in the US.

The granting of deregulation was opposed by many groups, including growers of non-GM alfalfa who were concerned about gene flow into their crops. In 2006, the Center for Food Safety, a US non-governmental organization that is a critic of biotech crops, and others, challenged this deregulation in the California Northern District Court. Organic growers were concerned that the GM alfalfa could cross-pollinate with their organic alfalfa, making their crops unsalable in countries that ban the growing of GM crops. The District Court ruled that the USDA's EA did not address two issues concerning RRA's effect on the environment, and in 2007, required the USDA to complete a much more extensive environmental impact statement (EIS). Until the EIS was completed, they banned further planting of RRA but allowed land already planted to continue.Memorandum and Order Re: Permanent Injunction United States District Court for Northern California, Case No C 06-01075 CR, 3 May 2007. Retrieved 13 November 2011 The USDA proposed a partial deregulation of RRA but this was also rejected by the District Court. Planting of RRA was halted.

In June 2009, a divided three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the District Court's decision. Monsanto and others appealed to the US Supreme Court.

On 21 June 2010, in Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, the Supreme Court overturned the District Court decision to ban planting RRA nationwide as there was no evidence of irreparable injury. They ruled that the USDA could partially deregulate RRA before an EIS was completed. The Supreme Court did not consider the District Court's ruling disallowing RRA's deregulation and consequently RRA was still a regulated crop waiting for USDA's completion of an EIS.

This decision was welcomed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, Biotechnology Industry Organization, American Seed Trade Association, American Soybean Association, National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Cotton Council, and National Potato Council. In July 2010, 75 members of Congress from both political parties sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking him to immediately allow limited planting of genetically engineered alfalfa.Letter by 75 Members of Congress to Vilsack  Retrieved 1 November 2012 However the USDA did not issue interim deregulatory measures, instead focusing on completing the EIS. Their 2,300-page EIS was published in December 2010. It concluded that RRA would not affect the environment.

Three of the biggest natural food brands in the US lobbied for a partial deregulation of RRA, but in January 2011, despite protests from organic groups, Secretary Vilsack announced that the USDA had approved the unrestricted planting of genetically modified alfalfa and planting resumed.Gilla, Carey and Doering, Christopher UPDATE 3-U.S. farmers get approval to plant GMO alfalfa  Reuters US Edition, 27 January 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011 Secretary Vilsack commented, "After conducting a thorough and transparent examination of alfalfa ... APHIS [Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service] has determined that Roundup Ready alfalfa is as safe as traditionally bred alfalfa." About 20 million acres (8 million hectares) of alfalfa were grown in the US, the fourth-biggest crop by acreage, of which about 1% were organic. Some biotechnology officials forecast that half of the US alfalfa acreage could eventually be planted with GM alfalfa.

The National Corn Growers Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the Council for Biotech Information warmly applauded this decision. Christine Bushway, CEO of the Organic Trade Association, said, "A lot of people are shell-shocked. While we feel Secretary Vilsack worked on this issue, which is progress, this decision puts our organic farmers at risk." The Organic Trade Association issued a press release in 2011 saying that the USDA recognized the impact that cross-contamination could have on organic alfalfa and urged them to place restrictions to minimize any such contamination. However, organic farming groups, organic food outlets, and activists responded by publishing an open letter saying that planting the "alfalfa without any restrictions flies in the face of the interests of conventional and organic farmers, preservation of the environment, and consumer choice." Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and Senator Richard Lugar issued statements strongly supporting the decision "... giving growers the green light to begin planting an abundant, affordable and safe crop" and giving farmers and consumers the choice ... in planting or purchasing food grown with GM technology, conventionally, or organically." In a joint statement, US Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative Peter DeFazio said the USDA had the "opportunity to address the concerns of all farmers", but instead "surrender[ed] to business as usual for the biotech industry."

The non-profit Center for Food Safety appealed this decision in March 2011 but the District Court for Northern California rejected this motion in 2012.

 Phytoestrogens in alfalfa and effect on livestock fertility
Alfalfa, like other leguminous crops, is a known source of phytoestrogens, including spinasterol, coumestrol, and coumestan. Because of this, grazing on alfalfa during breeding can cause reduced fertility in sheep and in dairy cattle if not effectively managed.

Coumestrol levels in alfalfa have been shown to be elevated by fungal infection, but not significantly under drought stress or aphid infestation. Grazing management can be utilised to mitigate the effects of coumestrol on ewe reproductive performance, with full recovery after removal from alfalfa. Coumestrol levels in unirrigated crops can be predicted practically using weather variables.

 Nutritional value

Raw alfalfa seed sprouts are 93% water, 2% carbohydrates, 4% protein, and contain negligible fat (table). In a  reference amount, raw alfalfa sprouts supply  of food energy and 29% of the Daily Value of vitamin K. They are a moderate source of vitamin C, some B vitamins, phosphorus, and zinc (table).

 Sprouts

Sprouting alfalfa seeds is the process of germinating seeds at the immature stage for use as a garnish on various food preparations, such as salads. Although sprouts may be grown in soil, they are more commonly germinated in a soilless medium using drums, trays or racks.

 Safety concerns
Alfalfa sprouts may contain microbiological pathogens, mainly from Salmonella or E. coli'', which have caused numerous food product recalls and illness outbreaks, putting sprouts into a "high risk" category for food safety. People with weakened immune systems, such as the elderly, pregnant women, or those taking prescription drugs affecting the immune system, should not eat sprouts.

With long-term human consumption of alfalfa seeds, several safety concerns and medication interactions may result, including possible reactions similar to the autoimmune disease, lupus erythematosus.

Other concerns are for women during pregnancy or breast-feeding, hormone-sensitive conditions (such as breast, uterine, and ovarian cancers), and for people with diabetes. Alfalfa may interact with warfarin (coumadin), birth control pills (contraceptive drugs), and estrogens.

Toxicity of canavanine
Raw alfalfa seeds and sprouts are a source of the amino acid canavanine. Much of the canavanine is converted into other amino acids during germination, so sprouts contain much less canavanine than unsprouted seeds. Canavanine competes with arginine, resulting in the synthesis of dysfunctional proteins. Raw unsprouted alfalfa has toxic effects in primates, including humans, which can result in lupus-like symptoms and other immunological diseases in susceptible individuals. Stopping consumption of alfalfa seeds can reverse the effects.

Gallery

References

External links
 Grassland species profile

Forages
Medicago
Nitrogen-fixing crops
Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine
Pollination management
Vegetables

Alfalfa


Trojden I (1284/86 – 13 March 1341) was a Polish prince, Duke of Czersk from 1310, ruler over Warsaw and Liw from 1313, and regent of Płock in the years 1336–1340. He was a member of the House of Piast.

Trojden was the second son of Bolesław II of Płock and his first wife Gaudemantė (Sophia), the daughter of Grand Duke Traidenis of Lithuania. He was named after his maternal grandfather.

Life

In 1310, Trojden I received the district region of Czersk when his father was still alive. Following his father's death in 1313, he further received the districts of Warsaw and Liw in addition to his duchy, which made him ruler over all of eastern Masovia. This division didn't satisfy all members of his family and led to a brief war between the three brothers (Trojden, Siemowit II and Wenceslaus) in 1316. The exact details of this conflict are unknown except for a brief mention in an annually published manuscript called the Rocznik miechowski.

Initially, Trojden I maintained excellent relations with Polish king Ladislaus the Short (also known as the "Elbow-high"). Thanks to the king's intervention, Trojden I was able to marry Maria, the daughter of Yuri I, King of Halych-Volhynia, in around 1309/1310. Thanks to this union, Trojden's children could legitimately claim the Kingdom of Ruthenia. In 1323, when the Rurikid dynasty in Ruthenia became extinct after the death of Andrew of Galicia, Trojden I was able to place on the throne his oldest son Bolesław, who assumed the name Yuri II (in honour of his maternal grandfather).

In 1325, Trojden I and Siemowit I sent a letter to the Pope outlining the eastern border of their possession as reaching two miles from Grodno ().

The aggressive policy pursued by king Ladislaus (who wanted to reunite all the territories of Poland and Masovia) were a threat for Trojden I and his brothers, especially when Ladislaus attacked and plundered the city of Płock as a punishment for the alliance of the youngest Masovian Duke, Wenceslaus with the Teutonic Order. On 2 January 1326, Trojden I and his brothers concluded an agreement with the Teutonic Order at Brodnica, which led to a short conflict with Poland and its ally Lithuania.

In the following years, Trojden I together with his brothers tried to maneuver between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order. For instance, in 1329 the Dukes of Masovia supported Poland militarily, while in 1334 they already appeared as allies of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.

In 1339, Trojden I was once again in league with the Kingdom of Poland, ruled at the time by Casimir III the Great. Evidence of this was his testimony during the Polish-Teutonic trial for the seizure of land from the Piast dynasty. For unknown reasons, Trojden didn't personally attend the trial, but sent Chancellor Gunther as his representative.

In 1340, his eldest son Bolesław (Yuri II) was poisoned by his Ruthenian subjects. Trojden I waived his right to succeed his son in exchange for a large sum of money paid to him by Casimir III.

Trojden I died on 13 March 1341 and is buried in the Dominican monastery in Warka, now destroyed. In 1859, his remains were transferred to the Church of Our Lady of Carmel in Warka, thanks to the initiative of Piotr Wysocki, as manifestation of growing Polish nationalism.

Marriage and issue

Around 1309/10, Trojden I married with Maria (bef. 1293 - 11 January 1341), daughter of Yuri I, King of Halych-Volhynia. They had four children:
Bolesław (Yuri II) (1310 – 21 March 1340), became King of Ruthenia.
Euphemia (1312 – ca. 11 January 1374), married Casimir I, Duke of Cieszyn.
Siemowit III (1316/25 – 16 June 1381), Duke of Masovia.
Casimir I (1329/31 – 26 November/5 December 1355).

References

1280s births
1341 deaths
Dukes of Masovia

Trojden I, Duke of Masovia


The F-22 Raptor is a fighter plane made by Lockheed Martin. It first flew in 1990 and entered service in the United States Air Force in 2005. Because it is very expensive and dogfighting isn't common today, there aren't as many of them as other fighter planes. It is stealth plane, which means it is very hard to see on radar. It can hold 6 radar-guided medium-range AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and 2 heat-seeking, short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, but there are other payloads it can hold. Its top speed is 1,500 miles per hour, which is 2.4 times the speed of sound. It features thrust vectoring, where the plane's thrust nozzles turn to help turn it faster. Thrust vectoring is very useful in dogfights.

The F-22 Raptor is a 5th generation fighter and is a very expensive plane to produce. In order to protect the F-22 Raptor's stealth technology and classified systems, the U.S. has not sold the F-22 Raptor to other countries. If they do, they will export them in a state that isn't as powerful as the ones used by the U.S.

Similar airplanes
Su-57 - Russian counterpart of the F-22.

F-35 - A similar American 5th generation plane, except it is a multirole jet instead of a fighter.
  - on UAC Official YouTube Channnel

United States Air Force aircraft
F-22

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor


Alexander Kucharsky (18 March 1741 – 5 November 1819) also Alexandre Kucharsky, was a Polish portrait painter who spent his adult life in France. He himself used the spelling Kucharsky, but Kucharski is also often used. In the past, in France, the name has been given as Couaski.

Early life
Kucharsky was born in Warsaw.  As a boy, he was a page to King Stanisław II Augustus, the last elected ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He trained first as an artist in Warsaw, in the studio of the famous painter Marcello Bacciarelli. With a bursary from King Stanisław Augustus, he then travelled to Paris to work under Joseph-Marie Vien and Carle van Loo at the Académie Royale, from 1760 to 1769.

Work
The king of Poland wanted Kucharsky to train as a historical painter, but instead he became a portrait artist, thus losing the king's patronage. From 1776 to 1778, Kucharsky was in the service of the Princes de Condé.

Kucharsky liked to paint half-length portraits in pastels or in oils, but he also worked in gouache and sometimes painted miniatures. His clients were mostly from the French and Polish aristocracy. The latter had increased in numbers in France as a result of the alliance between King Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska.

After the departure from the French court of Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun in 1789, Kucharsky became painter to Queen Marie-Antoinette. As well as painting her portrait and the royal children, he also painted Marie-Louise, princesse de Lamballe, the comte d'Artois, later King Charles X, the countess of Artois, and Catherine the Great of Russia.

Kucharsky's best-known work today includes his portraits of the doomed French royal family, especially the future King Louis XVII. The final portrait, painted in 1793 of Marie Antoinette, was sold at auction by Piasa on 21 May 2003 and is attributed to Kucharsky.

When signing his work, the artist used the spelling "Kucharsky".

Later years
Throughout the years of the French Revolution, Kucharsky's allegiance remained with the ancien régime. In retirement he lived near Paris at Sainte-Périne, living on a pension granted by Louis XVIII of France.  He died in Paris.

Selected paintings

See also
List of Poles

Footnotes

External links

 Alexander Kucharski at artnet.com
 Alexandre Kucharski (1ère division) at pere-lachaise.bleublog.ch

1741 births
1819 deaths
Painters from Warsaw
18th-century Polish–Lithuanian painters
18th-century male artists
19th-century Polish painters
19th-century Polish male artists
Polish portrait painters
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Polish male painters

Alexander Kucharsky


Penthouse is a 1933 American Pre-Code crime film starring Warner Baxter as a lawyer and Myrna Loy as a call girl who helps him with a murder case. The film features Charles Butterworth as the butler, Mae Clarke as the murder victim, Phillips Holmes as the suspected murderer, and C. Henry Gordon as the gangster who arranged the murder. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on a novel by Arthur Somers Roche. The film was later remade as the more sanitized Society Lawyer (1939), without the risqué pre-Code dialogue.

Plot
Attorney Jack Durant (Warner Baxter) successfully defends racketeer Tony Gaziotti (Nat Pendleton) against a high-profile murder charge and waives his fee. His staid law firm feels his taking the racketeer on as a client reflects badly on them; when he refuses to give up his exciting new line of work, they go their separate ways. His upper class girlfriend Sue Leonard (Martha Sleeper) turns down his proposal and breaks up with him for the same reason. Shortly afterward, Sue agrees to marry Tom Siddall (Phillips Holmes), but only if he gives up his mistress, Mimi Montagne (Mae Clarke). Although Tom offers Mimi a generous settlement, she becomes furious.

Mimi quickly returns to her former lover, gangster Jim Crelliman (C. Henry Gordon). He has her get Tom to meet her at a raucous party. After they go out on the balcony to talk, a shot is heard; the revelers find Mimi dead, and Tom with a revolver in his hand. A pawnbroker named Levitoff tells the police that he sold Tom the gun the same day. Sue begs Jack to defend Tom. He agrees, even though he gets an anonymous phone call telling him to stay out of it.

Jack asks Tony to find out what he can. Tony introduces him to Gertie Waxted (Myrna Loy), who was Mimi's friend and at the party. She tells him that she arrived after the murder, but he thinks she still may know something useful, so he invites her to spend the night in his suite. To her great surprise, however, he sleeps on the couch.

The next morning, Sue asks Jack to drop the case because she has received a call threatening his life. When Gertie appears in Jack's robe, Sue hastily departs, even though Gertie tells her that Jack is still in love with her.

Jack questions the pawnbroker without success. After he leaves, Levitoff is murdered. Jack goes to Gertie's apartment (directly across from the murder scene) to get some clothes for her. Crelliman shows up and offers him $200,000 to take a long vacation. When Jack turns him down, Crelliman threatens him. Jack leaves and breaks into the apartment directly above Gertie's, which he has learned belongs to Murtoch (George E. Stone), one of Crelliman's gunmen. From the entry and exit wounds on Mimi's body, he is sure the murderer was situated higher up; the angle from Murtoch's window is about right. A helpful elevator operator warns Jim that Crelliman's men are waiting for him in the lobby and leads him to the service elevator.

Jack sees Gertie in a club with Murtoch and jumps to conclusions. When she returns to Jack's apartment, he is mad until she tells him that she had to get Murtoch out of his apartment so Jack would not run into him when he broke in. He apologizes and admits he has fallen in love with her. He asks Gertie to marry him, but they are interrupted by a phone call from Tony, who has found out that Crelliman has decided to have Murtoch killed. Jack takes along Police Lieutenant "Steve" Stevens (Robert Emmett O'Connor) and several of his men to trick Murtoch into confessing. Gertie volunteers to lure Crelliman out onto the roof of the other building. After capturing Murtoch, Jack tells him that they will frame him for Crelliman's impending murder. Murtoch eventually cracks and confesses.

Meanwhile, Gertie tells Crelliman that she frightened Jack into accepting his offer, but he does not believe her and tells his men to take her "for a ride". Jack and the police hear gunfire. When they rush over, they find Crelliman and his henchmen all dead. Gertie and Tony are in the next room. Tony saved Gertie, but he himself collapses and dies from a gunshot wound.

Later, Gertie is packing to leave, thinking that Jack is getting back together with Sue. He tells Gertie that he wants to marry her and take her to Europe. When she reminds him she is no lady, he tells her she will do until one comes along.

Cast

 Warner Baxter as Jackson "Jack" Durant
 Myrna Loy as Gertie Waxted
 Charles Butterworth as Layton
 Mae Clarke as Mimi Montagne
 Phillips Holmes as Tom Siddall
 C. Henry Gordon as Jim Crelliman
 Martha Sleeper as Sue Leonard
 Nat Pendleton as Tony Gaziotti

 George E. Stone as Tim Murtoch
 Robert Emmett O'Connor as Police Lieutenant "Steve" Stevens
 Raymond Hatton as Angel (short bodyguard)
 Arthur Belasco as Tall bodyguard
 Samuel S. Hinds as Law firm partner
 Theresa Harris as Lily
 Tom Kennedy as Joe

Production
The working title of Penthouse was "Penthouse Legend."  Baxter was borrowed from Warner Bros. for the film.  The film was the first pairing of Loy and director W. S. Van Dyke, who directed many of the Thin Man films which would make Loy a star.  Penthouse screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett wrote the screenplays for three of the six Thin Man films: The Thin Man (1934), After the Thin Man (1936), and Another Thin Man (1939).

After directing Penthouse, Van Dyke told MGM production boss Louis B. Mayer that Loy would be a big star if she continued to receive the right kinds of roles.

References

External links

1933 films
1933 crime films
American black-and-white films
American crime films
Films based on American novels
Films directed by W. S. Van Dyke
Films set in New York City
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films

Penthouse (film)


The  National Political Union was an organisation set up in October 1831, after the rejection of the Reform Bill by the House of Lords, to serve as a pressure group for parliamentary reform: "to support the King and his ministers against a small faction in accomplishing their great measure of Parliamentary Reform".

Modelled by Francis Place on the influential Birmingham Political Union, (but without its emphasis on currency reform) the N. P. U. was meant to serve both as a co-ordinating body for the country's political unions, and as a particular outlet for London radicals.

Controversies, effects, and demise
The N. P. U. was involved in controversy from its very outset, when the constituting meeting was invaded by a working-class protest against its middle-class membership: agreement on a moderate policy, but with half the Council seats reserved for manual workers, meant that the body would continue thereafter as a moderate centre of focus for both the middle and working classes of London. A month later, a government ban on umbrella organisations effectively put paid to the N. P. U.'s hopes of replacing the Birmingham Political Union as a nationwide co-ordinating body; and in the New Year it found itself divided again on the question of whether to urge the government onwards with reform, or simply express support for the Whig ministry, as its President, Sir Francis Burdett, preferred.

It was only after the dismissal of the Whig ministers, when the so-called Days of May protests against the forming of a Tory administration began, that the N. P. U. came into its own, with a major influx of members, and of finance. A series of co-ordinated measures – a petition to the Commons for the withholding of the budget; public meetings against reaction; and an organised run on the Bank of England's gold – helped provide that "pressure from without" to which Earl Grey attributed much of the eventual success of the Whig Bill.

Thereafter however, after a brief attempt by the N. P. U. to organise support for liberal candidates at the 1832 election, a collapse in both membership and finances took place, its very success leading to the undoing of the essentially single-issue body.

See also

References

Further reading
J. R. M. Butler, The Passing of the Great Reform Bill (Longman 1914)
Charles Tilley, Popular Contention in Great Britain, 1758-1834 (Harvard 1995)

External links
 Original papers

Political history of England
Organizations established in 1831
1832 in politics
Historical radicalism
History of social movements
Reform in England
1831 establishments in England
Electoral reform in the United Kingdom

National Political Union (England)


Love Letters is a 1984 American romantic drama film starring Jamie Lee Curtis and James Keach. The film is written and directed by Amy Holden Jones, whom Roger Corman agreed to finance following her success with The Slumber Party Massacre (1982).

Plot

Anna Winter is a young woman who discovers her mother had an affair with a married man for 15 years, so she starts her own affair with a married man.

Anna works for a Los Angeles public radio station. She often must care for her alcoholic father and comply with his many demands. When she finds love letters, revealing her mother's longtime involvement with someone else, Anna develops a romantic notion of the idea as something suitable for herself.

She meets a photographer, Oliver Andrews, who is happily married and a father. Their physical attraction is immediate and they begin a torrid affair, but Oliver cautions her from the start that he has no intention of leaving his family. Anna has no objection, enjoying the sex and intimacy for the time being, until feelings develop and she begins to desire a permanent relationship, intruding on Oliver's privacy in the process, with unhappy consequences for all. In the end she finally meets the man her mother had an affair with and she decides to take a job offer at a radio station in San Francisco to give herself a fresh start in life.

Cast
Jamie Lee Curtis as Anna Winter
James Keach as Oliver Andrews
Bonnie Bartlett as Maggie Winter
Matt Clark as Chuck Winter
Amy Madigan as Wendy
Brian Wood as Frank
Phil Coccioletti as Ralph Glass
Larry Cedar as Jake
Rance Howard as  Joseph Chesley
Jeff Doucette as Hippy
Sally Kirkland as Sally
Lyman Ward as  Morgan Crawford
Bud Cort as Danny De Fronso

Production
Amy Holden Jones had just made her feature film debut as director with Slumber Party Massacre and wanted to follow it up with something non-horror. She and her husband had written love letters to each other several years previously when living on different coasts; she rediscovered them and wondered what would happen if their daughter came across the love letters. At the same time Jones saw Shoot the Moon about a man who has an affair and thought that while the story of an affair told from the point of view of the unfaithful married man had been done many times, she had never seen the story from the point of view of the girlfriend to the married man. Jones:
I put that together with the love letters and thought it would be interesting if someone came upon the love letters and realized that their parents had had an extramarital affair, if the love letters were not in fact between her mother and father, as ours were, but between the mother and a lover. In other words, what would happen if you were confronted with an understanding of a time period in your parents' life which you never really understand -- none of us have a real idea of what our parents were like in their twenties. How would that affect your life? And I thought it would be interesting if that then thrust her into an affair with a married man, trying to replicate what she saw her mother had. Basically, it was designed to be a movie about what happens to the woman outside of the marriage, who is usually, in fiction, painted as a terrible villain and often is kind of a victim who gets left in the end.
Jones said she was inspired to do flashbacks by the screenplays of Harold Pinter.

Her first choice for the lead was Meg Tilly but her agent was demanding more money than Corman was willing to pay. Jamie Lee Curtis agreed to play the role for only $25,000 despite several nude scenes as it gave her a chance to break away from the horror films she had been mostly making up until that stage of her career. Curtis said she "had to fight to get" the role. "They didn't think I could pull off a sweet young thing... I think they thought I was a little too wordly, too sophisticated, too tough."

The film was financed by Roger Corman who insisted on the inclusion of some nudity. Jones:
He wants either sex, violence or humor. He actually told me that lovemaking wasn't so much required as nudity. And he didn't mind if she could just be lounging around the house nude, but there had to be nudity. He had to have some way to sell the thing. It's actually the one thing that troubles me about it. I find some of the nudity really gratuitous. But it was the price we paid to get it made.

It was filmed at the Los Angeles Venice Canals in the house located at 412 Carroll Canal Ct. Venice, CA.

It was shot in the summer of 1982 over twenty days. Curtis made the film before Trading Places but that movie came out in cinemas before Love Letters.

References

External links

1984 films
1984 romantic drama films
1980s English-language films
American romantic drama films
Films produced by Roger Corman
New World Pictures films
Films directed by Amy Holden Jones
Films about adultery in the United States
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films about radio people
Films with screenplays by Amy Holden Jones
1980s American films

Love Letters (1984 film)


The siege of Rhegium was fought in 387 BC between a Syracusan force and the city of Rhegium. The Syracusans were led by the tyrant Dionysius I. Dionysius took the city, and sold its inhabitants into slavery.

Rhegium had allied with Carthage against Syracuse during the Third Sicilian War because Syracuse was a rival in Magna Graecia and both wanted to control the Strait of Messina. Now that Syracuse and Carthage had secured peace, Dionysius wanted revenge on Rhegium. Dionysius invaded the mainland crushing Rhegium's ally, the Italiote League of Taurentum, at the Battle of the Elleporus. He then besieged, captured and sacked Rhegium, selling its inhabitants into slavery. Rhegium would eventually be refounded by Dionysius II.

380s BC conflicts
Rhegium
387 BC
4th century BC in Italy

Siege of Rhegium


"Endgame" is the series finale of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager, episodes 25 and 26 of the seventh season and 171 and 172 in the overall series. It was originally shown May 23, 2001, on the UPN network as a double-length episode and later presented as such in DVD collections, but it is shown in syndicated broadcasts as a two-part story.

Plot
In the year 2404, the Federation and the re-assembled crew of Voyager are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the ship's return to Earth, 23 years after it was stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Kathryn Janeway – now an admiral – reminisces with her crew, but reflects on the high personal costs of the long journey. She launches a plot to undo some of them by intervening at a key point in their history, changing a decision she now regrets. She steals an illegal time travel device and – with the reluctant help of now-Captain Harry Kim – takes a shuttlecraft back to 2378, where she meets up with Voyager, still in the Delta Quadrant. She pulls rank on younger Captain Janeway and orders the ship to return to a nebula filled with Borg that they had passed a few days before. She provides advanced technologies that allow Voyager to survive the massive Borg defenses, destroy two Borg vessels, and enter a transwarp corridor, which the Borg use for interstellar travel. Voyager comes upon a Borg transwarp hub, which connects distant parts of the galaxy, and could save the ship from sixteen more years stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

However, Captain Janeway wants to use Admiral Janeway's future technology to instead destroy the transwarp network; this can only be done from its terminus in the Delta Quadrant. Admiral Janeway explains that 23 additional crew members will die on the remainder of their trip home, including Seven of Nine (whose death will emotionally devastate Chakotay), and that Tuvok will become mentally unstable from a neurological condition that could have been treated in the Alpha Quadrant. Troubled by the choice, Captain Janeway discusses the issue with the crew, who agree that destroying the hub – severely diminishing the Borg threat to the Alpha Quadrant – is more important. The admiral is inspired by their spirit, and works with the captain on a scheme to do both.

The admiral takes her shuttlecraft and enters the transwarp hub, arriving at the Unicomplex – the center of all Borg activity and the home of the Borg Queen. She pretends to offer a deal in defiance of the captain's plans: her future technologies, in exchange for sending Voyager safely home. However, the Queen captures the admiral and begins to assimilate her into the Borg collective. Admiral Janeway then turns the tables by unleashing a pathogen she was carrying in her bloodstream into the collective, devastating it and killing the Queen. The Unicomplex suffers a cascade failure and explodes, killing the admiral as well.

Meanwhile, Captain Janeway and Voyager have entered a transwarp corridor, pursued by a surviving Borg sphere that is trying to destroy Voyager and crew in a last-chance attempt to create a time-travel paradox that will undo the devastating damage that Admiral Janeway has just done. Unable to fight back against the sphere's defenses, Captain Janeway takes Voyager inside it, destroying it from the inside just as they emerge from the collapsing transwarp corridor near Earth. They are met by a fleet of Starfleet vessels that had been sent to confront the Borg, which instead escort Voyager home to Earth.

Production
It was originally expected that a character would die in order to return Voyager to Earth, with Kate Mulgrew saying in an interview that one of the characters would die in one of the final frames of the series finale – but added that it didn't mean she was saying that it would be Janeway who would perish. In 2015, Brannon Braga stated on Twitter that he felt that it should have been Seven of Nine who died in the finale, and that he had written the episode "Human Error" specifically to set this up.

Awards
This episode won two Emmy Awards, which only four other Star Trek episodes have done. It won for Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Dramatic Underscore) (Jay Chattaway) and Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series, in both cases beating the Voyager episode "Workforce", which was also nominated in those categories. "Endgame" was also nominated for Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series.

Reception
In 2015, SyFy ranked "Endgame" as one of the top ten episodes of the series.

In 2016, on the fiftieth anniversary of the franchise, multiple publications included "Endgame" in episode rankings. The Hollywood Reporter rated "Endgame" the 54th best television episode of all Star Trek franchise television prior to Star Trek: Discovery, including live-action and the animated series, but not counting the movies. They also ranked "Endgame" the sixth best episode of the Star Trek: Voyager series. SyFy ranked "Endgame" as the third best finale of Star Trek series up to 2016. SyFy ranked "Endgame" as the eighth best time travel plot in Star Trek. Empire ranked this the 48th best out of the top fifty episodes of all the 700 plus Star Trek television episodes. Radio Times ranked the return of the USS Voyager to Earth as the 30th greatest moment in all Star Trek, including films and television up to that time.

In 2019, Nerdist rated Captain Kathryn Janeway one of the top seven time-traveling characters in all of Star Trek for her role in "Endgame". The same year, Nerdist also suggested watching "Endgame" as part of an abbreviated binge-watching guide featuring USS Voyagers confrontations with the Borg. They also ranked it as the fifth best time-travel episode of all Star Trek in between "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (#6) and "All Good Things..." (#4).

Also in 2019, SyFy recommend this episode for its Seven of Nine binge-watching guide.

In 2021, Screen Rant ranked "Endgame" the sixth best episode with the Borg, based on an IMDB rating of 8.6 out 10.

Novelization
A novelized version of "Endgame" was adapted by Diane Carey, and published in 2002. Some related Star Trek episodes were also novelized, including the Star Trek: Voyager television premiere "Caretaker", which was released as a 278-page novel called "Caretaker", and as an audiobook in 1995 by Simon & Schuster.

Two additional novels based on Voyager'''s return are Homecoming and The Farther Shore'', both by Christie Golden.

Notes

See also
Endgame (Stargate SG-1) (this is also the title an episode of a similarly named TV series that aired the following year)

References

External links

2001 American television episodes
Fiction set in the 25th century
American television series finales
Television episodes written by Rick Berman
Television episodes written by Brannon Braga
Emmy Award-winning episodes
Star Trek time travel episodes
Star Trek: Voyager (season 7) episodes

Endgame (Star Trek: Voyager)