Portal:Trains/Did you know/April 2011

April 2011

 * ...that the low-rise Cempaka station, which opened in 1996 on the Ampang Line in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, serves as a public crossing across the Ampang Line tracks between Kampung Pandan Dalam and Pandan Indah via a walkway running underneath the tracks and platforms?


 * ...that Cais do Sodré station in Lisbon, Portugal, which opened in 1928, is decorated with works by abstract artist António Dacosta and is well known for having an underground waterfall?


 * ...that the Bull bridge accident, which occurred near Ambergate in Derbyshire, England, in 1860, is believed to have been caused by a "cold shut," where the molten metal does not fuse together during metal casting, that grew into a complete gap in the girder due to the repeated fatigue from the weight of passing trains?


 * ...that when the oldest portion of the Buenos Aires Western Railway opened in Argentina in 1857, originally a 10 km long line that connected Plaza Parque station in Buenos Aires and La Floresta station in Flores, no fewer than 15,000 passengers were carried in the first fortnight?


 * ...that the majority of the Breda A650 trains used on the Los Angeles Metro Red and Metro Purple Lines in California have an acceleration that is almost identical to that of the 1000 Series cars used by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority because both use the same General Electric traction motors?


 * ...that Bingo-Ochiai Station, a Geibi and Kisuki Line station in Hattori, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, originally opened in 1935 as a terminal station and included railway amenities such as a turntable, water tower, and a coal yard, but with the advent of CTC, the station is due to become an unmanned station and is now considered a Hikyō or secluded station by railfans?


 * ...that Bell railway station on the Epping railway line in Preston, Victoria, Australia, a suburb of Melbourne, has the only monosyllabic name in the entire Melbourne suburban rail system (depending upon how one says Jewell)?


 * ...that the Estació de França in Barcelona, Spain, which was in originally built the 19th century as the main terminus for trains arriving from France and is the second-busiest station in Barcelona as of 2011, is the only station in the city that does not include underground platforms?


 * ...that the current Ayr railway station, which was originally opened in 1886 by the Glasgow and South Western Railway just 300 yd south of the station it replaced in Scotland, is the third station to be so named?


 * ...that in the 1900s and 1910s, the Auburn and Syracuse Electric Railroad in New York operated vacation excursions to Upstate New York locations such as Skaneateles Lake to increase patronage of the company's steamboat on Skaneateles Lake and amusement park on Owasco Lake?


 * ...that the name Asahi, which was used from 1982 to 2002 to describe a limited-stop Shinkansen service between Tokyo and Niigata, Japan, was first introduced in 1960 for semi-express (準急) services operating between Niigata and Sendai?


 * ...that when the Apeldoorn railway station in the Netherlands was refurbished from 2004 to 2008, a station which originally opened in 1876, the work included closing a few level crossings and construction of a new bicycle tunnel under the station to replace them?


 * ...that the Class 460 of Alstom Coradia Juniper electric multiple unit trains is also known as 8Gat because the class consists of eight trains, with eight cars per train, operated by Gatwick Express?


 * ...that while a new intermodal station is to be constructed in place of the current Alicante railway station in Spain, a temporal terminal is to be utilized by AVE high-speed trains when they start serving the terminal in 2012?


 * ...that when the town of Yorktown Heights, New York, bought the former Yorktown Heights Railroad Station from New York Central Railroad in 1966, the town originally planned to relocate the structure and use it as a bus terminal?


 * ...that the name Yamabiko, which is currently designated on limited-stop shinkansen services operating between Tokyo and Morioka, Japan, was first introduced in 1959 on a service between Fukushima and Morioka on the Tōhoku Main Line?


 * ...that Wirksworth railway station in Derbyshire, England, was the former terminus of the Midland Railway Wirksworth branch line, and now serves as the terminus of the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, a heritage railway that operates the former Midland Railway branch?
 * ...that Westona railway station on the Werribee railway line in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, was named by Alan and Betty Angus who entered a station naming contest to suggest Westona as a portmanteau of "west" and "Altona"?


 * ...that before becoming the second and last prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Roy Welensky began a railroad career with Rhodesia Railways as a fireman and worked his way up to become leader of the powerful European Railway Workers Union?


 * ...that after World War II, a new Warsaw Główna station was opened to serve as the main railway station in Warsaw, Poland, but since the opening of the Warszawa Centralna station in 1975, the Warsaw Główna became the site of a railway museum?


 * ...that although the Wadamisaki Line, a low-traffic spur line in Japan, is officially part of the San'yō Main Line, there is no regular through service between the branch and the main line, and Wadamisaki Line trains depart from a separate platform at Hyōgo Station?


 * ...that Vlissingen railway station, which opened in 1873 and is now the western terminal of Staatslijn F, is less than 100 m short of being the most westerly railway station in the Netherlands?


 * ...that automatic vacuum brake systems introduced as early as the 1860s have been in widespread use in British train equipment and in those countries influenced by British practice until they were superseded by air brake systems in the 1970s?


 * ...that a feasibility study to extend and upgrade the freight-only Uzhhorod – Košice broad gauge track, which opened in 1966, from its present terminus near Košice, Slovakia, to Vienna, Austria, was completed in 2010 and construction is now expected to begin in 2013 with the extension opening in 2016?


 * ...that the future of the Upfield line in northern Melbourne, Australia, was in serious doubt in the late 1980s and early 1990s with proposals for the line to be converted into a light rail line or even closed, but was secured with upgraded signalling, closure or upgrade of the numerous level crossings, and duplication of the track between Fawkner and Gowrie?


 * ...that Union Pacific Railroad used 4-4-0 steam locomotive 119 at the golden spike ceremony in 1869 because the engineer operating Thomas C. Durant's train from the east refused to run a different locomotive over the Devil's Gate Bridge following a partial washout of the bridge supports?


 * ...that despite being dubbed the Lunatic Express by its detractors, the Uganda Railway was a huge logistical achievement and proved useful in the suppression of slavery, by removing the need for humans in the transport of goods, and in the First World War campaign against General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa?


 * ...that Tsurumaki-Onsen Station on the Odakyu Odawara Line in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, originally opened in 1927 as Tsurumaki Station and then was renamed to Tsurumaki-Onsen Station in 1937, but reverted to its original name in 1944 as authorities felt that the onsen in the name appeared frivolous in light of wartime austerities, and was finally renamed back to Tsurumaki-Onsen Station in 1987?


 * ...that treadles, mechanical or electrical devices that detect when a train axle has passed a particular location, are used to actuate flange greasers, axle counters and signals such as level crossing lights and barriers?