Portal:Trains/Did you know/April 2015

April 2015

 * ...that Barcelona Metro's El Coll – La Teixonera station, with its entrance situated under a steep hill, has the highest elevated station entrance on the whole network at 181.60 m and the longest lift on the network at 63 m?


 * ...that Dhanbad Junction railway station is the largest railway station in the Indian state of Jharkhand, handling over 100 trains and more than 100,000 passengers every day?


 * ...that the China Railway HXD3D electric locomotives have been called "rainbow," "tomato," and "orangutan" locomotives due to their varied liveries?


 * ...that Capital Beltway station, opened by Penn Central in 1970 and continued in use by Amtrak until 1983, proved to be inadequate as a station since it was not handicap-accessible and its waiting room, as originally built, had seats for just ten people and no restrooms?


 * ...that when Bridgeton Cross railway station in Scotland was closed along with both lines it served on 5 October 1964 as a result of the Beeching Axe, the tracks were subsequently lifted, but the station and tunnels were left intact, which enabled their reuse and reopening as part of the Argyle Line project in 1979?


 * ...that Ben Kilpatrick, who was a former member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, and Ole Hobek were both killed when they attempted the Baxter's Curve Train Robbery aboard a Southern Pacific train in Texas in 1912?


 * ...that when Amtrak announced the operation of a special Winter Park Express excursion train reviving the route of the Ski Train on February 25, 2015, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Winter Park Resort, Colorado, more than 450 seats sold out in less than 10 hours prompting the addition of a second train which also sold out quickly?


 * ...that an automated people mover, sometimes called a "horizontal elevator" built by Poma and the Otis Elevator Company, connects Wellington station on MBTA's Orange Line with the Mystic Center (later "Station Landing") office complex and park and ride lot?


 * ...that the Ayr and Dalmellington Railway in Scotland became the first railway to cross the river at Ayr when construction was completed and the line was fully opened in 1856?


 * ...that although the Ulster Transport Authority 70 Class diesel multiple unit trains made use of readily available power and transmission units and were therefore cheap to operate, they were noisier and less comfortable than locomotive-hauled rolling stock and ultimately replaced in the 1980s?


 * ...that the Tokyo terminus of the Tobu Railway Tōjō Line was originally planned to be at Shimo-Itabashi, and this is where the "0 km" post for the line is located (with its present terminus Ikebukuro Station marked by km post "-1.9")?


 * ...that by encouraging the North Cornwall Railway, the LSWR planned to create railway access to previously inaccessible parts of the northern coastal area of Cornwall as part of a drive to develop holiday traffic?


 * ...that Tobu Railway's 9000 series electric multiple unit (EMU) trains introduced in 1981 was the first EMU type with a stainless steel body to be introduced by Tobu?


 * ...that the Chicago "L" Stock Yards branch serving the Union Stock Yards was built partly as a result of a Chicago City Council measure requiring the 40th Street line to be elevated as part of a larger effort to remove grade crossings from Chicago railroads?


 * ...that after the South African Railways Class 37-000 EMD GT26MC locomotives were commissioned, the national carrier was not to invest in new diesel-electric locomotives until 2009, nearly three decades later?


 * ...that St. Louis–San Francisco Railway's (Frisco's) USRA Light Mikado 2-8-2 number 4018, now preserved on static display, was the last steam locomotive to operate on any part of the Frisco Railway and quite possibly the last to operate within the Birmingham, Alabama, metro area?


 * ...that Shintetsu's 6000 series electric multiple unit trains, built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries beginning in 2008, are the first trains ordered by Shintetsu with stainless steel bodies?


 * ...that Seibu Railway's 30000 series electric multiple unit trains introduced in 2008 for use on commuter services in the Tokyo area of Japan have earned the nickname "smile trains"?


 * ...that the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad in northern California engaged in a four-month long frog war in 1904 and 1905 when the railroad constructed its line eastward from Sebastopol to Santa Rosa?


 * ...that Sakuramizu Station, which opened in 1975 in Fukushima, Fukushima, Japan, is the only station on Fukushima Transportation's Iizaka Line where an underground walkway connects the station to the platform?


 * ...that the last British military train left Rehovot Railway Station bound for Egypt on May 14, 1948, only hours before the Israeli Declaration of Independence?