Portal:Trains/Did you know/April 2018

April 2018

 * ...that the LGV Est line connecting Paris to eastern France was used as the test track to set a new world speed record at 574.8 km/h (159.6 m/s, 357.2 mph) in 2007?


 * ...that during World War II, the new London Underground tunnels at Leytonstone tube station were used as an aircraft component factory with the part closest to Leytonstone being used as a public air raid shelter?


 * ...that as part of the door to door concept of public transportation, in 2015 the Czech open-access train operator Leo Express announced a partnership with Uber in major cities?


 * ...that preceding the Leipzig City Tunnel completed in 2013, the Saxon State Railway had planned and partially built a tunnel to Bayerischer Bahnhof in 1915?


 * ...that with the exception of the curve at Mauch Chunk, the original line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad from Mauch Chunk to Easton had no curve of less than 700 ft radius?


 * ...that the two narrow gauge, outside-cylindered 2-6-4Ts, built by Kitson & Co. for the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway were the first 2-6-4T locomotives to run in Britain?


 * ...that while traveling to Terre Haute, Indiana, on behalf of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in February 1875, Joshua A. Leach inspired the 19-year old Eugene V. Debs to become active in the organization, starting him on a career as a trade union organizer?


 * ...that following successful trials of London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's first J1 class 4-6-2T steam locomotive, construction of the second locomotive was delayed because its designer went on extended sick leave?


 * ...that the 284 m Langwieser Viaduct, which opened in 1914, was the world's first railway bridge to be constructed of reinforced concrete?


 * ...that Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited was the last train to use the decaying Buffalo Central Terminal, departing on October 28, 1979?


 * ...that the La Brugeoise cars introduced in 1913 on the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first underground line were originally designed to run both as metro and tramway cars?


 * ...that the nose of L0 Series maglev trains being developed by Central Japan Railway Company extends 15 m for better aerodynamics and reduced noise in tunnels?


 * ...that the two 21+1/2 x inside cylinders on Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Class 32 0-8-2T steam locomotives were the largest in size of any non-compound engine in England?


 * ...that New York City Subway's L service is the first in the system to be automated using communications-based train control?


 * ...that a special track was installed at Southern Pacific Railroad's locomotive facility in Roseville, California, to service the imported Krauss-Maffei ML-4000 diesel–hydraulic locomotives purchased in the 1960s?


 * ...that a HEMU-430X train, the next model train for Korea Train eXpress, achieved 421.4 km/h in 2013, making South Korea the fourth country in the world to develop a high-speed train running on conventional rail above 420 km/h?


 * ...that when the Koralm Railway construction in Austria is completed, the railway is expected to reduce travel time from Klagenfurt to Graz from three hours to 45 minutes?


 * ...that when British Railways discontinued passenger services on the former Kent and East Sussex Railway in 1954, four different locomotives were used on the last passenger train?