Portal:Trains/Did you know/August 2005

August 2005

 * ...that Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) was the first heavy rail system in the world to incorporate platform screen doors in its stations in 1987?


 * ...that like trolley poles and pantographs, bow collectors are a form of electric current collection from overhead wires?


 * ...that magnetic levitation train technology is being considered for possible future train routes in the Netherlands, especially between Amsterdam, Flevoland and Groningen?


 * ...that as a result of the Eschede train disaster in Germany on June 3, 1998, the ICE's rubber-isolated wheel design, which was found to be the primary fault of the accident, has since been replaced with conventional solid steel wheels?


 * ...that trains serving Zürich Main Station, the largest train station in Zürich, Switzerland, arrive and depart on 24 tracks arranged in three separate levels?


 * ...that Angels Flight, a landmark funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California, claims to be the "shortest railway in the world"?


 * ...that a balloon loop is a track arrangement that allows a train to reverse direction, and return to where it came from, without having to shunt or even to stop?
 * ...that Great Britain's Great Central Railway is the only heritage railway in the country with a double track right of way?


 * ...that Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania, has been criticized for using restored Canadian rather than American steam locomotives to power its tours and excursions?


 * ...that on Japan Railway's Narita Express, a train from Ōfuna or Yokohama (on the Tōkaidō Line) will be coupled with a train from Shinjuku, Ikebukuro or Omiya to form one trainset for the remainder of the journey to Narita International Airport?


 * ...that the EMD SD38-2 shares the same frame as the SD40-2 and SD45-2, which gives the SD38-2 a length of 68 ft 10 in (20.98 m)?


 * ...that in contrast to regular low floor trams, the floor in the interior of Ultra Low Floor tram is low enough to be at the same height as a sidewalk (about 18 cm above the road surface), which makes access to trams particularly easy for passengers in wheelchairs or with perambulators?


 * ...that most bogies (also called trucks) have two axles, but some cars designed for extremely heavy loads have been built with up to five-axle bogies?


 * ...that Ward Kimball's former Grizzly Flats Railroad 2-6-0 Emma Nevada and the only remaining operable GE U25B in North America are both on display at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California?
 * ...that EWS (English, Welsh and Scottish Railway), the largest British rail freight operating company, was originally created as a subsidiary of Wisconsin Central Ltd in 1996, and was acquired by Canadian National Railway when it bought Wisconsin Central in 2001?


 * ...that railway post office cars in North America were often equipped with a hook that could be used to snatch a sack of outgoing mail hanging on a track-side pole as the train passed it?


 * ...that since a conventional steam locomotive is directly driven, one of the few ways to 'gear' a locomotive for a particular performance goal is to size the driving wheels appropriately; typically larger for passenger train service than for freight service?


 * ...that some reports suggest Joseph Locke (1805-1860), who had apprenticed with George Stephenson, was driving Stephenson's Rocket when Liverpool MP William Huskisson became the first rail fatality on September 15, 1830?


 * ...that The first SD7 built by EMD, Southern Pacific Railroad number 1518, is preserved in operational condition at the Illinois Railway Museum?


 * ...that rail freight services in Japan are provided by the Japan Freight Railway Company which operates under trackage rights on Japanese National Railways?
 * ...that the Turbo train, built by United Aircraft and operated by Canadian National Railway between Toronto and Montreal, was powered by a jet turbine?
 * ...that in addition to designing many locomotive styles for the Pennsylvania Railroad, including the GG1, Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) also designed refrigerators for Sears-Roebuck, Mobil Oil's Pegasus logo, the Studebaker Avanti and the interior design of Skylab?


 * ...that about 100,000 Asian and 16,000 Allied prisoners of war died in the construction of the Death Railway connecting Bangkok and Rangoon, a route that includes the famous bridge over Kwae Yai river?


 * ...that nearly 5,000 PCC streetcars were built for rail transit systems in the United States and CKD Vagonka built nearly 13,000 for the European market?


 * ...that every piece of rolling stock in interchange service and every container carried on railroads in North America is labeled with reporting marks that uniquely identify the equipment's owner?
 * ...that on the westbound run of the Santa Fe de Luxe passenger train, female passengers received a basket of California oranges while the male passengers received pigskin wallets when the train reached the summit of Cajon Pass?
 * ...that most of the deceased from the Hammond Circus Train Wreck, many of whom could not be identified, are buried in a section of Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), called Showmen's Rest?
 * ...that Union Pacific's competition to Santa Fe's Super Chief, the City of Los Angeles passenger train, used one of only two model EMD E2 diesel locomotives ever built?
 * ...that Nigel Gresley (1876–1941) designed some of the most famous steam locomotives in Britain including the LNER Class A4 4-6-2 type?


 * ...that one of RER ' s routes, the Paris-St Germain-en-Laye line, uses the right of way of the first railway built in France?


 * ...that the first 2-6-0 steam locomotive in the United States with a single-axle swivelling leading truck was built in 1860 for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad?