Portal:Trains/Did you know/August 2010

August 2010

 * ...that the first delivery of Freight Australia XR class diesel electric locomotives were rebuilds of early Victorian Railways X class (EMD G16C and G26C) locomotives fitted with engines cascaded from the V/Line G class, but later units were built new?


 * ...that RandstadRail, a light rail and metro-like line connecting The Hague, Zoetermeer and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, uses a mix of former train and existing tram tracks?


 * ...that although the Jamaican Railway Corporation last ran a train in 1992 when services were abruptly ceased, it continues operations as lessor of track, a provider of locomotives and associated technical services for private freight operators on the 65 km of the former 272 km network still in use for freight haulage?
 * ...that Turkey's Marmaray project to modernise suburban rail lines along the Sea of Marmara in Istanbul also includes the construction under the Bosphorus strait of the world's deepest undersea immersed tube tunnel?


 * ...that the Cardiff locomotive workshops in New South Wales, Australia, built 58-class freight locomotive 5813, the last steam locomotive to be built in-house by New South Wales Government Railways?


 * ...that the SNCF (French National Railways) Class BB 15000 electric locomotive is a member of a family of locomotives sharing a common body shell nicknamed "Nez Cassé" (Broken Nose), a reference to the inclined cab window design that ironically is designed to save the driver from injury in a frontal crash?


 * ...that the 1906 Atlantic City train wreck, in which a West Jersey and Seashore Railroad train fell off a bridge in Atlantic City in the United States, killing 53 people, saw public relations expert Ivy Lee work with the Pennsylvania Railroad to issue what is regarded as the first ever press release?


 * ...that although the Tokyo Subway makes up a small fraction of heavy rail rapid transit in Tokyo, Japan, with 282 out of the city's 882 stations, it forms the world's busiest subway system in terms of ridership with nearly eight million passenger journeys every day?


 * ...that the location of the now demolished Felixstowe Beach railway station was in an area of Felixstowe, England, adjacent to property owned by the line's builder George Tomline and far from the hotel business of his rival J Cobbold?


 * ...that the name of Turkey's now-discontinued 9th of September Express (9 Eylül Expresi) which ran from Basmane Terminal, İzmir, to Ankara Central Station, Ankara, is a reference to 9 September 1922, the date on which the Greek occupation of İzmir ended after World War I?


 * ...that there were only 26 locomotives of the 4-8-0+0-8-4 Garratt wheel arrangement ever built, divided into two classes both of which were built for the 5 ft gauge Bengal Nagpur Railway?


 * ...that in 1959 the operators of the Línea Urquiza in Buenos Aires, Argentina, acquired 30 PCC streetcars, however they were too lightly-built to handle the heavy passenger loads and were all retired by the mid-1960s?


 * ...that Benjamin Baker, an eminent British civil engineer who worked in mid to late Victorian era, helped to develop the early underground railways in London and was an expert witness at the public inquiry into the Tay Rail Bridge disaster, but he is best known for his work on the Forth Railway Bridge?


 * ...that a notable feature of Line B of the Rome Metro is the graffitied AnsaldoBreda built MB100 cars, giving the Line B trains the appearance of New York City Subway trains during the 1970s?


 * ...that Queens Quay underground streetcar station is the only station in Toronto with a pedestrian crossing between platforms at track level, requiring streetcars crossing the pedestrian walkway to stop and sound their gong before proceeding?


 * ...that Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station (Zoo Station), West Berlin's main railway station during the Cold War partition of Germany, is the subject of many popular culture references including songs by U2, Scorpions, Nina Hagen, Alphaville and The Sisters Of Mercy, among others?


 * ...that carpet railways, a Victorian era form of model railway in which a live steam locomotive was run across the floor rather than on tracks, were known for boiler explosions as well as numerous incidents of fires caused by the locomotive crashing into furniture and over-turning so that the burning fuel was spilled over the floor?


 * ...that the interior design of Akademiya Nauk station on the Minsk Metro in Belarus includes detail touches such as pillars reveted with grey marble and punctuated by stainless steel insets, contrasting white marbled walls and grey granite floor, and large artworks in the vestibules?


 * ...that the last five tram lines operated by AB Stockholms Spårvägar (Stockholm Tramways) that remained in the Stockholm City Centre were closed in conjunction with the 'Dagen H', the day Sweden switched from left to right-hand side traffic on 3 September 1967?


 * ...that KRL Jabotabek, the mass rapid transit system in servicing Jabotabek (the metropolitan area surrounding Jakarta, Indonesia) uses some passenger rollingstock purchased second-hand from Japan?


 * ...that the North Melbourne Locomotive Depot, the main location for maintenance of the Victorian Railways steam locomotive fleet based in Melbourne, Australia, was described by railway employees as "the hub of the universe", "the VR's nearest approach to Dante's Inferno", or "the Black Hole of Calcutta", depending on their disposition?


 * ...that the CityRail V set interurban electric multiple unit trains of Sydney, Australia, were described at the time of their introduction in 1970 as the 'most luxurious commuter stock in the world'?


 * ...that a replacement planted in 1982 for the original Thousand Mile Tree, that honors the workers of the Union Pacific Railroad for completing the first 1000 mi of the United States' First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, still stands?


 * ...that the 500 Series Shinkansen, originally built in the mid-1990s, was the first Shinkansen train in Japan to operate at a maximum speed of 300 km/h (190 mph) in regular passenger service?


 * ...that Penistone in Yorkshire, England had the misfortune of being the location of at least ten railway accidents during the latter years of the 19th and early years of the 20th centuries, gaining a reputation as possibly the worst accident blackspot on Britain's railway network?


 * ...that although the commercially unsuccessful Richmond–Kurrajong railway line in Sydney, Australia, operated for just 25 years and carried little freight, it did carry gravel trains which transported material used in the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge?


 * ...that at the time of its eruption in May 1980, the aftermath of which included the destruction of 15 mi of nearby track, the summit of the Mount St. Helens stratovolcano in Washington state, USA, was owned by the Burlington Northern Railroad?


 * ...that with a sixteen-car trainset able to carry a total of 1,634 seated passengers, Japan's E4 Series Shinkansen is the highest-capacity high-speed rail trainset in the world?


 * ...that Portsmouth Corporation Transport was formed in 1898 to replace existing horsecar lines in Portsmouth, England, with electric tram service, with electrification work taking place in 1901?


 * ...that the Pingnan railway, which opened in 1994 connecting Pinghu with Nanshan, was the first railway in the People's Republic of China to be built with both local and foreign capital?


 * ...that Helper, Utah, is so named because the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad founded the town to place helper engines on trains climbing Soldier Summit in the Wasatch Mountains?