Portal:Trains/Did you know/August 2013

August 2013

 * ...that in 1946, just before its merger with Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the Pere Marquette Railway introduced the nation's first post-war lightweight streamlined passenger trains, which were also the first diesel-powered trains on the Pere Marquette system, operating between Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, over what is now the CSX Plymouth Subdivision, with power provided by EMD E7As pulling Pullman Standard cars?


 * ...that in addition to manufacturing new locomotives and rolling stock for Australian railroads, Clyde Engineering also manufactured telephone and industrial electronic equipment, machine tools, domestic aluminium ware, road making and earth making equipment, hydraulic pumps, product finishing equipment, filtration systems, boilers, power stations and firing equipment?


 * ...that Chernihivska station on Kyiv Metro's Sviatoshynsko–Brovarska line has a second platform for eastbound trains that was used when the station was the line's terminus for quicker unloading of passengers who were traveling from the centre to prevent the congestion in the small station vestibules during peak hours?


 * ...that the Campus passenger train operated by Amtrak in 1971 and 1972 to connect Chicago to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was the last passenger train to arrive at or depart from Central Station in Chicago?


 * ...that Broadstone railway station, the former Dublin, Ireland, terminus of the Midland Great Western Railway, is currently the headquarters of Bus Éireann, housing most of their administration and also one of their main garages?


 * ...that Fulgence Bienvenüe, who has been called "Le Père du Métro" (Father of the Métro), designed a special procedure of building the Paris Métro tunnels to allow the swift repaving of surface roads, which included building the crown of the tunnel first and the flooring last, the reverse of the usual norm at that time?


 * ...that the former Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station, the main terminus in Washington, D.C., for the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, is where United States President James A. Garfield was assassinated on July 2, 1881, by Charles Guiteau while awaiting a train?


 * ...that before becoming general manager of SNCF in 1949, Louis Armand invented in 1940-41 a water treatment process for preventing the calcification, or furring up, of steam locomotive boilers that came to be known as the Traitement Integral Armand?


 * ...that the town of Cloudcroft, New Mexico, the upper terminus of the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway, was laid out in several villages so tourists might avoid associating too closely with loggers and railway workers?


 * ...that only one train runs the entire length of the Akō Line in Japan, with service split at Banshū-Akō, and no trains terminate at either of the official terminals of Aioi or Higashi-Okayama?


 * ...that Ōsaki Station, jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company and Tokyo Waterfront Area Rapid Transit in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, is one of the stations where trains on the Yamanote Line loop are put into and taken out of service so it has four tracks (two in each direction) for that line so as not to interfere with continuing trains?


 * ...that Ōizumi-gakuen Station is located close to the home of Leiji Matsumoto, the creator of the anime Galaxy Express 999, and includes a statue of the Conductor from the series and from 2009, the station departure melody was changed to the Galaxy Express 999 theme tune?


 * ...that with over 8,000 T-669 diesel locomotives built by ČKD for Czechoslovak State Railways, Soviet Railways, and railways in Poland, Albania, India, Iraq and Syria, this class was the largest series of locomotives ever manufactured in the Czechoslovak Republic?


 * ...that when Kintetsu's Nagoya Line in Japan was regauged to in 1959, the Yōrō Line was left at  gauge partly due to through freight trains to the Japanese National Railways (JNR) at Ōgaki and Kuwana, because the Yōrō Line is shorter between these stations than JNR lines and used as a shortcut?


 * ...that the route of the Yokohama Dreamland Monorail in Japan included steep grades of as much as 100‰ (10%), and while the monorail vehicles were altered to cope with the high grades, increasing their weight, the strength of the track beam was not increased to match, resulting in damage to the track within a year of its opening?


 * ...that early in his railroad career as assistant general freight agent for the Chicago and North Western Railway, Cassius Milton Wicker had the duty of settling the claims for the losses in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871?


 * ...that in 1995 the signal box at Wallan railway station was removed and replaced by a new lever frame within the station building that was built from parts of the Craigieburn frame, which became the last new frame to be installed on mainline railways in Victoria, Australia?


 * ...that of the two large standard gauge railway track ovals designed for continuous running of new rail vehicles at the Velim railway test circuit, which has become one of the main testing locations for new types of rolling stock designed for use in Europe, the village of Sokoleč, Czech Republic, lies completely inside the larger circuit?


 * ...that Urawa Station, originally opened in 1883 and now operated by East Japan Railway Company in Urawa-ku, Saitama, Japan, is one of the oldest stations of the Tōhoku Main Line, and is also the oldest in the present-day city of Saitama?


 * ...that a major constraint for George Turnbull, chief engineer of the East Indian Railway who oversaw its construction from 1851 to 1862, was the lack of both quality clay and brick-building skills resulting in the change to importing much ironwork from England for the many bridges and other structures on the line?


 * ...that in addition to the MAX Light Rail and Westside Express Service commuter rail services in and around Portland, Oregon, TriMet also operates the Portland Vintage Trolley service on a portion of the MAX system?