Portal:Trains/Did you know/December 2018

December 2018

 * ...that when work was completed to elevate Staten Island Railway's Port Richmond station as part of a grade-crossing elimination project in the 1930s, the 1 mi viaduct leading up to it was claimed to be the longest in the United States?


 * ...that Metro-North Railroad's Port Jervis Line runs over the system's longest bridge and through its longest tunnel?


 * ...that with its purchase of two ALCO S-1 diesel locomotives in 1945, the 19.1 mi Port Huron and Detroit Railroad claimed to be the first completely dieselized railroad in Michigan?


 * ...that although Pennsylvania Railroad's class M1 4-8-2 steam locomotives were mostly used on freight trains, their dual-purpose design for passenger train service as well entitled them to have smokebox-mounted, keystone-shaped numberplates?


 * ...that in 1981 a car got stuck in the pedestrian subway at Porirua railway station after the driver tried to imitate the Wellington, New Zealand, railway station chase scene from the film Goodbye Pork Pie?


 * ...that the 2 mi Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway in South Wales is the highest preserved standard gauge railway line in the United Kingdom?


 * ...that the Plochingen–Tübingen railway line has the only two level crossings in Germany that are manually operated by gatekeepers?


 * ...that PKP's class EP08 electric locomotives were the first locomotives in Poland to exceed the top speed limit of 125 km/h in regular service?


 * ...that of the 68 streetcar routes operated by Pittsburgh Railways, three were used by the Port Authority of Allegheny County as light rail routes until 2010?


 * ...that the class H6 of 2-8-0 steam locomotives was the most numerous class on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the second most prolific 2-8-0 class in North America behind the USATC S160?


 * ...that during World Wars I and II, Pinkenba railway station served troop camps located in Pinkenba and Meeandah to take advantage of deep berthing available to ships on the mouth of the Brisbane River?


 * ...that throughout its existence the Piedmont and Northern Railway stressed interchange traffic over its efficient electric lines, with connections to its 126 mi of track to no less than 10 other railroad companies' lines?


 * ...that in order to get approval for the Piedmont service to operate, Norfolk Southern, which leased the track, insisted that the state of North Carolina construct a wye in Charlotte for turning the trains around?


 * ...that except for a single Southern Pacific 4-6-0 that outweighed it by 5500 lb, Pennsylvania Railroad's class G5 was the largest and most powerful 4-6-0 locomotive in regular service in the United States?


 * ...that although London Underground's Piccadilly line is the second-longest line on the system and runs to the system's second-largest number of stations, it is the fourth-busiest line overall?


 * ...that from around 1858 the employees at Australian steam locomotive manufacturer Phoenix Foundry were working an eight-hour day while doing as much work as English workers did in ten hours?


 * ...that Philipse Manor and Poughkeepsie are the only two out of 29 stations on Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line that are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places?


 * ...that most structures on the Philadelphia and Western Railroad's line were designed to ultimately accommodate four tracks, but the added tracks were never built?


 * ...that in the 1820s while still a teenager, John Jay Phelps, who later helped found and became president of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, owned and edited the New England Weekly Review?


 * ...that Pennsylvania Railroad's class E44 electric locomotives were nicknamed "bricks" due to their utilitarian box-shaped body?


 * ...that the booking office at Peterborough East railway station contained three small windows marked GER, LNWR and Midland Railway, that were still used individually in latter days when one booking clerk issued all the tickets?


 * ...that the Peter Witt streetcar was named after Cleveland Railway commissioner Peter Witt who was awarded a patent on the car design in 1916?


 * ...that Pesa SA, which now manufactures new DMU and EMU trains as well as trams and locomotives, was formed as a reorganization of one of PKP's former repair shops?


 * ...that of the 426 examples of Pennsylvania Railroad's class D16 4-4-0 steam locomotives built between 1895 and 1910 some had 80 in diameter driving wheels for service in level territory, while others had 68 in drivers for mountainous terrain?