Portal:Trains/Did you know/January 2006

January 2006

 * ...that the Kuala Lumpur Monorail opening was delayed when a safety wheel fell off one of the trains and struck a pedestrian walking beneath the track?


 * ...that the crossing where the 1995 Fox River Grove level crossing accident happened was renamed Seven Angels' Crossing in memory of the seven students killed in the accident?


 * ...that of the 18.4 km (11.4 miles) of track on the experimental JR-Maglev, 16 km (9.9 miles) consists of track in tunnels?


 * ...that in Northern Africa Railroad Development of the late 19th century, Herbert Kitchener insisted on building the railroad using a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches, the same track width that Cecil Rhodes was then laying between Kimberly and Bulawayo, Rhodesia?


 * ...that Henry Kirke Porter studied theology before founding the successful locomotive manufacturing business that would become H. K. Porter, Inc?


 * ...that with their detachable bogies, modern Roadrailers used by Amtrak can travel at speeds up to 100 mph (160 km/h) in either direction?


 * ...that four-quadrant gates at level crossings are designed prevent vehicles from driving around lowered gates to try to cross the tracks in front of an oncoming train?
 * ...that in December 1937, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway #3461, one of 6 locomotives in Santa Fe's 3460 class, set a world record for the longest single run by a steam locomotive by completing the 2,227 miles (3,584 km) from Los Angeles, California, to Chicago, Illinois, without maintenance other than five refuelling stops en route?


 * ...that the boiler on Pennsylvania Railroad's singular S1 class of steam locomotives was the largest that the company had ever constructed?


 * ...that seven passenger cars built by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits for the Orient Express are now restored and available for tourist events?


 * ...that the Great Western Society is in the process of restoring Great Western Railway 4-6-0 number 6023 King Edward II to operating condition at Didcot Railway Centre?
 * ...that although the first line of the Athens Metro in Greece was opened in 1869 and electrified in 1904, construction of the second line didn't begin until 1996?


 * ...that one of two surviving LM-57 trams, built beginning in 1957 at the Leningrad Wagon Repair Plant, can be hired for tours of Saint Petersburg, Russia?
 * ...that the newest and heaviest locomotives in Ireland are only allowed to cross Boyne Viaduct (built in 1855) one at a time and cannot be doubleheaded for the crossing?


 * ...that it has often been proposed for a GG1 to be restored to operating condition, but such discussions have been dropped because a compatible catenary system no longer exists in the United States and the electrical systems of the GG1 contain toxic PCBs?


 * ...that East Japan Railway Company (commonly referred to as JR East) is the largest passenger railway company in the world?
 * ...that Great Western Railway locomotive number 3440, City of Truro, became the first steam locomotive in Europe to run at speeds over 100 mph (160 km/h) when it hauled the Ocean Mails special from Plymouth to London Paddington on May 9, 1904?


 * ...that the private car Abraham Lincoln is the oldest operable private passenger car in the United States?
 * ...that while some of the closed London Underground stations retain their original station facades, others have been demolished to make way for shops and one is now used for filming and exhibition purposes?
 * ...that the Spanish railroad car manufacturing company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) has built equipment for Washington Metro, Port Authority Transit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Sacramento Regional Transit?
 * ...that Poland's EU06 model of electric locomotive was the first locomotive model to be introduced in that country outside of Warsaw?
 * ...that while loosely based on Amtrak trains, all exterior train shots in the 1976 film Silver Streak were filmed on the Canadian Pacific Railway in Alberta?


 * ...that Southern Pacific 4449 pulled an all Daylight-painted passenger train from Portland, Oregon, to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1984 to publicize the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition?


 * ...that Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a cofounder of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1827?


 * ...that the Beamish Museum in Stanley, County Durham, England, operates a replica of an 1820s era steam locomotive on the museum's Pockerley Waggonway?


 * ...that Swedish manufacturing firm NOHAB built its first steam locomotive in 1865 and its 1,000th in 1912 and continued building diesel locomotives in the 20th century?
 * ...that the Dubai Metro, currently under construction in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai, will be a driverless, fully automated metro network that is scheduled to open in 2009?


 * ...that Pennsylvania Railroad's singular S2 class of 6-8-6 steam locomotives was powered by a direct-drive steam turbine?
 * ...that Santa Fe Railroad's SD26 diesel locomotives became known as "slushbuckets" among railfans in reference to their distinctive turbocharger sound, which was considerably more subdued than that produced by either the EMD GP40 or SD40, both of which utilized the same powerplant?
 * ...that Treno Alta Velocità is currently building new High-speed rail lines in Italy from Turin to Padua and from Milan to Naples and Genoa?