Portal:Trains/Did you know/January 2010

January 2010

 * ...that the Glenfinnan Viaduct on Scotland's West Highland Line is perhaps most famously known for being on the route of the fictional Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter film series?


 * ...that the while the SJ AB (Swedish Railways) Y1 series railcars are no longer in service at SJ, many were sold second-hand and are now providing local rail services in countries as far afield as Norway, Kosovo, Serbia and Croatia?


 * ...that the narrow gauge Ybbstalbahn, completed in 1898, is one of only two railways in Austria to utilise a steel trestle viaduct?


 * ...that American diesel-electric locomotive ATSF 98, an EMD FP45 now preserved in operating condition at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in California, was the last locomotive purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway specifically for passenger train service?


 * ...that while manufacturers of opposed-piston engines such as Fairbanks-Morse and Napier & Son touted their greater thermodynamic efficiency and lower maintenance cost than standard configurations, they are now obsolete in railway usage?


 * ...that the interior of the new 800 Series Shinkansen utilises many traditional Japanese interior materials, including Persimmon tannin color for the walls, ancient lacquer for the doors, seats made from wood with cushions of Nishijin textiles, bamboo window curtains and wooden interior flooring?


 * ...that the present day Paris Réseau express régional station Saint Germain-en-Laye originally opened on August 14, 1847 as the terminus of the Ligne de Saint Germain atmospheric railway?


 * ...that all four Alaska Railroad locomotives comprising the runaway in the 1985 movie adaptation of the Akira Kurosawa screenplay Runaway Train still survive twenty five years later, with one, EMD F7A #1500, preserved in a museum and the other three (two EMD GP7s and one EMD GP40) still in regular service?
 * ...that the oldest train station in Turkey, Izmir's Alsancak Railway Station, although expanded from four tracks and two platforms to ten tracks and four platforms as recently as 2001, was then closed to all passenger services in 2006?


 * ...that the design of the Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railway) Class 66 2-6-4 tank locomotive of 1955 placed great emphasis on the working conditions for the engine driver and stoker, with a fully-enclosed driver's cab, skylights, floor heating and upholstered seats with back rests?


 * ...that despite falling over 60 m to the seabed of the Firth of Tay in the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879, North British Railway locomotive 224 was salvaged, repaired and remained in service until 1919, acquiring the nickname of "The Diver" and being unpopular with superstitious drivers reluctant to take it over the newly rebuilt Tay Rail Bridge?


 * ...that unlike conventional friction brakes, which apply pressure on two separate objects, eddy current brakes slow an object by creating eddy currents through electromagnetic induction which create resistance, and in turn either heat or electricity?


 * ...that reported sightings of ghost trains include not only those associated with major historic accidents such as the Tay Bridge disaster, but also the 'ghosts' of relatively modern vehicles such as Stockholm Metro trains and even a scrapped British Rail Class 55 "Deltic" diesel locomotive?


 * ...that the narrow gauge North Australia Railway was taken over by the Australian Commonwealth Government in 1911 with a promise to complete the railway from Adelaide to Darwin, however the promise was not fulfilled until the completion of a new standard gauge line in 2003, some 92 years later and 27 years after the closure of the never-completed narrow gauge line?
 * ...that many locomotives operated by Dutch open access freight operator ACTS Nederland BV wear "I love Betuwe Route" stickers, a reference to the fact that the operator has opted to use this specialised freight route rather than congest passenger lines with freight traffic?


 * ...that the Babbacombe Cliff Railway, a funicular railway in the town of Torquay in the English county of Devon, was constructed by the Waygood-Otis Ltd, a company better known for installing elevators and escalators?


 * ...that while United States congressman Oakes Ames is credited by many historians as being the single most important influence in the building of the Union Pacific Railroad portion of the transcontinental railroad, he is also noted for the subsequent scandal that alleged the improper sale of stock of the railroad's construction company that saw him censured?


 * ...that with the completion of the Nagashima Dam, a portion of the Ikawa Line of Japan's Ōigawa Railway had to be re-routed along a 1.5 km section with a maximum gradient of 9%, requiring the installation of an Abt rack system and making this line Japan's only rack-and-pinion railway?


 * ...that Parisine is the name given to a typeface developed by Jean-François Porchez for the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP/Autonomous Operator of Parisian Transport) to improve signage legibility and space economy, and is currently used in Paris Métro, tramways, buses and RER parts operated by the RATP in Île-de-France?


 * ...that Toledo Railway Station in Spain, designed in the Neo-Mudéjar style and opened in 1920, has been declared a Property of Cultural Interest and classified as a monument?


 * ...that although the Statens Järnvägar (Swedish State Railways) T44 model of diesel-electric locomotives are mainly used for shunting and freight hauling, they have occasionally been used to haul passenger trains?


 * ...that the Fukushima Rinkai Railway Main Line and Tsugaru Railway in Japan are among a small number of lines that still use semaphore signalling?


 * ...that the Norges Statsbaner (Norwegian State Railways) Di 8 diesel-electric locomotives have had reliability problems and were at one time offered for sale, but no buyers were found?


 * ...that the La Plaine – Stade de France RER railway station in Paris, opened in 1998 for the occasion of 1998 World Cup, is the work of the architectect Jean-Marie Duthilleul and the architectural style of the station echoes the Stade de France?


 * ...that the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government Railways), operates a range of unconnected lines in Catalonia, Spain, including 140 km of metre gauge, 42 km of standard gauge, and 89 km of broad gauge route, two metre gauge rack railways and four funicular railways?


 * ...that the preserved steam locomotive Samson, built in 1838 by Timothy Hackworth at his Soho Works in Durham, England, for coal haulage in Canada and featuring a return-flue boiler, is the oldest surviving locomotive in Canada?


 * ...that the name for the Australian streamliner Spirit of Progress was thought of on the spur of the moment by the wife of Victorian Railways Chairman of Commissioners Harold Winthrop Clapp, apparently unimpressed with her husband's suggestion of The Royal Victorian?


 * ...that with only two 300 m long sets of tracks, the Vatican City rail system is the smallest national system in the world?


 * ...that the Southern Fuegian Railway, originally built to transport wood and building materials for a penal colony at Ushuaia on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, now operates as a heritage railway into the Tierra del Fuego National Park and is considered the southernmost functioning railway in the world?


 * ...that although all British Rail Class 23 'Baby Deltic' diesel locomotives have been scrapped, the distinctive 9-cylinder T9-29 Napier Deltic engine salvaged from the last of the class to be scrapped has been restored to working order by the Deltic Preservation Society and fitted to a British Rail Class 37 locomotive?


 * ...that the Württemberg K class 2-12-0 steam locomotives, built by Esslingen between 1914 and 1924, were the only twelve-coupled locomotives built for a German railway company?