Portal:Trains/Did you know/January 2012

January 2012

 * ...that SNCF's Class BB 36000 electric locomotives, built by Alstom in the late 1990s, were originally a modification of an order for 264 of the dual voltage SNCF Class BB 26000 but were instead built as a triple voltage design capable of also operating on 3kV DC with a different electric motor type (AC induction) and newer power semiconductor device technology (GTO type)?


 * ...that the SJ F class 4-6-2 steam locomotives, built by Nydquist & Holm (NOHAB) between 1914 and 1916, and one of the largest steam locomotive classes ever used in Sweden, were primarily used on the main lines between Stockholm-Gothenburg and Stockholm-Malmö until they were made obsolete by the electrification of the main lines in the 1930s?


 * ...that although the Siemens Nexas (known colloquially as the Siemens) electric multiple unit trains built by Siemens Mobility for the suburban railway network of Melbourne, Australia, are some of the newest in the city's suburban fleet, the Victorian State Government has recently ordered more of the previously delivered Alstom X'Trapolis 100 trains to replace them?


 * ...that Shichinohe-Towada Station, which opened in December 2010 in Shichinohe, Aomori, Japan, to serve the Tōhoku Shinkansen, was initially named provisionally as Shichinohe Station but was changed to its present name to emphasize the station's role as a gateway to Lake Towada?


 * ...that about half of the stations on the Moscow Metro in Russia were built as shallow column stations with the distinguishing feature being an abundance of supplementary supports for the underground cavity following designs that employ metal columns or concrete and steel columns arranged in lines parallel to the long axis of the station?


 * ...that Sentinel Waggon Works delivered its last steam locomotives in 1958, after the company had been purchased by Rolls-Royce, but subsequent diesel locomotive production and sales lasted only through the 1960s with second-hand sales of Swindon-built British Rail class 14 diesel hydraulic locomotives eventually replacing orders for Sentinel's locomotives?
 * ...that like the EMD DDM45, the GE BB40-9W, a narrow gauge version of the C40-9W, needed two more driving axles due to the limitations of the smaller traction motors, but used four two-axle trucks instead of the DDM45's two four-axle trucks?


 * ...that the four DC electric locomotives of Seibu Railway's Class E31, built in the 1980s, were normally used in pairs top-and-tailing permanent way maintenance trains and to haul newly-delivered rolling stock until their withdrawal from service in 2010?


 * ...that with the introduction of the new double-decker S-Bahn trains in the 1990s, the RABDe 12/12 class trains lost their prestigious role working the Golden Coast Express along Lake Zurich where they had been used since the 1960s and were subsequently used on lines with low passenger frequencies, remaining in S-Bahn service around Zurich, Switzerland, until 2008 with the last being scrapped in 2010?


 * ...that the 10.7 km long Sarajevo Tramway, which originally opened in 1885 as a gauge horsecar test line for the tram in Vienna and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is one of the oldest tram systems in Europe?
 * ...that developers and the Gauteng government aim to make Sandton station, which is the only Gautrain station with a two-level platform arrangement, into the centre of one of the first transit-oriented development projects in South Africa?


 * ...that construction of Sakura Shukugawa Station in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, coincided with and paralleled the construction to widen Hyōgo Prefecture Highway 82 which passes underneath the station's platform and tracks?


 * ...that despite heavy passenger demand and traffic there is no luxury train on the Bina - Katni Rail Route so Saugor Railway Station in Madhya Pradesh, India, does not halt any Rajdhani Express, Shatabadi Express or Jan Shatabadi Express trains and therefore the station lacks direct connectivity with important places such as all the major cities in South India?


 * ...that some of the Réseau Breton 4-6-0 tank locomotives, built in two batches in 1904 by Franco-Belge and in 1906 by Fives-Lille for use on the Réseau Breton in France, remained in service until the closure of the metre gauge lines in 1967?


 * ...that among the rolling stock of the Kent & East Sussex Railway, 0-6-0T number 11, built in 1908 by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway, was requisitioned for military service in 1915 with the Railway Operating Division, Royal Engineers, then used in the construction of the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway in 1928, and its subsequent withdrawal from British Railways service in 1961 makes it the longest serving P class locomotive?


 * ...that the name of the Rikuu East Line, between Kogota Station in Misato, Miyagi Prefecture, to Shinjō Station in Shinjō, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, refers to the ancient provinces of Mutsu and Dewa (or alternatively, the Meiji-era provinces of Rikuzen and Uzen), which the line connects?


 * ...that Redfern railway station, which opened in 1874 south of the city centre in Sydney, Australia, was originally designed to be the principal station for Sydney, but was found to be too far from the city centre, so a new station (the present Sydney Central Station) was built to the north and opened in 1906?


 * ...that at 106 ft long, the three steam turbine locomotives built by Baldwin in the late 1940s for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway were the longest locomotives ever built solely for passenger service?


 * ...that railway systems engineering encompasses a wide range of engineering disciplines, including civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering and production engineering as well as great many other engineering sub-disciplines?


 * ...that among the projects included in railway electrification in Malaysia, the double tracking and electrification of 179 km of the main West Coast line will enable Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) to run trains at a maximum speed of 160 km/h between Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh and KTMB plans to introduce a rapid intercity service between KL Sentral and Ipoh, running 16 services a day initially and ultimately 32 services a day?


 * ...that in the 17th and 18th centuries, before the advent of steam locomotives, rails were fastened to sleepers by pegs through holes in the rail, but as the flanged 'tee' rail was introduced in the 19th century, rail fastening systems evolved to use the various designs of spikes and spring clips that are now in use worldwide?


 * ...that it is unknown how many people attended the First Transcontinental Railroad completion ceremony at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, with estimates running from as low as 500 to as many as 3,000 government and railroad officials and track workers who were present to witness the event?


 * ...that Polar Bear, a battery-electric locomotive built by Alan Keef in 2003 for the Groudle Glen Railway in the Isle of Man, was built on the frame of a 1988-built vehicle of similar design as a replica of two similar locomotives that operated on the railway between 1921 and 1926?


 * ...that Podgorica Rail Station in Podgorica, Montenegro, of which the current building opened after World War II, was not originally planned as a permanent passenger station, but rather as an administration and control center for the Montenegrin railway system?


 * ...that a pocket track, which is a section of track that can be used to park trains, differs from a passing loop in that the pocket track is usually located between two main lines, rather than off to the side?


 * ...that the combined overland and underground infrastructure of Perth railway station, which originally opened in 1881 and served as the headquarters for Western Australian Government Railways, is the largest railway station in Perth, Western Australia?