Portal:Trains/Did you know/January 2015

January 2015

 * ...that cars of the Portland–Lewiston Interurban, which connected its namesake cities in Maine, were capable of multiple unit operation, but difficulties operating over municipal streetcar tracks discouraged the practice?


 * ...that Peartree railway station in Derby, England, one of only two stations remaining open in the city, was reopened in 1976 in order to transport workers to and from the Rolls-Royce plant via the private Sinfin North station on the plant property in Sinfin?


 * ...that Transnet Freight Rail's Class 21E dual-voltage electric locomotives recently introduced in South Africa are designed so they can haul their loads directly from the mines under 3 kV DC electrification all the way to Richards Bay under the line's 25 kV AC system?


 * ...that the preserved Natal Railway Company 0-4-0WT locomotive Natal, the first locomotive to operate in revenue service in South Africa, was reconstructed in the 1940s from little more than its frame, wheels, springs, cylinders and some odd loose parts?


 * ...that the Truro and Newquay Railway was built as a subsidiary railway by the Great Western Railway in the late 1890s partly as a strategy to prevent competition in northern Cornwall from the London and South Western Railway?


 * ...that Melbourne's tram classification system is derived from classes originally devised by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board, which at first was based on the order in which the original tramways companies had purchased them?


 * ...that one system of propulsion for maglev trains is known as magnetic river, referring to the action that provides stability along the longitudinal axis, which acts similar to the flow of water in a river?


 * ...that the Livermore Altamont Corridor Express station in California was originally planned as the site of a co-located BART station but the Livermore City Council reversed its position in response to a petition requesting that the alignment stay within or nearby the Interstate 580 right-of-way?


 * ...that the Calais-Mediterranée Express, a luxury French night express train between Calais and the French Riviera, was colloquially referred to as Le Train Bleu in French (which became its formal name after World War II) because of its dark blue sleeping cars?


 * ...that in September 2010, 185-200 series 7-car EMU set OM03 was repainted into the Shōnan colour scheme of orange and green to recreate the appearance of the early 80 series EMUs, as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Kusatsu limited express service?


 * ...that in 1995 when the maximum speed on the Kintetsu Suzuka Line was raised from 65 km/h to 80 km/h, the total ride time between Ise-Wakamatsu Station and Hiratachō Station was reduced by only one minute?


 * ...that East Japan Railway Company introduced new EV-E301 series two-car battery electric multiple unit (BEMU) trains on the Karasuyama Line in 2014 with the intention of ultimately replacing all of the diesel trains used on the line with EV-E301 trains?


 * ...that with Étienne Tricaud, Jean-Marie Duthilleul laid the theoretical groundwork in the late 1980s for the creation of new, large stations across France in a contemporary style, which he saw from the points of view of both urban planning and architecture: opening up the city, intermodal transport, traffic management, accessibility and commercial development?


 * ...that despite local residents' objections, the Homan station on the Chicago 'L' Green Line was closed in 1994 and its station building was moved in 2001 to a new stop called Conservatory–Central Park Drive?


 * ...that despite construction delays and budget overruns, new tracklaying by Network Rail on the Waverley Line, that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle, is expected to enable the line to be reopened as far south as Tweedbank in September 2015?


 * ...that in 1970, the Hankyu Senri Line in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, was one of the major access routes to Expo '70 with the temporary Expo West Gate Station?


 * ...that the Lexington Avenue Line station at Grand Central – 42nd Street, the 2009 South Ferry station, and the unopened 34th Street – Hudson Yards station are the only three artificially cooled extant stations in the New York City Subway?


 * ...that Great Eastern Railway's Class G58 of 0-6-0 steam locomotives consisted partly of new locomotives built from 1905 to 1911 and partly of rebuilds of the earlier Class F48 built from 1900 to 1903?
 * ...that Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane's Class D.445 was developed in part as a way to replace generator wagons for passenger train electrical power with a high voltage head-end power supply?


 * ...that South African Railways ' Class 26 4-8-4 locomotive was originally named L.D. Porta in honor of Livio Dante Porta, but in Cape Town press reports after its debut the locomotive was dubbed the Red Devil due to its red livery, a nickname that eventually became official?


 * ...that the Eurotunnel Calais Terminal in France has a larger loading gauge than the rest of the French network owing to the oversized trailers used to carry road-going vehicles through the tunnel?


 * ...that Eifukuchō Station, in Suginami, Tokyo, Japan, is the only station on the Keio Inokashira Line which has passing loops, to allow transfers between express and local trains in both directions?