Portal:Trains/Did you know/July 2008

July 2008

 * ...that WS 686 and WAB 687, the first two New Zealand Railways WAB and WS class steam locomotives, a 4-6-4 tank locomotive class derived from the AB class 4-6-2 tender locomotives, were built from the boilers, frames and engine units initially destined for AB 666 and AB 667?


 * ...that the North Norfolk Railway, a heritage steam railway in Norfolk, England, was a location used in May 1973 for filming during production of the episode The Royal Train of the popular TV programme Dad's Army?
 * ...that banana messengers were agents sent on U.S. railroads to accompany shipments of bananas and other fruit, and that they were accorded special ticket rates, similar to those for railway employees and clergy, as late as the 1960s?


 * ...that the Israel Railway Museum collection includes saloon coach No. 98, used for VIP transport by, among others, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Queen Elizabeth of Belgium and Prime Minister Winston Churchill?


 * ...that Montenegro's Mala Rijeka viaduct is, at 200 m above the Mala Rijeka river level, the tallest railway viaduct in the world?


 * ...that the EMD G26, a General Motors EMD diesel-electric locomotive design, has been sold worldwide to railways including the Australian Railroad Group, ONCF, Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, Croatian Railways, Israel Railways, and Korail?
 * ...that the Jugoslovenskih Železnica (JŽ; Yugoslavian Railways) Class 62, a class of 106 ex-United States Army Transportation Corps S100 0-6-0 steam locomotives, was supplemented by 90 Croatian-built examples, with the locally built locomotives featuring plate frames rather than bar frames?


 * ...that of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft Class E 18 electric locomotives introduced in 1935, seven were evacuated from Silesia in World War II to avoid falling into the hands of the advancing Soviet armies, five were taken by the Soviets after the war as war reparations and later sold to the West German Deutsche Bundesbahn, and three were built from the remains of six damaged units and remained in service until German reunification in 1990?


 * ...that while the power cars of Australia's CountryLink XPT trains are based on the design of the British Rail Class 43 of the InterCity 125 High Speed Train, the passenger cars are based on a design by the Budd Company?


 * ...that British Rail produced a variety of railbuses as a means both of inexpensively building new rolling stock, and economically providing passenger services on lightly-used branch lines?


 * ...that the Northeast Corridor, serving a densely urbanized string of cities from Washington, D.C. to Boston, is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States by ridership and service frequency?


 * ...that Sweden's Svenska Tågkompaniet AB (The Swedish Train Company) is, as of October 31, 2006, 85% owned by Norges Statsbaner (Norwegian State Railways)?


 * ...that the Sierra Leone Government Railway, which operated from 1897 to 1974, formed a national railway system constructed solely to a rail gauge, a narrow gauge which was usually confined to feeder railways?


 * ...that the British Rail Class 323 electric multiple unit trains built from 1992-93 were the last vehicles to be built by the struggling manufacturer Hunslet TPL before the company collapsed?


 * ...that in the 1870s, Premier of New Zealand Sir Julius Vogel initiated a massive construction program of central government-funded and operated railways and other public works, firmly establishing the power of New Zealand's central government over its regional governments which led to the abolition of the Provinces of New Zealand?


 * ...that Croatia's narrow gauge Samoborček railway between Zagreb and Samobor, closed in 1979 and later dismantled, is to be replaced with a new standard gauge line connecting to the Croatian Railways network?


 * ...that until 1917, when Finland became an independent state, the Riihimäki-Saint Petersburg railroad had been operated by the Finnish State Railways for all its length?


 * ...that the atmospheric railway, a railway technology that uses air pressure to provide power for propulsion dating back to the The Birmingham, Bristol & Thames Junction Railway of 1840, continues in production in a modified form in the lightweight people mover trains produced by the Aeromovel Corporation of Brazil?


 * ...that following a campaign by the group Campaign for Better Transport, the closed Onehunga Branch line in Auckland, New Zealand, is to be restored and reopened for passenger traffic?


 * ...that Liverpool Road Railway Station, opened on 15 September 1830 as the original Manchester terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in England, is the oldest surviving railway station in the world?


 * ... that Tianjin's TEDA Modern Guided Rail Tram, which opened in 2007 and operated by Binhai Mass Transit, is the first modern guided rail tram system to be built in China?


 * ...that in 2008 the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage announced that they were working on making railway ferry MF Storegut, along with the rest of the railway between Notodden and Rjukan, a World Heritage Site?


 * ...that the open platform of an observation car was often used on whistle stop tours by those campaigning for public office to make speeches, or as a stage for famous personalities such as members of a royal family or film stars to greet well-wishers and fans during public tours?


 * ...that the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway, one of London's early underground "tube" railway lines, was built with finance raised by American Charles Yerkes?


 * ...that the first live television broadcast viewed on a moving train was on October 7, 1948, when passengers on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Marylander saw the second game of the 1948 World Series?


 * ...that the former Wonthaggi railway line in Australia was built so rapidly that the 30 mi line, authorised in December 1909, carried its first coal train in February 1910?


 * ...that the acquisition of German-Swedish rail rolling stock equipment manufacturer ADtranz by Bombardier Transportation in 2001 made Bombardier the largest rail equipment manufacturer in the world?


 * ...that the head drafstman for the 1892 New Orleans Union Station project in Louisiana, USA, the only railway station designed by architect Louis Sullivan, was later renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright?