Portal:Trains/Did you know/Main page, 2006

The following facts related to rail transport have appeared in the Did you know section of Wikipedia's Main page in 2006.


 * ...that in 1944 a railway ferry on the Norwegian railway Rjukanbanen (pictured) was sunk to 430 meters depth to prevent Nazi Germany from developing nuclear weapons?
 * ...that the history of rapid transit began when the London Underground started operations in 1863?
 * ...that in the United Kingdom alone, over £60 million is spent annually on dealing with the effects of leaves on railroad tracks?


 * ...that funeral trains (pictured) were once a common method of transporting coffins to cemeteries, but are now almost exclusively used for state funerals?


 * ...that "Heavy Harry", the only working example of the Victorian Railways H class (pictured), was the largest non-articulated steam locomotive ever built in Australia?


 * ...that the Peachliner (pictured) people mover in Komaki, Japan, was planned originally to carry 43,000 passengers daily, but only carried an average of 2670 per day during 15 years of operation?
 * ...that architectural elements akin to those of the Olympic Stadium in Munich were incorporated in the Central Railway Station in Sofia during its latest renovation?
 * ...that the Egyptian National Railways can trace its origin to the first railway in Africa and the Middle East, which began operating in 1854?
 * ...that when the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued the decree to construct the Donetsk Metro in 1991, the completion date was set for 2002, but due to the unstable economic situation of the city, it is still not complete?
 * ...that the parastatal Kenya Railways Corporation will be managed by a private consortium come November 1, 2006?
 * ...that due to legal restrictions, the first scheduled electric tram service in Saint Petersburg ran not on city streets, but rather on ice covering the Neva River during winter season?
 * ... that the James J. Hill House in Saint Paul, Minnesota, built in 1891 by railroad magnate James J. Hill, has 36,000 square feet of living area and is the largest residence in Minnesota?
 * ...that, as a result of track switchbacks on either side of a mountain pass, all trains of the Gilmore and Pittsburgh Railroad crossed over the U.S. continental divide running backwards?


 * ...that the Vitebsk Rail Terminal in Saint Petersburg (pictured) contains a replica of the first train used in the Russian Empire?
 * ...that some historians claim that Russian engineer Fyodor Pirotsky built the world's first electric tramway?
 * ...that in 1883, Southern Pacific Railroad tried to block the California Southern Railroad from installing a level junction across their tracks in Colton, California, by moving a locomotive slowly back and forth at the intersection point?
 * ...that the Kiev tram was the first electric tramway in the Russian Empire, and the second one in Europe, after the Berlin Straßenbahn?
 * ...that Church Hill Tunnel in Richmond, Virginia, contains a steam locomotive and ten flat cars trapped in a collapse in October 1925 which were never recovered?


 * ...that the second line of the Valenciennes tram (pictured) will open in 2007, but will reuse the platform of a railway line that opened in 1838?


 * ...that Artrain USA (pictured) is a 5-car art gallery that tours the U.S. 11 months of the year, visiting small towns whose residents may not otherwise have a chance to see art up close?
 * ...that the Lviv tram, opened on May 5, 1880, in Galicia (then part of Austria-Hungary), is one of the last urban transit systems in the former Soviet Union to still use grooved rail?
 * ...that Aleksandra Piłsudska, a Polish revolutionary and second wife of dictator Józef Piłsudski, helped plan the Bezdany train raid?


 * ...that the 1040-foot-long Starrucca Viaduct in Lanesboro, Pennsylvania, was the largest and most expensive stone railway viaduct when built in 1848, and is still in use by the Norfolk Southern Railway?
 * ...that Yoshioka-Kaitei Station, located 149.5 metres below sea level within the Seikan Tunnel, is the deepest underground station in Japan?
 * ...that Szeged's public transport company is one of only four city transport companies that operate tram service in Hungary?
 * ...that in the Bezdany train robbery of 1908, led by the future Polish dictator, Józef Piłsudski, the revolutionaries stole over 200,000 rubles?


 * ...that the Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel (map at right) is a proposed underwater tunnel for rail transport of freight between central New Jersey and southern New York City, United States?
 * ...that more than 200,000 railroad workers participated in the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886, and the strike's collapse directly led to the formation of the American Federation of Labor?


 * ...that the 44 hour and 54 minute transit time of the 1905 Scott Special between Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois, wasn't beaten in regular railway operations until the 1937 launch of the Super Chief?
 * ...that following the Mississauga train derailment of 1979, nearly 250,000 people had to be evacuated for up to five days while toxic chemicals that had spilled onto the railway tracks were cleaned up?
 * ...that the Funicular dos Guindais was originally built to carry cargo - including port wine - from the Ribeira quayside to the centre of Porto, and is now a tourist attraction and one of the world's steepest counter-balanced cable railways?
 * ...that rail transportation in Okinawa dates back to 1902, when the island's first line started operations to haul sugarcane, but the Okinawa Monorail is the only line still in operation?


 * ...that Linimo in Aichi, Japan, claims to be the world's first commercial automated "Urban Maglev" train, but it has to be shut down when it is too windy?


 * ...that Carrollton Viaduct in Baltimore, Maryland, is the world's oldest railway bridge still in use, and that its cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1828?
 * ...that the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that operated in Arizona, New Mexico and California from July 1, 1897, till July 1, 1902?
 * ...that British Rail had a design for a flying saucer?
 * ...that the British Rail flying saucer was an unbuilt nuclear fusion powered space craft, proposed and patented in the 1970s by British Rail?


 * ...that a steam-powered locomotive built specifically by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in 1893 for its Empire State Express passenger train was the first manmade object on wheels to exceed 100 miles-per-hour?
 * ...that in 1998, a study proposed to relocate Jordanhill railway station, a station currently located near the Jordanhill Campus of the University of Strathclyde and the Jordanhill School that opened in 1887?
 * ...that the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways add about 500 km of new track each year to their network with planned links to Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan?
 * ...that El Gobernador, Central Pacific Railroad's 4-10-0 steam locomotive, had to be shipped from the shops in Sacramento, California, in five large subassemblies due to its enormous size?
 * ...that the Cowboy Trail is the longest rails to trails conversion project in the United States?