Portal:Trains/Did you know/Main page, 2007

The following facts related to rail transport have appeared in the Did you know section of Wikipedia's Main page in 2007.


 * ...that the Iron Range and Huron Bay Railroad never operated a single train, despite completing a 42-mile (68 km) line and its own ore dock at a cost of over two million dollars?


 * ...that the sole surviving Class D16 4-4-0 American-type steam locomotive (pictured), is preserved and currently on display near the same tracks on which it operated for many years?


 * ...that the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme (pictured) is a preserved railway in France that has dual gauge track with four rails?
 * ...that the Sussex Railroad was the last independently operated New Jersey railroad to be incorporated into the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad system?
 * ...that the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Street Railway was the first operating interurban railroad in the state of Michigan?
 * ...that there are more than 40 Community Rail Partnerships supporting local rail lines in the United Kingdom?


 * ...that the Hyde Park Railroad Station (pictured) in Hyde Park, New York was a day away from demolition when it was leased to a local rail historical society?
 * ...that the German national rail strike of 2007 is the largest strike in history affecting Deutsche Bahn?


 * ...that the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership has won £1,000,000 of grants to improve and promote six rural railway lines (Looe Valley Line pictured) in south-west England?
 * ...that Clyde Fastlink, a planned £42m dedicated bus service, is an interim measure for Glasgow's proposed light rail system?
 * ...that the Stillwell Avenue/Surf Avenue intersection in New York City is the site of the world's largest subway station?
 * ...that a lift attached to the side of the viaduct at Calstock railway station was used to lower railway trucks to the quays on the River Tamar 113 feet below?
 * ...that most trains stop before reaching the platform at Coombe railway station in Cornwall, UK, and then reverse away?
 * ...that in 2002, Devon and Cornwall set up a scheme where travellers on rural railways were rewarded for visiting pubs along the route?
 * ...that sculptor Tom Otterness delivered more than four times the amount of work commissioned for his popular "Life Underground" subway installation?
 * ...that passengers for Lympstone Commando railway station have to pass an armed guard as the only access is through the adjacent Royal Marine Commando Training Centre?
 * ...that the U.S. state of Oregon has a rail network of over 2,400 miles?
 * ...that railroad water stops contributed to the development of bass fishing in the 19th century United States?


 * ...that Pennsylvania's Kinzua Bridge (remnants pictured) was the world's longest and tallest railroad bridge when built in 1882, became a state park in 1970, and was knocked down by a tornado in 2003?
 * ...that the Old Loggers Path, a loop hiking trail in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, uses old logging railroad grades and roads, and its trailhead is a lumber ghost town?
 * ...that the City & South London Railway, opened in 1890, was the world's first major deep tube and electric railway and ran under the Thames from the City of London to Southwark?
 * ...that its central location as a transportation hub for the United States led to the branding of Omaha, Nebraska, as the "Gateway City of the West"?
 * ...that the Sun Ning Railway Company, South China's first significant railway, was dismantled in December 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War to deny its use by the Japanese military?
 * ...that the 22,200 meter Shimizu Tunnel was the world's longest tunnel when it was completed in 1982?
 * ...that a graffiti artist from the Bronx named PHASE 2 invented the famous "bubble letter" style of graffiti writing when tagging trains on the New York City Subway system in the early 1970s?
 * ...that the success of the Lifeline Express in providing medical services to remote places in India has seen similar projects being initiated in other countries including China, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh?
 * ...that the Katsuyama Eiheiji Line was forced to transfer operation companies because of two head-to-head train collisions within a year?
 * ...that the railways of Jamaica were the first built outside of Europe and continental North America and the first in a British colony?


 * ...that the neighbourhood of Bowbazar was the site of Calcutta's first horse drawn tram line (model pictured), opened in 1873?
 * ...that westbound trains can arrive unexpectedly on the eastbound track at Bedminster railway station to ease congestion at nearby Bristol Temple Meads?
 * ...that Howe Yoon Chong played a key role in establishing Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit system, Changi Airport and public housing?
 * ...that the trolley believed to have been used in the film A Streetcar Named Desire is housed at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum?
 * ...that the West End Street Railway fired Cyrus S. Ching in 1901 after he was nearly electrocuted on the job, only to appoint him manager two months later?
 * ...that children who turn 16 during the validity of a Family Railcard may still travel at child fares until the card expires?
 * ...that horses hauled both passenger and goods trains to Weston-super-Mare railway station, England, from 1841, when the railway opened, until 1851?


 * ...that part of the first line of the Berlin U-Bahn was built as an elevated railway (pictured), because the City of Berlin feared that an underground railway would damage one of its new trunk sewers?
 * ...that the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway was opened in 1930, more than 20 years after the original plans were drawn up?
 * ...that the first railway in Germany, the Bayerische Ludwigsbahn, was originally mostly horse-hauled because of the high cost of importing coal from Saxony?
 * ...that during engineering work in 1979, the collapse of the Penmanshiel Tunnel severed the main railway line between London and Edinburgh for five months?
 * ...that the Union Station in Omaha, Nebraska was the first Art Deco style train station in the United States?


 * ...that after his defeat in the American Civil War, Union Army General William Sooy Smith (pictured) returned to engineering and helped build the Glasgow Railroad Bridge, winning the Centennial Exposition prize in 1876?
 * ...that Lapland's Sjisjka railway stop was built in part because it was the only place in the country where the letters SJ occurred in the name twice?


 * ...that the Illinois Central Stone Arch Railroad Bridges (pictured) in Dixon, Illinois, were constructed without the use of bonding materials?


 * ...that as the Northern Division headquarters for the Illinois Central Railroad the Amboy Depot (pictured) had authority over 53 train stations?
 * ...that the steam rail motors, introduced by the Great Western Railway in 1903 to stimulate traffic, were so successful that they had to be replaced by conventional trains?
 * ...that the New Zealand Railways Department dumped tank locomotives of the WB class in the Mokihinui River to protect against erosion beside the route of the Seddonville Branch line?


 * ...that Abraham Lincoln's short speech at the Peekskill Freight Depot (pictured) was his only recorded public appearance in Westchester County?


 * ...that the Brunel-designed Wharncliffe Viaduct of 1836 (pictured), on the GWR main line in London, is home to a protected colony of bats?
 * ...that Ghum is the highest railway station in India at 2,225 m (7,407 ft)?
 * ...that one British bank, as an incentive for university students to open a new account with it, offers free Young Persons Railcards, valid for five years and worth £100?
 * ...that the Bonn–Oberkassel train ferry was one of six train ferries that commenced operations across the Rhine in Germany in the late 19th century?
 * ...that although Pope Gregory XVI condemned railroads as "the road to hell," Vatican City includes the world's shortest national railway system?


 * ...that Tunnel Mountain (pictured) has never had a tunnel run through it, and the name is due to an error by Major A.B. Rogers while surveying for the Canadian Pacific Railway?
 * ...that during World War II, Allied leaders met at the Droxford Station of the Meon Valley Railway to plan Operation Overlord?
 * ...that John J. Bernet was known for bringing railroad companies back from bankruptcy to solvency, earning him the nickname "Doctor of Sick Railroads"?
 * ...that the Cumberland Valley Railroad ran its first trains in 1837 on oak stringers in place of iron rails, and that in 1839 it ran the first sleeping cars in America?
 * ...that the Great Western Railway operated road motor (bus) services in England and Wales from 1903 until 1933 as it was cheaper than building new railways?


 * ...that on average, laying the track leading up to the final spike of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway cost $112,000 a mile?
 * ...that some of the disused railway stations between Plymouth in Devon and Penzance in Cornwall, England, were closed during the "Beeching Axe" in the 1960s?


 * ...that the 200 km/h maximum speed of the Munich-Nuremberg Express (pictured) makes it the only regional train in Germany fast enough to not impede ICE traffic?
 * ...that the Hungarian Gold Train was a 1944 Nazi operated freight train that carried stolen Hungarian valuables to Berlin, but never reached its destination?
 * ...that George Hennet built and operated depots on behalf of the South Devon Railway after it was short of money?
 * ...that there are eleven disused railway stations between Exeter St Davids and Plymouth Millbay, Devon, England, at eight of which there are visible remains?
 * ...that until 1861 Newton Abbot railway station had three separate train sheds for trains running on lines to and from Exeter, Plymouth, and Torquay?
 * ...that the Saint Petersburg–Hiitola railroad was completed by 1917, but a year later the Finnish Civil War caused traffic to stop, with a mile of track removed?
 * ...that the first railway locomotive in China was in service for only 15 months between 1876 and 1877 before being purchased and deliberately destroyed by the ruling Qing Dynasty?
 * ...that the Kalka-Shimla Railway track, a narrow gauge rail track in Himachal Pradesh, has a length of 96 kilometres, passing through 102 tunnels and crossing 864 bridges?


 * ...that the Laigh Milton viaduct (pictured), built in 1812, is the oldest surviving railway viaduct in Scotland and one of the oldest in the world?
 * ...that Fyodor Schechtel, the architect of Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal in Moscow, Russia, was expelled from his classes at Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1878 for "bad attendance"?
 * ...that when the Dovre Railway was inaugurated in 1921, the train returning with the prominent guests crashed in the Nidareid train disaster, killing six people?
 * ...that during a 90-minute period on January 30, 1996, three commuters fell into the gap at the Long Island Rail Road station at Syosset due to icy platform conditions?
 * ...that the names of broad gauge railway locomotives were drawn from areas such as Greek, Roman and other mythologies, famous people, literature, flora, fauna, towns, geographical features, speed and power?
 * ...that Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was the second railway in the world that was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO?
 * ...that the Grand Crimean Central Railway was built to transport artillery ammunition from Balaklava to the Allied troops besiging Sevastopol during the Crimean War?


 * ...that the Great Western Railway's Cornish Riviera Express (pictured) was named following a public competition in The Railway Magazine?
 * ...that Adelaide was the first city in Australia to introduce horse trams and the last to discard them for more modern public transport?


 * ...that the Berlin Stadtbahn (pictured) is built mostly as an elevated railway line with viaducts totalling eight kilometres of length, including 731 masonry viaduct arches?
 * ...that the Bellefonte Central Railroad once carried passengers and freight to Pennsylvania State University?
 * ...that in his lifetime, Thomas Brassey was involved in building one-third of the railway built in the United Kingdom and in one-twentieth of the railway built in the world?
 * ...that Trondheim Tramway was reopened in 1990 after being permanently closed for two years, the process costing two mayors in Trondheim their jobs?
 * ...that only one of the 266 1076 Class steam locomotives built for the Great Western Railway was named, and the rest had only numbers?
 * ...that the six Charles Tayleur locomotives ordered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Railway were unsuccessful?