Portal:Trains/Did you know/Main page, 2011

The following facts related to rail transport have appeared in the Did you know section of Wikipedia's Main page in 2011.


 * ... that over a 26-year span the Illinois Central Railroad's Land O'Corn used self-propelled cars, steam and finally diesel locomotives?
 * ... that the Mountaineer was the first passenger train Amtrak operated over the Norfolk and Western Railway?
 * ... that in 1963, a whole farm&mdash;including machinery, staff and a pedigree herd of Hereford cattle&mdash;travelled by train from Tetbury railway station to Stranraer in advance of the Beeching Axe?
 * ... that the Harrington Hump has been built for railway stations in the United Kingdom for mobility-impaired access, since platform heights are not standardised and refurbishment is very expensive?
 * ... that the proposed Redlands Passenger Rail system would connect the University of Redlands with San Bernardino, California?
 * ... that the interlocking at the Harris Switch Tower in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, still simulates train movements using timetables from the early 1940s?
 * ... that Fowler's Ghost was first seen on the London Metropolitan Railway in 1861, nearly exploded and was never seen again after 1895?
 * ... that the 1906 Florida Keys hurricane killed 135 of the Florida East Coast Railway's workers?
 * ... that J. Wesley Gephart gave up his law practice with a governor to run a railroad and two blast furnaces?


 * ... that the Maroon Creek Bridge (pictured) is the only significant remnant of two rail lines that once served Aspen, Colorado?
 * ... that the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad offered "millions of acres" of cheap land as a motivation for settlers to move to Iowa and Nebraska in 1872?
 * ... that in addition to serving as Lizzie Borden's defense attorney, Melvin O. Adams was a U.S. Attorney and a railroad executive?
 * ... that the woollybutt is useful in the production of honey and railway sleepers?
 * ... that there were concerns that The Bouncy could derail a train?
 * ... that in 1992 the future Peace in Africa destroyed the Terminator?
 * ... that phantom rides were often filmed by a cameraman tied to the front of a speeding train?


 * ... that the BNSF Railway Bridge 5.1 (pictured), in Portland, Oregon, which once had the world's longest swing span, was converted in 1989 to one of the world's highest vertical-lift spans?
 * ... that the North Bank Depot Buildings in Portland, Oregon, were built in 1908 as terminals for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway?


 * ... that the 103-year-old Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge (pictured) is one of only two surviving swing-span bridges in the Portland metropolitan area?


 * ... that no. 224 of the North British Railway (pictured post-accident) was the first inside-cylinder 4-4-0 and the first tandem compound to run in Great Britain; and the locomotive involved in the Tay Bridge disaster?
 * ... that the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad main line in Oregon was damaged by storms three times, then finally abandoned due to repair costs?
 * ... that one person was killed by police during disturbances occasioned by the site selection of the Ganga Rail-Road Bridge in India?
 * ... that Georg Ræder played a central role in the planning and construction of the first public railway line in Norway?
 * ... that Winston Churchill's funeral train carried the headcode of a breakdown train?
 * ... that the man behind the courteous baritone "Mind the gap" announcements in the Delhi Metro is Shammi Narang?
 * ... that the Talent, a multiple unit passenger train in the rail system of Germany, Austria and Norway, was developed by Waggonfabrik Talbot in Aachen?
 * ... that the Nehru Setu, built in 1900, was the longest railway bridge in India until a longer one was opened in February 2011?
 * ... that Frederick Settle Barff invented a device, similar to a catalytic converter, to remove SO2 and CO2 from the exhaust fumes of locomotives in the 1860s?
 * ... that the disused Såner Station was purchased by a family for 1.3 million Norwegian kroner in 2003?
 * ... that the tracks of the Oregon and Northwestern Railroad are well preserved, even though they weren't well-built and they have been flooded by Malheur Lake?
 * ... that when railway telegrapher Alfred Atherton was accused of manslaughter for his role in the Canoe River train crash, he hired his MP, John Diefenbaker as defence counsel, who won an acquittal?
 * ... that Christ Church in Ashford, Kent, became known as "the railwayman's church" because most of the money for its construction was provided by the shareholders of the South Eastern Railway Company?
 * ... that the Trailblazer was the first commercially operated monorail system in the United States?
 * ... that the Flåm Line, originally operated with El 9 locomotives, is the steepest standard gauge railway in Europe?
 * ... that graphic designer Lance Wyman designed both the logo for the 1968 Summer Olympics and the Washington Metro map?
 * ... that the London Necropolis Railway was used to relocate the exhumed contents of at least 21 London graveyards to Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey?


 * ... that the last standard gauge steam locomotive in use in Israel was a Palestine Railways H class 4-6-0 (pictured) originally built for the British Army's Palestine Military Railway?


 * ... that the Pullman cars at the former Croton North station (pictured) in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, were never used in the state but are still contributing resources to its National Register listing?
 * ... that farmer Jørgen Rytterager was appointed station master of Snarum Station in 1872?
 * ... that escaped slaves using the Underground Railroad hid in tunnels beneath the train track in Ypsilanti, Michigan's Depot Town?
 * ... that not long after the Elizabethtown station opened in 1915, the Liberty Bell visited the station on its way to San Francisco?
 * ... that armoured trains of Poland proved to be surprisingly successful during the Polish Defensive War of 1939?
 * ... that Sir George Gibb, head of the British government's former Road Board, was accused of having delayed the construction of new roads because he had been a railwayman?


 * ... that Hotel Astoria (pictured) at Copenhagen's main railway station was designed to look like a steam locomotive?
 * ... that the Kunming–Singapore Railway will be 3900 km long when completed?
 * ... that the former station house at the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway depot in Galesburg, Illinois, had two waiting rooms, one for men and one for women?
 * ... that despite losing an 1896 eminent domain case in the US Supreme Court, the battlefield tourist trolley between Gettysburg and Round Top operated over the Gettysburg National Military Park for 20 more years?


 * ... that Charles Elliott Perkins (pictured) was appointed assistant treasurer of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad at the age of 20?
 * ... that the Ruislip-Northwood Urban District was formed in 1904 following concerns over the expansion of the Metropolitan Railway and the growth in population of Northwood?


 * ... that the Hai Van Pass (pictured) has been the scene of at least two of Vietnam's most serious railway accidents?
 * ... that the artwork created for the MBTA's Red Line Northwest Extension cost one half of one percent of the total construction costs of the rail line?
 * ... that in 1903, Benjamin Franklin Yoakum began building the Gulf Coast Lines in southern Texas as a link in a projected transcontinental railroad system stretching from Chicago to Mexico?
 * ... that Anesrif is managing the construction of the High Plateau line, a railway across Algeria?
 * ... that Chief Stephen Talkhouse unsuccessfully filed three lawsuits between 1897 and 1918 against the Long Island Rail Road, and its predecessors in title, claiming Montauk Point?
 * ... that before becoming a state legislator and then railroad commissioner in Nebraska, Henry Clarke pitched with Cy Young for the Cleveland Spiders and coached Michigan Wolverines baseball?
 * ... that the first international railway link built in Laos opened in 2009, bringing trains across the Mekong from Nong Khai to Thanaleng Railway Station?


 * ... that the first public trains in Russia were horse-drawn on the railroad between Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk (station pictured) in 1836?
 * ... that as director-general of Norwegian State Railways, Edvard Heiberg became famous for the phrase "The railway is being strangled by impotent car users"?
 * ... that during World War I, future Norwegian politician and railroad chairman Egil Werner Erichsen was hit by the Spanish Flu, but did not spend one day in bed?
 * ... that Mary Hynes, who represents Virginia on the board of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, has promised to ride its Metrorail system to get to board meetings?


 * ... that when Gare de Bellegarde (current station building pictured) opened in 1858 as part of the Lyon–Geneva railway, the station building was built in the style of a Swiss chalet?


 * ... that for 30 years the Reuben Wells steam engine (pictured), now displayed at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, pushed train cars up the steepest railroad incline in the United States?
 * ... that the Heinrich-Heine-Straße U-Bahn station in Berlin, opened in 1928, was a ghost station for nearly three decades and retains much of its original appearance?
 * ... that the Limon Railroad Depot is one of three still standing Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad stations in Colorado?
 * ... that a jury awarded an alleged robber $20,000 in 1935 for a botched 1931 burglary of the Harriman Erie Railroad station after the cops shot his leg?
 * ... that TIGER grants are contributing to the construction of the Gateway Project, a high speed rail corridor between Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station?
 * ... that Olav Braarud remained the managing director of the Oslo light rail company Holmenkolbanen while it was controlled by the fascist Nasjonal Samling and the Nazi military during World War II?
 * ... that since the discontinuation of commuter rail in Cleveland, Ohio, there have been at least three proposals for restoring service, but none have progressed beyond studies?
 * ... that Pontyclun railway station, previously called Llantrisant, was originally two separate railway stations that were later merged into one?
 * ... that heavy fog meant that helicopters were unable to participate in rescue operations after a recent train wreck in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany?
 * ... that the Class 11 was the only type of standard gauge 2-8-2 locomotive built in quantity for South African Railways?
 * ... that the railway in Alderney is the only working railway in the Channel Islands, and draws a number of visitors to the island every year?
 * ... that the highest point on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was 965 ft above sea level, just to the east of Britannia railway station?
 * ... that the Oregon Portage Railroad was the first railroad in Oregon, and had the first locomotive in the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon Pony?
 * ... that the 1915 Parnell Tunnel in New Zealand replaced a steeper single-track tunnel known to inundate open carriages with smoke and sparks, causing burns and clothing stains?


 * ... that the Hudson Valley Rail Trail (pictured), once owned by a felonious charlatan, is patrolled by a police officer riding a Segway?
 * ... that, despite repeated proposals to extend the Holmenkollen Line of the Oslo Metro to Tryvandshøiden Station, passenger trains never served the station since it was partly built in 1916?
 * ... that the rail line at the Swiss Fort Heldsberg incorporated a turnout to derail enemy armored trains?
 * ... that Eugene K. Garfield used a personal Pullman car when he rode the Auto-Train service he started to carry people and their vehicles between Virginia and Florida?
 * ... that during their campaign to sabotage the French-controlled Vietnamese railway network, Viet Minh guerrillas built their own 300 km railway out of tracks stolen from the main line?


 * ... that the 240 ft clock tower on the former Union Station (top pictured) that dominates the skyline in Waterbury, Connecticut, was modeled on the Torre del Mangia in Siena, Italy?
 * ... that the newly opened Hainan Eastern Ring Railway employed 50,000 workers, and is Hainan's largest single investment project to date?
 * ... that the Knoxville L&N rail station had three waiting rooms: one for ladies, one for "colored" people, and a general waiting room?