Portal:Trains/Did you know/March 2009

March 2009

 * ...that eight of the SNCF Class BB 22200 electric locomotives were upgraded to 5600 kW output, allowing for 200 km/h operation and the ability to run on TGV lines?


 * ...that the Yugoslav Railways JŽ series 661, a General Motors EMD G16 diesel electric locomotive variant, was colloquially nicknamed "Kenedi" after the US president John F. Kennedy?


 * ...that although US manufacturer Fairbanks-Morse (FM) hoped to sell large numbers of its lightweight FM P-12-42 dual-powered electro-diesel locomotive to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, financial troubles prevented FM from extending financing to customers, and the cash-strapped New Haven railroad opted to purchase a fleet of sixty EMD FL9s instead as General Motors financing was available for the purchase?


 * ...that German manufacturer Henschel & Son founded operations in Kassel in 1810 and even today, as part of Bombadier, the Kassel facility still exists and is one of the world's largest manufacturers of locomotives?


 * ...that during World War II, the Canadian Pacific Railway's Angus Shops — normally devoted to production of passenger cars, freight cars and locomotives — produced tanks for the war effort?


 * ...that steam locomotives of the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement were nicknamed 'Mountains' in reference to their use and ability in powering trains over mountainous terrain, an example of which would be the Bulgarian State Railways use of the type to haul heavy passenger trains over Bulgarian main lines with gradients up to 28‰ (1 in 35.7)?


 * ...that the English locomotive manufacturer W. G. Bagnall introduced several novel types of locomotive valve gear including the Bagnall-Price and the Baguley?


 * ...that Argentina's Tren de las Nubes (Train of/to the Clouds), connecting the Argentine Northwest with the border with Chile in the Andes mountain range, rises to over 4220 m above mean sea level, and is the third highest railway in the world?


 * ...that the Ten Tunnels Deviation in New South Wales, Australia, was opened in 1910 to replace the Lithgow Zig Zag, a steeply graded zig zag railway which after 40 years was limiting the length of goods trains able to be hauled over the Blue Mountains?


 * ...that the General Motors EMD G12 diesel electric locomotive was produced in Bo-Bo, A1A-A1A, and Co-Co variants, and has seen service on standard, narrow and broad gauge railways in countries as far afield as Australia, Canada, Israel, Nigeria, South Korea and Venezuela?


 * ...that the Jersey Railway was built to three different gauges during its life, originally opening as a standard gauge system in 1870, then closing and reopening regauaged to  in 1884, before closing again in 1937 and later being rebuilt during World War II to  gauge by the occupying German army to allow transport of materials for fortifying the island?


 * ...that rail transport in Abkhazia (a breakaway republic of Georgia) consists of a main line that, prior to the destruction of the rail bridge of the Inguri River on the opening day of the War in Abkhazia in 1992, connected Russia's North Caucasus Railway with Georgian railways?


 * ...that the Istanbul Sirkeci railway station terminal building in Turkey is one of the most famous examples of European Orientalism architecture, and has influenced the designs of other architects?


 * ...that during the Enosis riots in October 1931, 120 yards (110 m) of the Cyprus Government Railway tracks were torn up, since the railway was regarded a symbol of British colonial rule?


 * ...that the history of rail transport in Indonesia includes deliveries of some notable "last" steam locomotives, including the last Mallet locomotive built for a non-tourist railway, and Hunslet No. 3902, built in 1971, the last steam locomotive built in Great Britain for regular service?


 * ...that the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) Class 1200 were designed by Baldwin Locomotive Works using electrical designs by the Westinghouse Electric Company, with some parts made in the United States as part of the Marshall Plan?


 * ...that when it was opened on March 30, 1935, the now-closed Hardanger Line between Voss and Granvin in Norway was the first railway in the country to open with electric traction?


 * ...that the now-closed Cudgewa railway line in Victoria, Australia, was used in 1919 to carry materials for the construction of Hume Weir, and in the 1960s became the railhead for the Snowy Mountains hydroelectric scheme, the largest engineering project undertaken in Australia?


 * ...that when unveiled at Innotrans in 2000, the Vossloh G2000 BB diesel-electric locomotive featured an asymmetric cab with a walkway, which in conjunction with remote control operation allowed shunting to be done from an external viewpoint while still riding on the locomotive?


 * ...that the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) Class 200 diesel locomotives were designed with simplicity in mind, using diesel fuel from the fuel tank to act as coolant, and using exhaust gases to operate the whistle?


 * ...that the BB 8500 class electric locomotives of the SNCF (French National Railway) acquired the nickname Danseuses (dancers) due to their tendency to sway from side to side at speed?


 * ...that the 40 class diesel-electric locomotive model built by Montreal Locomotive Works in Canada for operations in New South Wales, Australia, were based on the ALCO RSC-3 design with only subtle differences in the body styling?


 * ...that Vossloh AG, a German rail infrastructure and locomotive manufacturer with sales of €1.2 billion in 2007, commenced operations in the 1880s when Eduard Vossloh began the manufacture of spring washers for rail fasteners in the Vossloh family's blacksmith shop?


 * ...that between its nationalization by President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río in 1938, and privatization 60 years later by President Ernesto Zedillo, Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México operated most railway trackage through the central and northeastern regions of Mexico?


 * ...that until February 2007, Island Line Trains operating refurbished ex-London Underground tube trains originally built in 1938 on an 8.5 mi line on the Isle of Wight was the smallest train operating company to make up the National Rail network in the United Kingdom?


 * ...that the Belgian Coast Tram, a public transport service connecting the cities and towns along the entire Belgian (West Flanders) coast, between De Panne near the French border and Knokke-Heist near the Dutch border, is the longest tram line in the world, as well as one of the few interurban tramways in the world to remain in operation?


 * ...that the TranzAlpine service inaugurated in 1987 by New Zealand Railways Corporation and now operated by Tranz Scenic has become increasingly popular due to the spectacular scenery through which it travels on the South Island of New Zealand, carrying 204,000 passengers in 2007?


 * ...that between Tokyo and Morioka, the Komachi service of JR East's Akita Shinkansen is coupled with a Tōhoku Shinkansen E2 series train, and after Morioka, the Komachi service continues along former narrow gauge tracks that have been converted to standard gauge?


 * ...that like the SD90MAC built by rival EMD, the GE AC6000CW suffered reliability problems with its 6000 hp engine, which caused GE to sell more than 100 of them with 4400 hp engines that were never upgraded?


 * ...that in 1956 a strike which began at H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A., a Polish locomotive and tram manufacturing company then known as Joseph Stalin Metal Works in Poznań, and several other major factories led to the first of massive protests known as the Poznań 1956 protests against the communist government?