Portal:Trains/Did you know/March 2011

March 2011

 * ...that except for a short section of street trackage in Croydon, Tramlink route 1, part of the Tramlink network in south London, England, operates on the tracks of the former Mid-Kent Railway and the Surrey Iron Railway?


 * ...that a track transition curve, also known as a spiral easement, a mathematically calculated curve on a section of railroad track where a straight section changes into a curve, is designed to reduce the effects of centrifugal force experienced by trains traversing the curve and thus reduce the chances of a derailment?


 * ...that the Tokushima Line, which originally opened in 1899 between Tokushima and Kawata, Japan, is officially nicknamed the "Yoshino River Blue Line" (よしの川ブルーライン) because it runs along the Yoshino River?


 * ...that the 25 mi long Texas State Railroad connecting Rusk and Palestine, Texas, now operated as a heritage railway, was originally established in 1881 to bring in raw materials for a prison iron foundry and to take the finished product out?


 * ...that after two Turkish State Railways E52500 class electric locomotives were scrapped due to damage incurred during the Tasvancil accident in 2004, two replacement units were delivered in 2004 and 2005 that are capable of 160 km/h, a top speed that is higher than the rest of the locomotive class?


 * ...that the Tweed Viaduct south of Edinburgh, Scotland, was originally built in the late 1890s to carry both a water pipeline from the Talla Reservoir and the right-of-way for the Talla Railway which served the reservoir's construction needs?


 * ...that the Takachiho Railway, which was spun off from JR Kyushu in 1989 to operate the Takachiho Line in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, ceased operations in 2005 when Typhoon Nabi washed away two bridges on the line, and was finally liquidated in 2009?


 * ...that like other stations on the Manila MRT Blue Line in the Philippines, Taft Avenue Station is above-ground, but it is the only station that is at grade, lying directly on flat ground?


 * ...that when SuperVia took over the concession in 1998 to operate rapid transit trains in and around Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the system carried 145,000 passengers per day with a punctuality of less than 30%, figures that SuperVia was able to improve such that in 2009 the system carried 510,000 passengers per day with an average punctuality of 90%?


 * ...that of the six Amtrak stations in Kansas, the one in Hutchinson had the fewest passengers boarding or detraining in 2010, with an average of twelve per day?


 * ...that Suica cards, rechargeable contactless smart cards used for fare collection on train lines in Japan, are also increasingly being accepted as a form of electronic money for purchases at stores and kiosks, especially within train stations?


 * ...that a steam locomotive's exhaust system is designed not only to exhaust spent steam from the cylinders and smoke from the firebox but also to increase the draught through the fire for more efficient fuel consumption?


 * ...that when the Southern Railway had a need for more powerful 4-4-0 steam locomotives for the London to Folkestone express trains in the early 1920s, Chief Mechanical Engineer Richard Maunsell amended Wainwright's L class drawings to form his own L1 class which were subsequently ordered from North British Locomotive Company?


 * ...that when the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad opened to the public in 1892, a line that later became the oldest part of the Chicago 'L' system, it took 14 minutes to travel the 3.6 mile (5.8 km) route?


 * ...that since its inception in 1966, South Central Railway in India laid 342.805 km of new lines, converted 2676.19 km of track from metre gauge to broad gauge, carried out a doubling of track on 1272.453 km of lines and constructed many major river bridges including the II Godavari Bridge and III Godavari Bridges at Rajahmundry?


 * ...that the Central South African Railways Class 10 and Class 10B of 4-6-2 steam locomotives, which were originally built in 1910, had 62 in drivers, the largest yet used in South Africa and only to be exceeded by the 72 in drivers of the Class 16E in 1935?


 * ...that prior to the introduction of the class 13 locomotives in 1997, class 20 locomotives, which were introduced in 1975 and capable of producing 5150 kW in power, were the most powerful NMBS/SNCB electric locomotives?


 * ...that Statens Järnvägar in Sweden created the Dm3 series of electric locomotives, a class that is now being replaced with new IORE locomotives, when the railway company ordered 19 center power units in the late 1960s to be used in the middle of existing Dm locomotives?


 * ...that ownership of the Shoreliner fleet of locomotive-hauled rail cars operated on non-electrified lines in New York and Connecticut is split between Metro-North Railroad and the Connecticut Department of Transportation, as part of the latter's operating agreement with Metro-North, and the cars are distinguished by different bands of color around their windows?


 * ...that following the Shigaraki train disaster in May 1991 in which 42 people died as a result of a signal passed at danger, the SKR Shigaraki Line remained closed until December 1991 while the Shiga Prefecture and Japan's Ministry of Transport conducted investigations into the accident?


 * ...that Yongdu Station on the Seongsu Branch (between Sindap and Sinseol stations) of Seoul Subway Line 2 is the first station in the Seoul Subway system to open with operating platform screen doors and they are subsequently being retrofitted to other stations on the line?


 * ...that when new trams for the Saint-Étienne tramway in France were delivered in 1991 and 1992, they were equipped with trolley poles because PCCs were still in use on the system, but the poles were subsequently replaced by pantographs as the PCCs were withdrawn and the second batch of modern cars was introduced in 1998?


 * ...that the NMBS/SNCB Class 70 diesel locomotives built by Belgian locomotive manufacturers Baume & Marpent in 1954 were the first diesel shunters used by NMBS/SNCB?


 * ...that the cylinders on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway's 7F class of 2-8-0 steam locomotives were mounted high on the locomotive frame and sloped to avoid fouling platforms?


 * ...that Kantō Railway's Ryūgasaki Line in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, a line that originally opened in 1900 as gauge but was regauged to  in 1915, became the first driver-only line in Japan in 1971?


 * ...that the Rome Tram system, which now covers 39 km on six lines, was once the largest tram system in Italy, which included 140 km of track on no fewer than 59 lines at its height in the late 1920s?


 * ...that when plans for the Mandurah railway line in Western Australia were changed rerouting the line along the Kwinana Freeway, the location for Rockingham railway station, which opened in 2007, was moved from Rockingham's central business district to the outskirts of the city, and the station plans were updated to include a light rail transfer point that, as of 2011, has not yet been constructed?


 * ...that although the Richmond Union Passenger Railway in Richmond, Virginia, a system designed by Frank J. Sprague and opened in 1888, was not the first streetcar system built in the world, it was the first system to prove that streetcars could be a reliable replacement for horsecars?


 * ...that because the original Ravenna Bridge on the Höllentalbahn railway line in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, limited train speeds to 15 km/h and axle loads to 16 t, it was rebuilt in 1927 to a new alignment replacing the steel cantilever span with a mortared stone viaduct?