Portal:Trains/Did you know/March 2017

March 2017

 * ...that although the first train to depart Carterton Railway Station in New Zealand was a special goods train carrying a load of timber, it was another three months before goods consignments were accepted at the station?


 * ...that Cardiff Central railway station, the largest and busiest station in Wales, the eleventh busiest station in the United Kingdom outside London, based on 2009/10 total entries and exits?


 * ...that at Graig Ddu Quarry near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales, quarrymen living in Manod used a car gwyllt to ride down the quarry inclines rather than walking back down to speed their homeward journey?


 * ...that the CapeFlyer, introduced in 2013, is the first scheduled passenger train to Cape Cod since Amtrak's Cape Codder ceased operation in 1996, and the first direct service between South Station in Boston and Cape Cod since 1961?


 * ...that the Cape Town Railway & Dock 0-4-2 steam locomotives built in 1859 were the first tender locomotives to work in present-day South Africa?


 * ...that South Eastern Railway locomotives operating on the former Canterbury and Whitstable Railway in Kent, England, were modified with shorter chimneys and lowered boilers to accommodate the smaller loading gauge of Tyler Hill Tunnel?


 * ...that Canning Bridge railway station, on Transperth's Mandurah line in Western Australia, was originally constructed as the Canning Bridge bus station?


 * ...that during the development for Canary Wharf railway station on Crossrail's Elizabeth line in London, the station was named Isle of Dogs, before the current name was adopted?


 * ...that although Canadian Pacific Railway was Canada's first transcontinental railway, the railway's lines no longer reach the Atlantic coast?


 * ...that in 2011, Bill Gates was the largest single shareholder of Canadian National Railway stock?


 * ...that Vancouver SkyTrain's Canada Line was anticipated to have 100,000 boardings per day in 2013 but has consistently exceeded early targets carrying 105,000 per day in March 2010 and over 136,000 passengers per weekday in June 2011?


 * ...that for a short time at the end of the 19th century the Canada Atlantic Railway handled up to 40% of the grain traffic from Lake Huron?


 * ...that of the four gauge passenger-carrying lines in the United Kingdom, the Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway was the only one in Scotland while the other three were in Wales?


 * ...that the Campaign to raise the speed of railway travel in China was implemented in six rounds from 1997 to 2007 and increased average speed of passenger trains in China from 43 to 70 km/h


 * ...that camelback locomotives were developed with the driving cab placed in the middle, astride the boiler, to allow room at the back of a steam locomotive for a Wootten firebox to effectively burn anthracite waste?


 * ...that until 1906 the Caledonian Railway had no turntables long enough for the 1903-built 49 Class 4-6-0s, and arrangements for turning them included use of the Cathcart Circle or turning the locomotive and tender separately?


 * ...that the Cable Liner people mover system superseded the maglev transport system at Birmingham International Airport which was, at the time, the world's only commercial maglev system?


 * ...that due to a law in Brooklyn banning steam locomotives, horses pulled trains on the South Side Railroad of Long Island's Bushwick Branch from the Bushwick Depot to the East River Ferry Terminal in 1868?


 * ...that the former East Lancashire Railway's line from Manchester Victoria to Rawtenstall was electrified in 1916 using a unique third rail system, which remained in operation until the line's conversion to Metrolink operation as the Bury Line in 1991? NOTE: there is some confusion in this entry's factuality regarding the opening dates of sections of the line.


 * ...that after an extensive remodel in 2013-2015, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's former train station in Omaha, Nebraska, is now used as the studio facility for Omaha's ABC affiliate, television station KETV?


 * ...that Bridge 9.6, built by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway and completed in 1908, was the first bridge of any kind to be built across the lower Columbia River?


 * ...that following the closure of Burgh-le-Marsh railway station in 1970, the station buildings and signal box have survived virtually intact in private ownership and are intermittently in use as tea-rooms?


 * ...that since 2003 over 100,000 people have visited the partially restored Buffalo Central Terminal building, which is more than have visited the local Frank Lloyd Wright properties of Western New York?


 * ...that the government contract establishing Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (Ferrocarril del Sud) in 1862 exempted the railroad company from paying contributions, taxes and custom fees but mandated it to carry the post for free?


 * ...that although Popular Science depicted a tapered cab similar to the power car of the Advanced Passenger Train, Budd Company's SPV-2000 DMU railcar entered service with a more traditional blunt-end operator's cab?


 * ...that the Buckingham Branch Railroad in Virginia began operations in 1989 with one locomotive, a caboose, and was staffed by the family of its founder, Robert E. Bryant?