Portal:Trains/Did you know/October 2006

October, 2006

 * ...that Russia's Leningradskiy Rail Terminal was named Nikolayevskiy in honor of Emperor Nicholas I from 1856 until 1924, when the Bolsheviks renamed it Oktyabrsky Station, to commemorate the October Revolution?


 * ...that Thamshavnbanen was Norway's first electric railway and is now the world's oldest railway running on 25 Hz and 6600 V alternating current?


 * ...that with a power capacity of over 12 MW, the Eurostar is the most powerful passenger train running in Europe?


 * ...that while Ferrovie dello Stato, the operator of the Italian railway network, is a public limited company, all of its stock is owned by the Italian government?


 * ...that most of the stations on Delhi Metro's Indraprastha - Dwarka Sub City Line include rainwater harvesting systems as an environmental protection measure?


 * ...that Billy Strayhorn's jazz hit "Take the A Train" (popularized in 1941 by Duke Ellington) is about the A service on the New York City Subway system?


 * ...that although the TGV has had a number of accidents, including the world's fastest derailment, which occurred in France on December 21, 1993, there has not been a single fatality in a TGV accident?


 * ...that the FS class E412 electric locomotive was designed for the route between Verona and Brenner, Italy, the longest, steepest and hardest mountain crossing in Italy?


 * ...that while the center-mounted cab of a steeplecab electric locomotive helped protect the crew in case of collision, it reduced room for the electrical equipment?


 * ...that on rubber-tyred metro systems, the vehicles have wheels with rubber tyres (tires), and the track uses a set of two parallel concrete, H-Shape hot rolled steel or flat steel rollways, each the width of a tyre?


 * ...that the Little Joe electric locomotives got their nickname because they were originally intended to be exported to the Soviet Union?


 * ...that trailing wheels were often used on steam locomotives to support the firebox allowing it to be longer and wider increasing firebox surface area which allowed higher possible boiler pressures which in turn allowed locomotives to produce more power?
 * ...that in Great Britain, Southern Railway's Merchant Navy Class of 4-6-2 steam locomotives, many of which have been preserved, were originally considered for naming after cathedrals?


 * ...that Deutsche Bundesbahn's (DB) class E 10 electric locomotives, built in the 1960s, were the first locomotives in DB's standardization program and the first DB locomotives that included a seat for the engineer?
 * ...that Canadian Pacific Railway built two classes of 4-4-4 steam locomotives, dubbed "Jubilee" types, for use in passenger train service and both classes were semi-streamlined?
 * ...that in some cases, B unit diesel locomotives were rebuilt from A units that had been involved in collisions?


 * ...that in 1937, Victorian Railways's S class of 4-6-2 steam locomotives was assigned to haul the VR's glamour streamliner, the Spirit of Progress because at the time, they were the only passenger locomotives on the VR with enough power to take the Spirit ' s trailing load of up to 650 tons unassisted between Melbourne and Albury?
 * ...that only three examples (two A units and one B unit) of the Century 855 diesel locomotive were built by ALCO, all for the Union Pacific Railroad?


 * ...that on April 1, 2004, 'one' took over all services formerly operated by Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern, as well as the ‘West Anglia’ services of WAGN, making 'one' the sole passenger operator on most of the Great Eastern Main Line?


 * ...that the Stephenson valve gear, which is commonly attributed to George Stephenson, is the oldest and simplest standard design of steam locomotive valve gear and is designed to allow locomotives to operate in either forward or reverse directions?


 * ...that the foundation for Haydarpaşa Terminal in Istanbul, Turkey, consists of 1,100 wooden piles, each 21 m (68.9 ft) long, driven into land reclaimed from the sea, resulting in a train station that is surrounded by water on three sides?


 * ...that excursion trains of the Branson Scenic Railway operate with a locomotive at each end of the train, one an F7A and the other a GP30, so the trains do not need to use a wye to turn around for the return trip?


 * ...that the L'Ile-Rousse - Calvi line of TER Corse, on the island of Corsica, is very popular among tourists because it follows the coastline practically over the beaches?


 * ...that in order to keep the ruling grade on Germany's Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line down to 12.5 ‰, the line includes 61 tunnels and 10 large bridges?


 * ...that the seats of hard seat class coaches found on China Railway are in fact not "hard"?


 * ...that Budapest Nyugati pályaudvar, one of the three main railway stations of Budapest, stands on the site of the former terminal of Hungary's first railway line, the Pest–Vác line?
 * ...that Light Railways magazine, which is produced by the Light Railway Research Society of Australia (LRRSA), began publishing a year before the LRRSA's organization in 1961?


 * ...that the Brown Line, connecting downtown Chicago to the Albany Park neighborhood, in the Chicago 'L' system used to be known as the Ravenswood Line?
 * ...that the 6000 class of 4-6-0 steam locomotives, also known as the King class, built between 1927 and 1930, was the largest type of locomotive built in Great Britain by Great Western Railway?
 * ...that Slavyansky Bulvar of the Moscow Metro will open in 2007 as part of a section that will bypass more than six surface stations as part of the rapid transit improvement in Moscow?


 * ...that larger classification yards include an artificial hill called a "hump" to use the force of gravity to propel the cars through the switch ladder, and that cars are slowed automatically through a series of retarders?