Portal:Trains/Did you know/September 2006

September 2006

 * ...that feeder bus service connecting to Singapore's Bukit Panjang LRT Line was partially restored due to public outcry after their discontinuance?
 * ...that plans were made to convert one of Europe's largest train stations, Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof, to a public swimming pool shortly before World War II?
 * ...that General Motors Electro-Motive Division's NF210 model diesel locomotives originally built for service in Newfoundland were some of the very few 42-inch (1067 mm) gauge locomotives in North America?


 * ...that the Oresund Connection bridge-tunnel between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Malmö, Sweden, is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe?


 * ...that the Main North railway line, New South Wales, in Australia, was originally built as the primary rail route between Sydney and Brisbane, but was hampered by the rugged terrain and a change of gauge at Wallangarra?


 * ...that all but two of Iarnród Éireann's 201 class of diesel locomotives carry two nameplates, one in Irish and one in English, on each side of the locomotive?


 * ...that although the main passenger terminal of Berlin's Görlitzer Bahnhof was demolished in the 1960s, the three goods sheds still stand and it is possible to follow part of the old railway route on foot?


 * ...that McKeen Motor Car Company was founded in 1905 by William McKeen, Union Pacific Railroad's (UP) Superintendent of Motive Power and Machinery, and the first cars were constructed by UP before McKeen leased shop space from the railroad?


 * ...that because its 1800 metre (1.1 mile) long route is situated on the side of Mount Carmel connecting Gan Ha'em and Kikar Pariz, the Carmelit in Haifa, Israel, is in essence an underground funicular system?


 * ...that train orders are sometimes used as a means to dispatch trains and address changes in operating schedules and variances from published timetables?


 * ...that Switzerland's Glacier Express passenger train between Zermatt and St. Moritz travels across 291 bridges, through 91 tunnels and over the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 metres (6,670 ft) in altitude?
 * ...that the FS class E636 electric locomotive was the first Italian locomotive class to use a Bo-Bo-Bo wheel arrangement with the chassis divided into two articulated parts pivoting on the central bogie?


 * ...that a derailer is sometimes installed on sidings to prevent fouling of a track by purposely derailing unauthorized movements of trains or unattended rolling stock?


 * ...that the Andreyevsky Railway Bridge across the Moskva River in Moscow, completed in 1907 with a central span of 135 metres (442 ft 11 in), was moved in 1999 to Gorky Park and reopened as Pushkinsky Bridge for foot traffic only?
 * ...that in 1982 when Amtrak and VIA Rail revived the International Limited passenger train service formerly operated by Canadian National and Grand Trunk Railway, the new service terminated in Toronto rather than Montreal?


 * ...that the first tunnelling shields were developed in 1825 for the construction of the Thames Tunnel, which is now a part of London Underground's East London Line?


 * ...that the Twilight Express, which runs between Osaka in Kansai and the city of Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaidō, is the longest overnight train service operating in Japan?


 * ...that running two steam locomotives on a train, known as double-heading a train, was sometimes done when a single locomotive was not sufficient to propel the train either due to the grades on the line or the train's speed requirements?
 * ...that like most other ex-Soviet systems, central stations on the Baku Metro in Azerbaijan are exquisitely decorated, often blending national motifs with Soviet ideology?


 * ...that unlike most other heritage railways, most of the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway ' s route in Bedfordshire, England, runs through a housing estate which was built in the 1970s?


 * ...that with a maximum permitted speed of 70 mph (112 km/h) the Victorian Railways A2 class steam locomotive was instrumental in the acceleration of timetables on many Australian lines in the years following its introduction in 1907?
 * ...that the EMD Model 40, which produced 300 hp (224 kW) of power, was the smallest locomotive model ever built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division?


 * ...that Rautatientori station in Finland is the only station on the Helsinki Metro whose name is announced in more than two languages – Finnish, Swedish and English?


 * ...that RegionalBahn passenger trains in Germany usually call at all stations on a given line except where the line is within an S-Bahn network?


 * ...that Lord of the Isles, the last Iron Duke class steam locomotive to be withdrawn from service, was initially preserved by the Great Western Railway at Swindon Works, but was scrapped in January 1906 owing to pressure of space?


 * ...that in 1935, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters became the first labor organization led by African Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor?


 * ...that Metrorail, like the rest of South Africa's rail network, runs on 3 ft, also called Cape gauge, track with some routes operated by Spoornet and sharing space with long distance passenger and freight trains?


 * ...that the Queensboro Plaza station on the New York City Subway system is one of a few track connections between the IRT and IND/BMT, and is the only connection between the IRT Flushing Line and the rest of the Subway system?


 * ...that early plateways were usually operated on a toll basis, with any rolling stock owner able to operate their wagons on the tracks?