Portal:Trains/Did you know/September 2019

September 2019

 * ...that Natal Government Railways' first Class C2 4-6-4T steam locomotive, built in 1896, was the earliest known locomotive with a 4-6-4 wheel arrangement in the world?


 * ...that parcels traffic at Sunderland station in the 1960s included pigeon specials, heavy engineering parts, parcels to Europe, greyhounds to Ireland and the occasional corpse?


 * ...that in 1956, Pullman-Standard built three Sun Lounge passenger cars for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that featured a distinctive glazed roof area meant to capture the ambience of a dome car in a lower profile?


 * ...that District Railway's 1903 extension to South Harrow via Sudbury Hill was the first section of the London Underground's surface lines to be electrified and operate electric instead of steam trains?


 * ...that the surviving Natal Government Railways Class C 4-6-0T steam locomotives were the oldest pre-Union locomotives assimilated into the South African Railways roster in 1912?


 * ...that a section of the current Stuttgart–Hattingen railway in Germany was single tracked in 1946 to help pay for World War II reparations to France?


 * ...that in 2009, preservationists of the International Council on Monuments and Sites nominated the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof building for inclusion in UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list as part of an effort to prevent demolition of parts of the station complex?


 * ...that although the Strausberg Railway in Germany uses tramway style rolling stock and is superficially indistinguishable from a tramway, it is formally constituted and regulated as a railway?


 * ...that the first steam locomotives in the world with a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement were the Natal Government Railways ' Class A tank locomotives built in the 1890s?


 * ...that the William Shakespeare Express operated over the former Stratford on Avon Railway in 1951 using some of the first British Railways Standard coaches?


 * ...that were it not for the 1989 municipal elections, the Strasbourg tramway would have been built as a Véhicule Automatique Léger network rather than a tram system?


 * ...that Stourbridge Junction railway station provides the connection to the Stourbridge Town Branch Line which is said to be the shortest operational branch line in Europe?


 * ...that with a maximum weight of 48000 kg, South African Railways ' Class 91-000 is the largest gauge diesel–electric locomotive type in the world?


 * ...that the three Stortyskarna (literally "the Great Germans") 2-6-2 steam locomotives of Stockholm–Roslagens Järnvägar were the largest steam locomotives ever built for the Swedish three foot gauge railways?


 * ...that in addition to a deep-level air-raid shelter, there was originally a generating station, depot and workshop adjacent to Stockwell tube station?


 * ...that of the 53 stations in the Stockholm commuter rail network, only four are beyond the borders of Stockholm County?


 * ...that unlike other South African Railways locomotive classes, the number plates affixed to Class 33-400 locomotive cabs alternated the Afrikaans and English language order on each side of the locomotives?


 * ...that Edward Pease loaned Robert Stephenson £500 so he could buy his share in Robert Stephenson and Company in 1823?