Portal:Trains/Did you know/December 2006

December 2006

• ...that Union Pacific Railroad's City of Las Vegas passenger train service between Los Angeles, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada, originally utilized General Motors' experimental Aerotrain unitized trainset when it debuted in 1956?

A train arriving at Melbourne Central

• ...that Melbourne Central railway station in Melbourne, Australia, is so named because of its proximity to Melbourne Central Shopping Centre and not for the station's importance in the city's suburban railway network?
• ...that at 53.99 m (177.13 ft) long, the Combino Supra trams used in Budapest are the longest passenger-carrying trams in the world in regular service?

Cab signals on a Chicago El train

• ...that some cab signalling systems include fail-safes that can apply the brakes and bring a train to a stop if a dangerous condition occurs?

South portal of the Dalecarlia Tunnel

• ...that the Dalecarlia Tunnel, built by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to take the Georgetown Branch under MacArthur Boulevard and the Washington Aqueduct, is now used as part of the Capital Crescent Trail and has remained open since its construction in 1910?

Köln-Holweide station

• ...that Köln-Holweide railway station was built because the president of football club SC Preußen Münster lobbied the Deutsche Bundesbahn on behalf of his team's fans?

Victorian Railways R701

• ...that the 1951 introduction of Victorian Railways' R class 4-6-4 steam locomotives was delayed after their delivery from North British Locomotive Company due to manufacturing defects and corrosion from their shipment by sea as deck cargo from Scotland to Australia?

Bahmi station c. 1890

• ...that the Trans-Caspian railway, which followed the path of the Silk Road through much of western Central Asia, was originally planned to use narrow gauge track and equipment to Kyzyl-Arvat but it was quickly converted to the Russian standard of 5 ft (1.52 m) before its completion in 1886?

Anson P. Morrill

• ...that before serving as president of Maine Central Railroad in New England, Anson P. Morrill was the Governor of Maine from 1855 to 1856, represented Maine's fourth district in the United States House of Representatives from 1861 to 1863 and served in the Maine state legislature?

Drawing of the Laupheim-Schwendi line route in 1910

• ...that the steam locomotive used on the Laupheim–Schwendi railway in Germany was nicknamed Rottalmolle by the local population, referring to the course of the railway line through the valley of the river Rot?

D/S Ammonia, the last remaining steam powered rail ferry

• ...that D/F Ammonia, which was used to connect Rjukanbanen with Tinnosbanen, Norway, from the early 20th century until its retirement in 1991, is the last surviving steam powered railway ferry in the world?
• ...that the Arsenalna station on the Kiev Metro, the first rapid transit system in Ukraine, is the deepest metro station in the world at 102 metres (334.6 ft) underground?

The locomotive John Bull was rebuilt with a large pilot

• ...that a locomotive pilot (sometimes called a cowcatcher) is designed to successfully deflect an obstacle hit at speed by pushing it upwards and sideways out of the way?

The facade of Antwerp-Centraal

• ...that a new tunnel has been excavated in the neighbourhood east of Antwerpen-Centraal railway station in Belgium which will eventually allow HSL 4 and HSL-Zuid high-speed trains to travel north and south through Antwerp without the need to turn around?

Hartmut Mehdorn during the inauguration ceremony of the redeveloped Dresden Hauptbahnhof

• ...that before becoming CEO and Chairman for Deutsche Bahn AG in Germany, Hartmut Mehdorn was Chairman of Deutsche Airbus GmbH and served on the board of directors for Deutsche Aerospace AG?

Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway timetable for a special train service that ran on the railroad's opening day

• ...that the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway in Scotland was extended from Giffen to Newton so the Caledonian Railway could avoid using the Glasgow and Kilmarnock Joint Railway, and therefore avoid sharing revenue with the Glasgow and South Western Railway?

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• ...that funeral trains were once a common method of transporting coffins to cemeteries, but are now almost exclusively used for state funerals?

A preserved forty-and-eights class boxcar

• ...that the term forty-and-eights, used to describe a class of boxcar used in Europe from the 1870s through World War II, refers to the cars' carrying capacity, said to be 40 men or eight horses?

Nashville's Union Station building in 2006

• ...that the tower on Union Station in Nashville, Tennessee, originally contained an early mechanical digital clock, but when replacement French silk drive belts proved unavailable during World War I, the clock was replaced with a traditional analog clock?

SBB Ae 6/6 "Appenzell Innerrhoden" in front of the Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express at Siders

• ...that the Ae 6/6 heavy electric locomotive used by the SBB-CFF-FFS is sometimes also referred to as the canton locomotive ("Kantonslokomotive"), because the first 25 locomotives of this type carried the coats of arms of all Swiss cantons?

A jacobs bogie on the preserved Nebraska Zephyr trainset

• ...that because jacobs bogies carry the weight of two adjacent cars, the cars that use this type of bogie can only be separated in the railroad shops?

Exterior of Augsburg Hauptbahnhof

• ...that Augsburg Hauptbahnhof in the Bavarian city of Augsburg has one of the oldest still existing station halls in Germany, completed in 1846 after plans by architect Friedrich Bürklein?

Utrecht station, new hall interior

• ...that the station building of Utrecht Centraal in the Netherlands, originally built in 1865, was torn down and replaced in 1973 with Hoog Catharijne, Europe's largest shopping mall at the time?

Victorian Railways "H" class steam locomotive

• ...that "Heavy Harry", the only working example of the Victorian Railways H class of 4-8-4 locomotives, was the largest non-articulated steam locomotive ever built in Australia?

Map of Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa

• ...that the Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa, which connects the Polish-Ukrainian border crossing just east of Hrubieszów to Sławków Południowy (near Katowice), is the longest broad gauge railway line in Poland?

CFL passenger train near Vielsalm

• ...that most of the network of Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois sees passenger service using electric multiple unit and electric locomotive powered trains?

Milwaukee Road 760 operating at IRM

• ...that former Milwaukee Road locomotive number 760, a Fairbanks-Morse H-10-44, was the first locomotive built by FM in their own shop and is now preserved in operating condition at Illinois Railway Museum?

A diesel-powered train passing Sandiaoling Station on the Yilan Line

• ...that the Taiwan Railway Administration's Yilan Line, connecting Su-ao to the Western Line in Badu, was originally built in 1924 but not fully electrified until 2003?

Kettwig station in 1905

• ...that Kettwig railway station became a 1st class station in 1905, enabling trains like the Essen-Basel express to call at the station?

BLS Cargo class Re4 locomotive

• ...that the BLS Lötschbergbahn standard gauge railway in Switzerland is considered the largest of the Swiss "private" railways even though the majority of its capital is owned by the Cantonal government of Bern, and the SBB owns 34%?

Gov. Stanford while still in active use by Central Pacific Railroad

• ...that Central Pacific Railroad's locomotive number 1, Gov. Stanford, which is currently on display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, was donated to Stanford University by Southern Pacific Railroad in 1895?