Portal:Trains/Did you know/February 2015

February 2015

Cover of 1891 Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide

• ...that the Bradshaw's Guide series of railway timetables and travel guide books begun by George Bradshaw in 1839 continued after his death in 1853 with new and updated editions published until 1961?

A New Haven electric locomotive circa 1907

• ...that jointly designed Baldwin-Westinghouse electric locomotives were marketed beginning in 1895 by Baldwin and Westinghouse in order to sell an AC electrification system to railroad companies in the United States?

AM 103 at Puhinui station on its first test run in October 2013

• ...that seven years after the first announcement was made for the Auckland railway electrification project, the first electric multiple units in New Zealand were run in revenue service on the Onehunga Branch in April 2014?

Locomotive 6029 in 2013

• ...that AD6029, a 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt locomotive built in 1954, became the only locomotive of its class to visit Victoria, Australia, when it travelled to Albury in 1980 and completed a parallel run to Wangaratta with former Victorian Railways K.153?

Exmouth Junction in 2009

• ...that in addition to the four nearby stations, Exmouth Junction in Exeter, Devon, England, was for many years the location for one of the largest engine sheds in the former London and South Western Railway?

One of the track and platform pairs at Warwick station in 2006

• ...that the upper bus deck at Warwick railway station on the Transperth Joondalup Line constructed of precast concrete was the most expensive structural element of the station, and was the cause of significant attention and consideration as part of the design and construction process?

Volksdorf station in 2011

• ...that at Volksdorf station, a terminal station on Hamburg U-Bahn U1 main line, and a junction with U1's Ohlstedt and Großhansdorf branches, the concrete beam station hall was built in 1920?

Interior of an Ultra Dome owned and operated by Alaska Railroad

• ...that at the time of their construction beginning in 1988, the dome areas of Ultra Dome cars built by Colorado Railcar featured the largest individual glass panes ever installed in a railcar?

A local train on the Tōbu Kiryū Line in 2011

• ...that the Tōbu Kiryū Line in Tokyo was originally built in 1911 as a 610 mm (2 ft) gauge human-powered line between Ota and Yabuzuka to haul stone blocks from the Yabuzuka Quarry?

Tito's Blue Train on 28 May 1976, at the opening of the final section of the Belgrade–Bar railway

• ...that Tito's Blue Train, a luxury train once used by Josip Broz Tito while he was president of Yugoslavia, is now operated as a tourist attraction on the 476 km (296 mi) Belgrade–Bar railway, between Belgrade, Serbia, and Bar, Montenegro?

St. Charles Streetcar passing through New Orleans' CBD in 2008

• ...that the longest of New Orleans' streetcar lines, the St. Charles Avenue line, is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world?

Stretham Bridge on the former Steyning Line in 2007

• ...that a few days prior to opening the Steyning Line in England, the Government Inspector of Railways, Colonel Tyler, carried out an inspection of the line, testing in particular the strength of several bridges across the River Adur by means such as placing multiple engines with their tenders on them?

South Ferry station in 2013

• ...that following damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 when severe flooding turned the station into a "large fish tank," as former MTA chairman Joseph Lhota described it, the South Ferry station, then the newest on the entire New York City Subway system, was closed with repairs estimated to continue until 2016?

Builder's photo of NGR 335 in 1909

• ...that South African Railways sole Class 3A 4-8-2 steam locomotive, built by ALCO in 1909, was commonly known as the America D Class on the NGR, which originally purchased and imported the locomotive, and it was nicknamed "Maud Allan" by the enginemen, after the Canadian-born dancer?

Soo Line 2500 pulling a special train in Duluth in 2014

• ...that shortly before it was purchased by Soo Line Railroad, EMD FP7A demonstrator 7001, which Soo Line then renumbered as 2500-A, hosted the United Kingdom's Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII, in its cab on a trip through North Dakota?

Shimbashi Station in 1899

• ...that Shiodome Freight Terminal, originally built in 1872 as Shimbashi Station, served as the first railway terminal of Tokyo until it was converted to a freight-only terminal in conjunction with the opening of Tokyo Station in 1914?

Cann Viaduct on the SD&TR, preserved as a cycleway bridge in 2006

• ...that for a period the broad gauge South Devon and Tavistock Railway carried the standard gauge (then referred to as narrow gauge) trains of the London and South Western Railway between Lydford and Plymouth via a third rail, creating dual gauge track?

Night view of the Sannomiye Station facade, showing the Japanese spelling of the station name

• ...that JR West includes the Katakana character "ノ" in the Japanese name of Sannomiya Station, written as 三ノ宮駅, unlike all of the other transportation facilities in Sannomiya, whose names are written in Japanese as 三宮?

103 series EMU with Universal City promotional vinyls at the Sakurajima Line Nishikujo Station in 2005

• ...that from the end of operations on the Katsuki Line in 1985 until the beginning of service on the Miyazaki Kūkō Line in 1996, the Sakurajima Line in Osaka, Japan, was the shortest passenger line among the Japan Railways Group companies?

An R127 garbage train at Union Turnpike station in 2014

• ...that the R127 and R134 work cars built in the 1990s for the New York City Subway are not air conditioned and instead have axiflow fans, so in the summertime these cars are frequently replaced by other passenger cars on garbage trains?

Preserved NZASM 46 Tonner 230 (0-6-4T) "Jan Wintervogel" in 1993

• ...that NZASM's Class B 0-6-4T steam locomotives were found to be rough riding due to their lack of leading wheels and it became the practice to run them bunker forward whenever possible?