Portal:Trains/Did you know/June 2017

June 2017

The railings of the former Devonport Kings Road railway station in 2007

• ...that although Devonport Kings Road railway station was demolished in the 1970s, the approach road still drops down from Paradise Road and the wall is still topped by the LSWR's decorative railings?

Preserved Devon Belle observation car in operation approaching Kingswear Station in 2009

• ...that unlike other passenger train services in the United Kingdom, Southern Railway introduced the Devon Belle in 1947 with all Pullman coaches, in which all seats were reservable, and an observation car at the end?

A CN EMU train at Val Royal station in 1979

• ...that in the 1970s the Deux-Montagnes line in Greater Montreal was considered for a high-speed connection to Mirabel Airport or as the first line of a BART-style regional metro system?

A car of the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad in 1905

• ...that the tracks of the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad, which opened in 1856, are still in use as the southbound track of the Detroit Line of Norfolk Southern Railway?

Preserved Derby Lightweight car at Bewdley in 2006

• ...that although carriages of the mid-19th century were generally less than 50 feet (15 m) long, Thomas Gethin Clayton of the Midland Railway had the foresight to design Derby Carriage and Wagon Works to deal with vehicles up to 70 feet (21 m) long?

A Denver Tramway cable car in 1895

• ...that before the Denver Tramway converted its lines to buses, the company made use of a variety of types of streetcars, including conduit cars (until 1888), cable cars (until 1900), and trolley cars (until 1950)?

A subway train stopped at DeKalb Avenue station in 2007

• ...that since its opening in 1915, DeKalb Avenue station on the BMT Fourth Avenue and Brighton lines of the New York City Subway, has been called "the heart of the BMT", as it is a major transfer point between BMT services?

Aerial view of the Spuyten Duyvil derailment

• ...that the December 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment on Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line was the first accident in Metro-North's history to result in passenger fatalities?

A Class 23 locomotive on a passenger train in the Moselle Valley in 1972

• ...that Deutsche Bundesbahn's Class 23 2-6-2 steam locomotives built in the 1950s to replace the once ubiquitous Prussian P 8 locomotives were DB's most numerous post-war replacement class?

A First Great Western train travels along the Dawlish Sea Wall in 2009

• ...that the Dawlish Avoiding Line was first proposed by Great Western Railway in 1933 as a means to keep the Exeter to Plymouth Line working via a bypass to the South Devon Railway sea wall, which had already become the most expensive piece of GWR's infrastructure to maintain per mile?

Davisville Yard during construction in 1953

• ...that in 1953, subway cars 5000 and 5001, after being displayed at the Canadian National Exhibition, were mounted on shop bogies and towed at night over streetcar tracks by a Peter Witt motor to the Davisville Yard via a temporary interchange?

A Dartmouth Steam Railway train in 2015

• ...that the Dartmouth Steam Railway in Devon, England, is unusual amongst heritage railways in that it is a commercial operation so does not rely on volunteer labour or charitable donations?

A regional train at Beuron station in 2007

• ...that together with the Black Forest Railway and the Höllentalbahn, the Danube Valley Railway in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, forms the shortest railway connection between Ulm and Freiburg?

A train on the Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway before 1954

• ...that a proposed renewal project, backed by provincial and local governments in Vietnam, aims to restore the entire Đà Lạt–Tháp Chàm railway to handle both passenger and cargo transportation?

Locomotive 484 leads a C&TS train circa 2009

• ...that the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotives that operate on the heritage Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad range from the relatively small K-27 "Mudhen" #463, once owned by Gene Autry, to the large K-37s, originally built as standard gauge locomotives?

CSX SD40-2 number 8029, a locomotive of the same type as 8888, in service in Georgia in 2005

• ...that the 2010 motion picture Unstoppable drew inspiration from a 2001 incident in Ohio in which a CSX train ran uncontrolled for two hours at up to 51 miles per hour (82 km/h)?

Preserved 387.043 at Lužná u Rakovníka Museum in 2007

• ...that ČSD's Class 387.0 4-6-2 steam locomotives in service from 1926 to 1974 were designed to operate on all of the country's main lines, but their higher axle load of 17 tonnes somewhat restricted their initial use?

CSAR Class E, ex IMR Reid Tenwheeler, c. 1902

• ...that to allow the Central South African Railways Class E 4-10-2T steam locomotives to negotiate sharp curves, both the first and fifth pairs of coupled wheels were flangeless, which contributed to a tendency to derail while reversing?

A train crossing the Crumlin Viaduct in 1957

• ...that in its 109 years of service until being dismantled in 1967, the Crumlin Viaduct in Wales was the least expensive bridge for its size ever constructed, the highest railway viaduct in the United Kingdom and the third highest viaduct in the world?

The Newark Bay Bridge in 1979

• ...that among the victims when a commuter train plunged off the south span of Central Railroad of New Jersey's Newark Bay Bridge in 1958, was former New York Yankees second baseman Snuffy Stirnweiss?

A new CROTRAM tram with an older tram in the background

• ...that the CROTRAM consortium produces the first Croatian low-floor trams, the TMK 2100 and the TMK 2200?

Crewe Arms Hotel adjacent to the platforms of Crewe station in 2014

• ...that Crewe railway station, which opened in 1837, was the first station to have its own adjacent railway hotel The Crewe Arms, which was built in 1838 and is still in use?

German railway Crampton locomotive "Badenia" circa 1863

• ...that by placing the single driving axle with very large driving wheels behind the firebox, the Crampton steam locomotive design had a low centre of gravity and did not require a broad gauge track to travel safely at high speeds?

The platform of Covent Garden station in 2009

• ...that because Leicester Square and Covent Garden stations are only 260 metres (0.16 mi) apart, the shortest distance between two adjacent stations on the London Underground network, the standard single cash fare for the journey between them equates to £29.81 per mile?

The small station and giant apple warehouses of Sheffield Mills circa 1931

• ...that despite the Cornwallis Valley Railway being purchased by the Windsor and Annapolis Railway in 1892, the name "CVR" continued in local use in Nova Scotia until the line was finally abandoned in the 1990s?