Portal:Trains/Did you know/March 2019

March 2019

An AMT train at Parc station on the Saint-Jérôme line in 2014

• ...that when AMT initiated passenger service on the Saint-Jérôme line, there were only four stations and they were merely wooden platforms with gravel parking lots because the service was not intended to become permanent?

Post card of a Milwaukee Road Hiawatha train in 1935

• ...that beginning in the 1930s, the Milwaukee Road, Burlington Route and Chicago and North Western Railway all offered passenger service between Chicago and Saint Paul Union Depot with 6½ hour schedules?

Sacramento Northern Railway locomotive 654 pulls a freight train on street trackage in Yuba City in August 1964

• ...that Western Pacific Railroad subsidiary Sacramento Northern Railway maintained different voltages as well as different methods of current collection on its two main divisions?

Locomotive Еф-1 at the Baldwin factory, before shipment

• ...that due to the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, 200 class Ye 2-10-0 locomotives built in the United States for use in Russia could not be exported and were converted from the Russian 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge?

The Runcorn signal box in 2014

• ...that the Runcorn signal box built by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in the early years of World War II was one of the first operating signal boxes to incorporate the Air Raid Precautions specifications?

The recovered cars from the 2009 Rudine derailment at Solin terminal in 2012

• ...that investigators at the 2009 Rudine derailment in Croatia were suspicious about traction on the tracks because the rescue train suffered a loss of braking and derailed at the same location as the passenger train?

The vandalized interior of the Rozelle depot in 2010

• ...that the Rozelle Tram Depot, which was reopened as a food-centric retail complex in 2016, is the largest remaining tram depot in Sydney?

The main entrance to Royapuram station in 2007

• ...that the first train of South India started operating in June 1856 from Royapuram railway station, which remains one of the oldest railway stations currently operational in India?

An Amtrak train at Route 128 station in November 1974

• ...that Route 128 station, built at the direction of New Haven Railroad president Frederic C. Dumaine, Jr., and opened in 1953, was among the first dedicated park and ride stations built in the United States?

A Rotterdam Metro train at Zuidplein station in 1967 before the line opened

• ...that Rotterdam Metro's first line, the 5.9 km (3.7 mi) Noord – Zuidlijn, which opened in 1968, becoming the first metro system in the Netherlands, was also one of the shortest metro lines in the world?

Leah Rosenfeld adjusting a train order hoop at Hiland, California, in 1973

• ...that the 1968 lawsuit filed by Leah Rosenfeld against Southern Pacific Railroad and the state of California resulted in the state's "women's protective laws" being ruled unconstitutional?

An extant stairway in 2018 that led to the former Rosehill station northbound platform

• ...that more than 60 years after its closure, a stairway and casket elevator tower building are still in place at the former Chicago and North Western Railway Rose Hill station site?

L.W. Rogers in 1892

• ...that after leaving his position as an officer in the American Railway Union and as editor of the Railroad Trainmen's Journal, L. W. Rogers shifted his activity to mysticism and became President of the Theosophical Society in America?

A tube train at Roding Valley station in 2007

• ...that Roding Valley is the most lightly used station on the London Underground and it is one of only twelve tube stations not to have ticket barriers?

A Rodalies de Catalunya train in Barcelona França station in 2016

• ...that Rodalies de Catalunya serves 203 stations throughout Catalonia, with an average of 1,000 trains running every day?

The station building and freight house at Rockville in 1978

• ...that seven years after it was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, the Rockville station main building and freight house were moved about 50 metres (160 ft) to the south?

Postcard view of Rockport station circa 1911

• ...that the only loop on the entire Boston and Maine Railroad system was built just west of Rockport station in the 1860s around what is now known as Loop Pond?

BL&R track under construction in 1906

• ...that since the owners of the Buffalo, Lockport and Rochester Railway during its construction in the early 20th century were Canadian, it was rumored that a connection to Toronto would soon be considered?

A Rochester Railway streetcar in 1906

• ...that the Rochester Railway Company collected mail by streetcar until the local postmaster general discontinued the practice in 1909?

A train at Washington Park station in 2007

• ...that the 259-foot deep (79 m) Washington Park MAX Station within Robertson Tunnel is the deepest subway station in the United States and the fifth-deepest in the world?

The platform at Roanoke station in December 2017

• ...that the introduction of Amtrak's Northeast Regional service to Roanoke station in 2017 ended a nearly 40-year break in passenger train service to the city?

The interior of a Riyadh Metro car on display at InnoTrans 2016

• ...that the Riyadh Metro, for which an initial opening is planned in 2019, is estimated to reduce the number of car trips in the city by nearly 250 thousand trips a day?

River Works station as seen from a passing train in April 2015

• ...that following a May 2017 agreement, MBTA Commuter Rail's River Works station, which has served General Electric Aviation employees at the River Works plant since the station's opening in 1965, will be made accessible to the public?