Portal:Trains/Did you know/January 2008

January 2008

Skitube railway cars and rack railway track in 2005

...that the Skitube Alpine Railway, in Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales, Australia, passes through two tunnels and three stations, two of which are underground?

Map of railway lines in the Netherlands showing current operators

...that although the first railway in the Netherlands was built using broad gauge tracks in 1839, the entire current network of rail transport in the Netherlands now uses 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge tracks?

E217 series EMU approaching Kita-Kamakura station on the Yokosuka Line

...that part of JR East's Yokosuka Line from Shinagawa to Kawasaki, Japan, a segment commonly called the Hinkaku Line (品鶴線, Hinkaku-sen), was originally a freight branch of the Tōkaidō Main Line?

A preserved RS-1 at the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

...that the ALCO RS-1 was built from 1941 to 1960, the longest production run of any diesel-electric locomotive built for the North American market?

Petäjärvi railway station on the Saint Petersburg–Hiitola in the 1930s

...that the 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) gauge Saint Petersburg–Hiitola railroad in present day Russia was originally built by Finnish State Railways but was included in the transferred territories from Finland to the Soviet Union in the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940?

The view from platform 2, Sowerby Bridge railway station

...that the original Sowerby Bridge railway station in West Yorkshire, England, was built in 1840, but after a fire in 1978, British Rail demolished it then opened a new station which is not on the original site in 1981?

Scale model of the Schwerer Gustav

...that the Schwerer Gustav railway guns, developed in Germany the late 1930s by Krupp in order to destroy large, heavily fortified targets, could fire a shell that weighed more than 7 tons at distances up to 37 km (23 miles)?

An ALCO S-1, a model built in the Alco-GE partnership era

...that Alco-GE was a partnership between the American Locomotive Company and General Electric to build diesel-electric locomotives, an arrangement which lasted from 1940 to 1953?

Lai King Station entrance

...that when Hong Kong's Lai King Station was rebuilt in the 1990s, the northbound Tsuen Wan Line track was raised to a new level above the original station to provide a cross-platform interchange with the northbound Tung Chung Line?

Map of railways in Kent, including the Hundred of Hoo Railway

...that the Hundred of Hoo Railway in England was conceived on the belief that Gravesend's proximity to London would make it a more desirable outlet for the distribution of goods intended for the Kent area?

Japanese D51 locomotive outside Yuzhno-Sakhalin Railway Station, Sakhalin Island, Russia

...that the D51 steam locomotives left behind by the retreating Japanese Army on Sakhalin, north of Japan, after World War II were used by Russian Railways until 1979?

Tunnel entrance of the Beach Pneumatic Railway as seen from one of the two stations

...that a one-city-block long demonstration tunnel of the Beach Pneumatic Transit system opened in New York City in 1870, but by the time Alfred Ely Beach, its inventor, finally gained permission to expand the system in 1873, public and financial support had waned, and the subway was closed down?

WDG-4 number 12049 at Hi-Tec station in 2004

...that the first 13 EMD GT46MAC diesel-electric locomotives, designated WDG-4 class by Indian Railways, were built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for export to India, the next 8 were shipped in kit form and assembled there and subsequent orders have been built there under license by Diesel Locomotive Works?

A train on the Puffing Billy Railway in 2003

...that the 30 mm (1.181 in) gauge Puffing Billy Railway near Melbourne, Australia, aims to preserve the line as near as possible to how it was in the first three decades of its existence, with particular emphasis on the early 1920s?

The former HSM headquarters building in Amsterdam

...that Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HSM) built the first railway line in the Netherlands, which connected Amsterdam and Haarlem, using the Dutch broad gauge of 1,945 mm (6 ft 412⁄21 in) upon opening in 1839, but converted to standard gauge in 1866?
...that before the separation of Pakistan and India, Sialkot Junction on the Wazirabad Narowal Railway line served as a connection point to Jammu via the Sialkot Jammu Line?
...that the ALCO Century 425 model diesel-electric locomotive, built in the mid 1960s, used the same generator as the GE U25B model built a few years earlier by Alco's competitor and former corporate partner General Electric?

Piraeus Station in 2007

...that ISAP, Athens Metro Line 1 in Greece, was originally built by the Athens-Piraeus Railway and opened in 1869 as a steam locomotive-hauled line to connect Athens to the port at Piraeus?

A modern metre gauge traon of FCAB in Chile

...that when the original 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia was built in Chile, one of the steam locomotives it used was an unusual Webb compound locomotive, with a 4-2-4-2T wheel arrangement?

An E626 class locomotive, a "multiruolo" (multi-role) locomotive under Bianchi's proposal

...that Italian engineer Giuseppe Bianchi proposed the creation of four "roles" for locomotives, so as to specialize maintenance services within Ferrovie dello Stato, the Italian national railway, more than had previously been possible?

Map of Ann Arbor Railroad

...that the Ann Arbor Railroad in Michigan operated a number of car ferries across Lake Michigan from Frankfort to ports in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan?

Wymondham station in 2004

...that an original telegraph pole route used for signaling communication, one of the last to survive in the country, is still in situ at Wymondham railway station in England?

Tobu Railway number 50056 on the Isesaki Line in Tokyo

...that the 50000 series EMUs operated by Tōbu Railway in Japan are the first aluminium body cars on Tōbu commuter trains and are also the first Tōbu trains to feature bilingual (Japanese and English) automated passenger announcements?

Preserved Victorian Railways locomotive L1162 in 2007

...that due to a 97 ton weight restriction on Victorian Railways in Australia, the L class electric locomotives featured a shortened and squared off nose, masonite in place of sheet metal to line the cab interior, and perspex in place of glass on some of the cab windows?

A TW6000 tram of the Hanover Stadtbahn

...that the TW 6000 articulated light rail vehicles delivered to BKV, the public transport company of Budapest, Hungary, earned the nickname "banana" because they were delivered wearing a green livery but were soon repainted into an orange livery?

The Stourbridge Lion's first run, as depicted by Clyde Osmer DeLand c. 1916

...that the Stourbridge Lion was not only the first locomotive to be operated in the United States, it was also one of the first locomotives to operate outside of England, where it was manufactured in 1828?

Durham Viaduct on the East Coast Main Line

...that Britain's East Coast Main Line was built by three separate railway companies, the North British Railway, North Eastern Railway and Great Northern Railway, each serving their own area but with the intention of linking up to form a through route between London and Scotland?

Tsing Ma Bridge at night

...that the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong, China, which carries two MTR lines and six lanes of automobile traffic over the Ma Wan Channel, is the world's sixth largest suspension bridge?