Portal:Trains/Did you know/June 2020

June 2020 edit

Bridge over the Mid-Norfolk Railway in 2009

...that the combination of an operational 11.5-mile (18.5 km) segment and a disused 6-mile (10 km) segment of the former Wymondham to Wells Branch makes the Mid-Norfolk Railway one of the longest heritage railways in the United Kingdom?

A train at Württemberg central station in the 1860s

...that the Württemberg state assembly granted 3.8 million guilders in the early 1840s for construction of the Württemberg Central Railway, while the state's total annual budget for the financial years 1836–39 had amounted to 9.3 million guilders?

A train on Müngsten Bridge in 2005

...that the 107-metre high (351 ft) Müngsten Bridge, on the Wuppertal-Oberbarmen–Solingen railway, is the highest steel railway bridge in Germany?

Portrait of James Hood Wright circa 1890

...that James Hood Wright, a board member for the The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, Southern Railway and the Long Island Rail Road, helped financially in developing the light bulb?

A Borderlands Line service at platform 4 in 2014

...that until the early 1980s what is now platform 4 of Wrexham General was a separate station called Wrexham Exchange?

Wrawby Junction signal box in 2006

...that the Wrawby Junction featured the largest manual signal box in the world to be worked by a lone signaller?

North portal of the Woy Woy tunnel in 2012

...that when it opened in 1888, the 1.69-kilometre long (1 mi 4 ch) Woy Woy Tunnel was the longest railway tunnel in Australia?

A coal train emerging from Woodhead Tunnel in April 1950

...that the two older Woodhead Tunnels, opened in 1845 and 1853, were proposed as key components of the main east–west route of the HighSpeed UK route?

Former Woodhaven Junction station site in 2008

...that Woodhaven Junction is one of two stations on the abandoned Rockaway Beach Branch still standing?

Tracks and platforms at Woodgrange Park station in 2008

...that track was laid through the Woodgrange Park railway station site in 1854 as part of the first section of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway?

Woodcut illustration of Granville Woods in 1887

...that Granville Woods, inventor of the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph, was the first American of African ancestry to be a mechanical and electrical engineer after the Civil War?

A Blue Line train at Wonderland station in 2008

...that Wonderland wasn't accessible until 1988?

Wollaston station just after the 2019 rebuild

...that although the platforms at Wollaston station are elevated, the station lobby and faregates were actually situated several feet below street level?

A train at Wolfenbüttel station in 2008

...that the Wolfenbüttel–Oschersleben railway, one of the oldest long-distance railways in Germany, carried all traffic from Berlin and Central Germany to Hanover and the Ruhr area until the Berlin–Lehrte railway opened in 1871?

A preserved Wismar railbus at Bochum Dahlhausen Railway Museum in 2011

...that since the Ford petrol engines and transmissions used to power the Wismar railbuses had five forward gears and one reverse gear, two were installed on each railbus?

An Amtrak train at Windsor Locks station in 1979

...that after Penn Central closed Windsor Locks station in 1971, Penn Central and later Amtrak passengers continued to use the platform?

The Winden–Karlsruhe railway bridge over the Rhine as seen in 1959

...that the Winden–Karlsruhe railway's temporary bridge over the river Rhine installed in 1947 remained in service until it was damaged by a shipwreck in 1987?

The Wilsonville bridge in 2007

...that since the rebuilt Wilsonville railroad bridge, which opened in 1975, uses through trusses, it sits lower than the previous bridge that used girders located below the track level?

A section of the brick viaduct that is part of the Wilmington Rail Viaduct

...that Pennsylvania Railroad built the Wilmington Rail Viaduct, an approximately 4-mile long (6.4 km) series of fills and bridges through Wilmington, Delaware, to eliminate grade crossings in the city?

The former platforms and trackbed at Willoughby station in 2018

...that awards bestowed upon Willoughby railway station in the 1960s prompted the local press to recite "we, who are about to die, salute you" shortly before the station was closed in 1970?

The main station buildings at Wigan North Western station in 2015

...that Wigan North Western railway station is so named not because it is situated in the North West of Wigan, but because it was at one point operated by the London and North Western Railway?

Wien Nordwestbahnhof shortly after construction in 1873

...that Wien Nordwestbahnhof, which last served passenger trains in 1959 and is now undergoing redevelopment into a new residential district, was the second-largest railway station of the formerly six Viennese terminus stations?

Williams Carter Wickham

...that after failing to secure capital or financing in Virginia, or from Europeans, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway president Williams Carter Wickham turned to New York City where he was successful in attracting an investment group headed by Collis P. Huntington?

The signal box at Wickham station in 2013

...that the improved signal box installed in the 1960s at Wickham railway station included equipment creating Australia's first television-equipped level crossing?

A WAGR E class steam locomotive hauls the first train of bulk wheat in Western Australia in 1931

...that in the 1930s in Australia's main wheatbelt region, any of the Wheatbelt railway lines of Western Australia was within 30 miles (48 km) of the harvest location?

Demonstration of a Baldwin-Westinghouse locomotive on the Westinghouse Interworks Railway in 1905

...that in the early 20th century, the Westinghouse Interworks Railway which was used to transfer materials and workmen between the Westinghouse Electric Corporation facilities east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was also occasionally used as a demonstration railroad for Westinghouse products?

The eastern portal of Swan View Tunnel in January 2006

...that at its peak in 1937 with 6,600 kilometres (4,100 mi) of track, Western Australian Government Railways had only one tunnel, the Swan View Tunnel?