Portal:Trains/Did you know/July 2019

July 2019

Springwood station in 2012

• ...that the main station building at Springwood railway station in New South Wales, Australia, is the second oldest surviving station building in the Blue Mountains?

Two trains at Springfield Union Station in 2008

• ...that Springfield Union Station in Massachusetts is the fifth busiest Amtrak station in the Commonwealth?

A train at Springfield Central station in 2017

• ...that unlike most Queensland Rail City Network stations, the platform at Springfield Central railway station is elevated above the station concourse and is almost entirely covered by the roof structure?

Samuel Spencer during his term as president of Southern Railway

• ...that Samuel Spencer, president of Southern Railway, was killed in 1906 when his private car was hit by another train?

The track side of Spartanburg station in 2005

• ...that after a 1996 fire damaged the building, Spartanburg station was restored thanks to a 16-year-old who launched a crusade to save the station through letters, editorials and meetings with local politicians?

Class 10E locomotive number 10-044 at Klerksdorp, North West, South Africa, in 2007

• ...that with a continuous power rating of 3,090 kilowatts (4,140 horsepower), four Class 10E electric locomotives are capable of performing the same work as six Class 6E1s?

A painting of Spa Road station in 1836

• ...that the first Spa Road railway station, which was opened in 1836, was the original terminus of the capital's first railway, the London and Greenwich Railway, and was the first railway terminus in what is now Greater London?

The disused Southwold Railway station at Halesworth in 1940

• ...that in 1940, Southwold Council recommended to the Minister of Supply to confiscate the Southwold Railway assets for conversion into munitions?

Trains at Southport station in June 2012

• ...that although now six truncated platforms remain in use at Southport railway station, at its largest the station had eleven regular platforms and two excursion platforms?

SAR Class 7E2 Series 1 number E7173 at Swartkops in 2013

• ...that the diagonal traction struts, referred to as grasshopper legs, mounted on the bogies of South African Railways' Class 7E2 Series 1 electric locomotives help to transfer the rail adhesion from the leading to the trailing bogie upon starting off?

A train at Southfields station in 2008

• ...that although Wimbledon Park station is slightly closer to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships venue, with a shorter walk required Southfields is the most convenient station?

A BNSF freight train on the Southern Transcon in California's Mojave Desert in 2007

• ...that an average of almost 90 trains daily passed over the section between Belen and Clovis, New Mexico, of the Southern Transcon in 2006, with each train typically 6,000 to 8,000 feet (1,800 to 2,400 m) in length?

Steam locomotives being serviced at Southern Region's Eastleigh Works in 1964

• ...that at the time of its creation in 1948 the Southern Region of British Railways owned three locomotive works, two carriage works and a wagon works?

Southern 1401 on display at the Smithsonian in 2014

• ...that after its installation at the Smithsonian Institution, Southern Railway president Graham Claytor attempted to lease 1401 from the Smithsonian for operational use in Southern's steam excursion program?

Southern No. 21C18 'British India Line' pulls the 'Bournemouth Belle' departing Waterloo station in 1946

• ...that unlike the other Big Four railway companies in the United Kingdom, the 2,186-mile long (3,518 km) Southern Railway made the majority of its revenue from passenger traffic rather than freight?

A Red Electric train at Front Street in Beaverton, Oregon

• ...that Southern Pacific Railroad's Red Electric network was the only major electric interurban converted from steam to electric passenger use in the United States?

XC Trains Limited multiple unit number 221117 departs from Southampton Central station in January 2008

• ...that when Southampton Central railway station was built in 1895, it was on the seafront with the water reaching right up to the southern edge of the platforms at high tide?

A Eurostar train running on third-rail power at Vauxhall station in 2008

• ...that part of the South Western main line was used by Eurostar from London Waterloo International requiring trains in this period to have a shoegear to run off the line's third rail DC electrification?

Builder's photo of a Class Hd locomotive

• ...that the leading and trailing carrying wheels of the Class Hd 2-8-2 steam locomotives were not mounted in separate bogies, but were radial axles resulting in a rigid wheelbase of 17 ft 11⁄16 in (5,199 mm), with the leading wheels behind instead of ahead of the cylinders?

Trains at South San Francisco station demonstrating the hold out rule in July 2018

• ...that due to the narrow platform width, trains serving South San Francisco station must follow the so-called "hold-out" rule (GCOR 6.30) which states that if a train is stopped for passengers, an approaching train in the opposite direction on the other track must wait outside the station?

SAR Class 7E1 number E7111 at Vryheid, Kwa-Zulu Natal, in 2007

• ...that neither Hitachi nor Dorbyl allocated builder's numbers to the Class 7E1 locomotives they built for the SAR, but used the SAR unit numbers for their record keeping?

Thomas F. Woodlock in his office at the ICC in 1925

• ...that some U.S. Senators objecting to the appointment of Thomas F. Woodlock to the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1925 used the fact that he was born in Ireland and educated in England as a disadvantage?