Portal:Trains/Did you know/June 2014

June 2014

Trams at Laxey Station during the Year of Railways celebration in 1993

• ...that the railways of the Isle of Man collectively celebrated the centennial of railway service on the island with the Year of Railways in 1993 featuring rare operations of vintage equipment and special tours of railway lines?

A wheeltapper at work in Bulgaria in 2009

• ...that although no longer necessary in North America due to the prevalence of defect detectors along modern railway lines, wheeltappers are still employed in some eastern European countries to test the integrity of railway wheels?

System map of the Warrington Tramways

• ...that unlike many other tramway systems, the Warrington Corporation Tramways,serving the town of Warrington, at the time a county borough of Lancashire, England, made a profit in every financial year of its operation bar one from 1902 to 1935?

Preserved FP9ARM number 6309 undergoing restoration in 2007

• ...that of the fifteen VIA Rail FP9s that were rebuilt to become FP9ARM locomotives, The first five, re-manufactured in 1983 and early 1984, were outshopped without steam generators and half of the fleet were later retrofitted with head end power alternators?

A small railway station (exact position unknown) of the Usambara Railway in 2013

• ...that construction of the Usambara Railway began in 1893, making it the first railway to be built in the German East Africa colony, in what is today Tanzania?

The track of the Chemin de fer funiculaire Territet-Glion in 2012

• ...that the oldest predecessor of Transports Montreux–Vevey–Riviera, Chemin de fer funiculaire Territet-Glion, which opened in 1883, forms part of the rail connection between the shores of Lake Geneva and the summit of Rochers-de-Naye in Switzerland?

A Tokyo Metro 01 series train in 2009

• ...that in 2007 one of the Tokyo Metro 01 series trains was modified with permanent-magnet synchronous motors on car 1 and LED lighting on the four intermediate cars?

A route sign for the defunct Temiya railway line in Otaru, Hokkaidō, in 2005

• ...that the Temiya Line, in Hokkaidō, Japan, was originally intended to extend from the seashore to the colliery at Temari-mura Kayanuma, but was deemed inefficient, as ships could do the same work as trains on the line?

The newly completed southern facade of Takahatafudō Station in 2007

• ...that although Takahatafudō Station's Keiō Line in Japan had been open since 1925, when the Tama Toshi Monorail Line's station was opened at this location in 2000, the two stations were not linked until they were both rebuilt and reopened in 2007?

A Surfliner car leads the Pacific Surfliner in push mode at Lake Forest, California, in 2010

• ...that the third-generation Surfliner passenger cars under development by Sumitomo and expected to be delivered in 2015 will feature crash energy management technology?

The preserved State of the Art Car at the Seashore Trolley Museum in 2009

• ...that although the demonstration State of the Art Car promoted by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) in the 1970s was well received by subway operators in the United States, the concept did not catch on and all future rapid transit cars were designed by manufacturers with input from clients and the DOT stopped R&D work on public transit concepts?

A preserved and restored SAR Class NG6 locomotive in 2006

• ...that the 42 4-4-0 steam locomotives built for the Beira Railway in the 1890s, later reclassified by South African Railways as Class NG6, were commonly known as "Lawleys," referring back to the Beira Railway construction subcontractor, Alfred Lawley?

South African Railways Class 7D locomotive number 1353 circa 1950

• ...that when South African Railways purchased six of the 7th Class 4-8-0 locomotives from Rhodesia Railways in 1915, five of them were classified as Class 7D and the sixth was mistakenly classified as Class 7B?

Builder's photo of Natal Government Railways Class 3 number 332

• ...that although the first locomotive with a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement was introduced earlier, Natal Government Railways' Class 3 locomotives are said to be the world’s first true Mountain type locomotive?

The tracks and platforms of Songtan Station in 2006

• ...that unlike other stations that were purpose-built for Seoul Metropolitan Subway's Gyeongbu Line, Songtan Station was built during the Korean War in 1952 to handle track switching for branch lines leading to the nearby newly built Osan Air Base?

Route Map of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hongkong Express Rail Link

• ...that the 10.8-kilometre long (6.7 mi) Shiziyang Tunnel under the Pearl River estuary in China was designed for speeds of up to 350 km/h (220 mph) making it the fastest underwater tunnel in the world?

The platforms and tracks at Shin-Koiwa Station in 2007

• ...that between July 2011 and June 2013, 13 incidents occurred in which passengers were hit by trains at Shin-Koiwa Station in Katsushika, Tokyo, Japan, which has led Katsushika Ward to make an official request to JR East to install platform-edge doors at the station?

A former SEMTA GP9 at Boston's South Station in 2006

• ...that after SEMTA Commuter Rail services in Michigan were discontinued in 1983, SEMTA leased 22 passenger cars to Metro-North Railroad and sold its five EMD GP9 locomotives to Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority?

JR West 500 series shinkansen set W7 on the Nozomi 172 service for Tokyo on the Sanyo Shinkansen between Okayama and Aioi in 2008

• ...that when it opened in 1972, Sanyō Shinkansen services, using 0 series trains, made the Shin-Ōsaka to Hakata run in 3 hours 44 minutes, but travel time has since been reduced with the 1997 introduction of the 500 series trains on Nozomi services which traverse the line in 2 hours 17 minutes at a maximum speed of 300 km/h?

A Sakura-dōri Line 6050 series train in 2010

• ...that unlike the other lines of the Nagoya Municipal Subway system in Japan, the Sakura-dōri Line, which opened in 1989 and connects Nakamura Kuyakusho Station to Tokushige, uses an automatic train operation system?

Rowan Car No.1 in 1883

• ...that Victorian Railways' Rowan steam railmotor car number 1 was designed with provision for the easy removal of the power unit for repair and with a double deck passenger compartment but was rebuilt as a single deck by VR upon delivery?

Remote control equipped locomotives of BNSF Railway in Seattle, Washington, in 2010

• ...that although remote control locomotives have become common in North America for industrial and yard switching uses, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen believes using them is not as efficient as traditional engineer-in-cab switching operations while being more dangerous?

A Railjet train at Budapest, Hungary, in 2010

• ...that when designing the new Railjet services in Austria, ÖBB opted for locomotive-hauled push-pull high-speed trains, using its existing fleet of Siemens EuroSprinter electric locomotives instead of electric multiple unit trains such as the ICE 3 or Shinkansen?

The central platform of Ploshchad Ilyicha station in 2007

• ...that Ploshchad Ilyicha, on Moscow Metro's Kalininskaya Line, was named after Il'ich square, which has since been renamed Rogozhskaya Zastava, but the station's architecture was influenced by the former name as the realisation of Lenin's ideas by architects L. Popov and V. Klokov and engineers Ye. Barsky and Yu. Murmotsev?

The tracks and platforms at Pasay Road station in 2011

• ...that Pasay Road railway station in Makati City, Philippines, is one of only two stations of the Philippine National Railways to have its own access road (the other is Santa Mesa)?

North West Rail Link route diagram

• ...that Oberlin Station in northern Ohio, built in the 1860s by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, was designed with a mixture of Gothic Revival and Italianate architectural styles and is one of only a few surviving stations with similar architecture?

North West Rail Link route diagram

• ...that the North West Rail Link proposal in Sydney, Australia, was originally announced in 1998, then was reconfigured and proposed again as a metro line in 2008 then again reconfigured to a CityRail commuter line proposal in 2010?