Portal:Trains/Did you know/March 2008

March 2008

• ...that only about fourteen of the 64 Tramcars in the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire, England, are operational while most of the others are in storage or on static display?

JR Transportation Museum before its closure in 2006

• ...that the present Railway Museum (鉄道博物館 Tetsudō Hakubutsukan) in Ōnari, Ōmiya-ku, Saitama, Saitama, Japan, which opened on October 14, 2007, is the successor to the Transportation Museum (交通博物館 Kōtsū Hakubutsukan) in Chiyoda, Tokyo?

The Van Noy hotel in 1912 next to the depot in Newport, Arkansas

• ...that in the era before dining cars were carried on trains in the United States, the Van Noy Railway News and Hotel Company secured large contracts with Missouri Pacific Railroad and its subsidiary, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway to establish and operate hotels and dining rooms along the 7,500-mile (12,100 km) Missouri Pacific system?

• ...that the Engerth steam locomotive design, originally developed for Semmeringbahn in Austria, articulated the tender with the main locomotive frame, allowing some of the weight of the fuel and water to be carried on the driving wheels to improve adhesion?

12¼ inch gauge Sherpa at Barmouth Ferry

• ...that the Fairbourne Railway in Wales has operated four different gauges since opening in 1895 namely: 2 ft (610 mm), 18 in (457 mm), 15 in (381 mm) and 12 ¹⁄₄ in (311 mm) including a period of dual gauge (15 and 18 inches) operation during the 1920s?

The station at Stiens in 1974

• ...that Wetsens station on the North Friesland Railway, which served a sparsely populated part of Friesland, Netherlands, closed in 1902, less than eight months after opening?

Exterior of Eugene, Oregon, train depot

• ...that the current Eugene Depot, built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in Oregon and opened in 1908, is one of five masonry depots that still exist along the original Southern Pacific West Coast line?

• ...that on the cabless Pacific National XRB class diesel-electric locomotives used in Australia, hostlers controls are fitted for moving the locomotives about yards and depots, but in main line usage these locomotives must be led by a locomotive with a conventional driving cab?

• ...that ever since 1865, trains on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales have had doors on just one side owing to restricted loading gauge under the bridges?

• ...that the system of tramways in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was once the largest tram network in the world, consisting of about 340 kilometres (210 mi) of unduplicated track in late 1980s?

• ...that due to a lack of freight crossings of the Hudson River, trains must take a 280-mile (450 km) detour, known as the Selkirk hurdle, to cross into New York City from the south or west?

A T class locomotive in Melbourne

• ...that Victorian Railways' T class shunting and branch line diesel locomotive was the most numerous class of diesel locomotives in the Australian state of Victoria?

Nishi-Ōyama Station; the post says the southernmost (conventional) railway station in Japan

• ...that excluding Okinawa Monorail (Yui Rail), a monorail line in Okinawa, JR Kyūshū's Ibusuki Makurazaki Line is the southernmost conventional railway line in Japan?

First-generation Type B light rail vehicles from both Cologne and Bonn

• ...that the Stadtbahnwagen B light rail vehicles were designed in the 1970s to be capable of driving though tighter curves than the cars in service on the Rhine-Ruhr network based on the recently completed tunnel of what would become Cologne Stadtbahn in Germany?

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• ...that despite a requirement from the Michigan Legislature that it connect three counties within ten years of its founding, after 21 years the St. Joseph Valley Rail Road had completed only 7.5 miles (12.1 km) of track, all in St. Joseph County?

Interior of a BS type carriage. V/Line, Victoria, Australia

• ...that the last five S type carriages still in use by V/Line in Australia were retired in July 2006, but owing to a boom in patronage they were re-introduced to service as a dedicated train set on the Geelong line from late September 2007?

A steam locomotive of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway built by SLM

• ...that Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, now owned by Stadler Rail, built new steam locomotives for mountain railways into the 1990s using modern steam technology?

Lahn bridge near Limburg an der Lahn on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line

• ...that the grades of up to 4% on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line in Germany require trains with a high power-to-weight ratio which is currently only met by third-generation InterCityExpress trains?

Stocksmoor station on the Penistone Line in 2006

• ...that after improvements were made to the Penistone Line between Huddersfield and Barnsley in England, passenger ridership on the line has increased to an all time record total of 1,030,000 in 2005?

The interior of an N type carriage

• ...that the N type carriage used in Australia has two swing doors per side, which were originally manually opened by passengers, but have since been converted to powered operation by the conductor?
• ...that despite multiple transfers of ownership, after 123 years trains still haul paper products over the White River Railroad's line?