Portal:Trains/Did you know/April 2014

April 2014

Bellevue station and the left bank of the river, late 19th or early 20th century

• ...that from 1893 to 1934, Gare de Bellevue in the French commune of Meudon in the Île-de-France administrative region served as an interchange with the upper station of the Bellevue funicular?

A preserved TKh49 locomotive in Chabówka in 2006

• ...that variants of the Fablok TKh49 0-6-0T steam locomotive built in the 1950s, a design that was based on the T1A and T2A locomotives built in the late 1920s, were exported to China, Romania and Hungary, with a few examples in China reported to have served in active revenue service until 1993?

• ...that in the 1860s and 1870s, Cornelius Vanderbilt, who controlled the New York Central Railroad, tried to wrest control of the Erie Railroad from rival Daniel Drew in a series of stock transactions as part of a dispute that has since become known as the Erie War?

The E655 series set on an imperial train working in November 2011

• ...that the single 5-car E655 series dual-voltage electric multiple unit train operated by JR East in Japan is used as a luxury charter train called Nagomi (なごみ(和)), and also as the Imperial train by inserting a dedicated Imperial carriage?

• ...that the Dublin and Lucan Steam Tramway in Ireland was so successful that on some days as many as 200 people were left behind at Chapelizod for lack of room despite 34 double journeys having been worked?

A tram of the Daugavpils Tramway in 2009

• ...that unlike the majority of other tram lines in Europe which use pantographs, trams on the Daugavpils Tramway in Latvia uses trolley poles for current collection?

Builder's photo of a CSAR Class C locomotive lettered for WAGR

• ...that the damage that was inflicted on the railways during South African War hostilities and the trans­portation demands of the British military led to a shortage of locomotives such that six new Western Australian Government Railways K class 2-8-4T locomotives became Central South African Railways Class C locomotives when they were diverted from their orders to the Imperial Military Railways?

Map of the Clarence Railway route in 1935

• ...that during the planning phases for the Clarence Railway in North East England, Robert Surtees of Mainsforth, voiced objections that led to a ban on using locomotives on parts of the Byers Green and City of Durham branches?

Builder's photo of Cape Government Railways 3rd Class 4-4-0 of 1898 number 164

• ...that Cape Government Railways 3rd Class 4-4-0 locomotives of 1898, commonly known as the "Wynberg Tenders" for their use on the original 1864 suburban line from Salt River to Wynberg, in Cape Colony, were designed with reverse running in mind, with a weatherboard, a cowcatcher and headlight mounted on the tender?

• ...that Canberra railway station, the terminus for NSW TrainLink rail services from Sydney, Australia, is the only railway station in the Australian Capital Territory?

• ...that the Bullet high-speed electric multiple unit passenger car produced by the J. G. Brill Company for the Philadelphia and Western Railroad in 1931 were the first railcars that integrated wind tunnel research into their development?

A preserved Santa Fe Railroad Big Dome car in 2012

• ...that when Amtrak took over most passenger train operations in the United States, they did not purchase the Big Dome cars from Santa Fe; instead the cars were all sold in September 1971 to Auto-Train Corporation and many have since been preserved in private ownership?

• ...that trains of the same design as the 9000 Series, which were introduced in 2008 on the Barcelona Metro in Spain, are also operated on the Santo Domingo Metro in the Dominican Republic and the Lima Metro in Peru?

The former Midland Great Western Railway's Athlone Station in 2005

• ...that the original Athlone railway station in County Roscommon, Ireland, which was built by the Midland Great Western Railway and opened in 1851, has a staggering seventeen-bay façade which is broken by four breakfronts?

• ...that significant structural changes to the Amtrak Cities Sprinter electric locomotive design were made to comply with American crashworthiness requirements, including the addition of crumple zones and anti-climbing features as well as structural strengthening of the cab, resulting in a heavier locomotive than the previous models?

Akasaka entrance of Yotsuya Station in 2008

• ...that although the Kobu Railway line, the forerunner of the Chūō Line in Japan, was originally single-track, the section passing through Yotsuya Station was double-tracked in 1895 and quadruple-tracked in 1929?

• ...that Shikoku Railway Company's Yosan Line, which connects the prefectural capitals of Takamatsu (Kagawa Prefecture) and Matsuyama (Ehime Prefecture) in Japan, derives its name from Iyo (伊予) and Sanuki (讃岐), the old names of Ehime and Kagawa, respectively?

• ...that at the time of its 1840 completion, the mainline of what would become the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, which later played a key role in the Siege of Petersburg during the American Civil War, was the longest railroad in the world with 161.5 miles (259.9 km) of track?

Warm Springs station under construction in January 2014

• ...that in 2011 the city of Fremont, California, approved a measure to hire a lobbyist to prevent Union Pacific Railroad from opening a new rail yard on property the railroad bought adjacent to the Warm Springs / South Fremont BART station so the city could promote transit-oriented development?

The oldest surviving Swiss locomotive on the Rigi Bahn in 2009

• ...that vertical boilers were sometimes used on steam locomotives for mountain railways as a strategy to help locomotive firemen maintain safe operational water levels while the train traversed steep inclines?

• ...that urban rail transit in China encompasses both the world's longest and second longest metro systems and out of the top 10 busiest metro systems in the world 4 of them are in China?