Portal:Trains/Did you know/December 2012

December 2012

• ...that Higher speed rail is the term used primarily in North America to describe inter-city passenger rail services that have top speeds of more than conventional rail but may not generally be recognized as true high-speed rail services?

• ...that the Heaton Park Tramway, a heritage tram museum in Manchester, England, makes use of the original Manchester tram line to the park that was buried under a layer of tarmac in the 1930s when the tram service was replaced by buses?

• ...that classes of passenger rail transport in China for overnight travel are divided between hard sleepers and soft sleepers which distinguish two levels of service with varying accommodations that are available for each class?

• ...that the 8.5 km (5.3 mi) long Hakata-Minami Line in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, was originally opened in March 1975 to transport Sanyō Shinkansen trains from the Hakata terminal to Hakata Depot in Kasuga, and didn't host passenger service itself until Hakata-Minami Station was opened in 1990?

• ...that completion of the Irish Rail City Centre resignalling project will allow Grand Canal Dock railway station and other stations on its line in Dublin, Ireland, to serve 20 trains per hour in both directions between Howth Junction and Grand Canal Dock?

• ...that Geelong railway station, which was originally constructed in stages from 1877 to 1881, is one of only three stations in Victoria, Australia, to have a 19th century train shed (along with Ballarat and St Kilda)?

• ...that a garden railway's scale tends to be in the range of 1/32 (Gauge 1) to 1/12 (1:12), running on either 45 mm (1.772 in) or 32 mm (1.26 in) gauge track and the trains are often powered by live steam locomotives?

The platform of Futian Checkpoint Station in 2008

• ...that Futian Checkpoint Station, a terminus of Shenzhen Metro Longhua Line located at the ground level of Futian Port Control Point (Chinese: 福田口岸管制站) in China, is the only ground level station of the Shenzhen Metro?

Charles Douglas Fox, date unknown

• ...that Charles Douglas Fox was involved in the construction of several of London's early tube lines, the Great Central Railway's extension to London and the Liverpool Overhead Railway as well as the whole Rhodesia railway system, which included the 500-foot (150 m) span Victoria Falls Bridge?

• ...that the formation of the Federated Malay States (FMS) in 1896 led to a centralisation of Residential power and the newly appointed residents-general of the FMS, Frank Swettenham, proposed a master plan to extend and connect railway networks within the FMS and Province Wellesley, forming the Federated Malay States Railways as the merger of the nation's separate intrastate railways?

Kansas City Southern Railway #2820, a GP22ECO, leads a freight train in 2009

• ...that when applied to GP40 or GP40-2 series locomotives the conversion work to create a GP22ECO does not alter the external appearance of the locomotive, although the conversion of the earlier GP9-based demonstrator required extensive changes to the long hood?

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• ...that in India, the lowest class of passenger train service was branded third class under British colonial rule, but it was re-branded as second class following independence to avoid its former segregationist connotations and is now referred to as economy class?

Vintage trams on the Djurgårdslinjen in 2006

• ...that the Djurgårdslinjen, along with almost every other tram line in Stockholm, was withdrawn in conjunction to the switch to right-hand side traffic in 1967, but was restored as a heritage tram line in June 1991 and operated on a non-profit basis by members of the Swedish Tramway Society (Svenska Spårvägssällskapet) through its operating company AB Stockholms Spårvägar?

• ...that although the Disney Resort Line monorail connecting Maihama Station and the Tokyo Disney Resort functions as the gateway attraction of the Disney Resort, season tickets are available, and Pasmo and Suica IC cards can also be used on this line?

Map of the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China

• ...that the 164.8-kilometre long (102.4 mi) Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge, which carries the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway over the Yangtze River Delta in China, is currently the longest bridge of any type in the world?

Ferrovias 1512, originally part of CP's Class 1500, at Poceirão in 2008

• ...that Comboios de Portugal's Class 1500 locomotives, built by ALCO based on the RSC-2 specification then exported to Portugal in 1948, were purchased with assistance from Marshall Aid funds and became one of the first main line diesel locomotives to be used in Europe?

• ...that the Cheddington to Aylesbury Line, which was opened in 1839 in England and although initially independent was soon absorbed into the London and North Western Railway, is regarded as the world's first railway branch line?

• ...that because service began in 1835 on the Camden Line, now owned by CSX connecting Union Station, Washington, D.C., and Camden Station, Baltimore, Maryland, as part of their Capital Subdivision and operated as a MARC commuter rail line, this former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line is now the oldest passenger rail line in the U.S. still in operation?

The Brienz–Rothorn railway in 2007

• ...that unlike other Swiss mountain lines, the Brienz–Rothorn railway was not electrified and this made the railway a special attraction as from 1953 to 1990 it was the only steam-operated line in Switzerland?

• ...that if the proposed 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) gauge Bilaspur–Mandi–Leh railway was built connecting Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, India, it would become the highest railway line in the world with the station at Tanglang La at 5,359 m (17,582 ft) above sea level also overtaking the current record of Tanggula Railway Station in China at 5,086 m (16,686 ft)?