Portal:Trains/Did you know/May 2016

May 2016

• ...that after Burlington Northern Railroad retired EMD SD45 number 6430, which was originally Great Northern 400, in 1986, there was some controversy over its restored appearance, including the misplaced and off-centered "Hustle Muscle" nickname?

The Grand Narrows Bridge circa 1909

• ...that the 516.33-metre long (1,694 ft) Grand Narrows Bridge across the Barra Strait of Bras d'Or Lake in Nova Scotia, Canada, is the longest railroad bridge in the province?

Preserved VME 1-116 at Haapsalu, Estonia, of the same original design as the Korean DVM-4 locomotives, in 2012

• ...that at least four of the fourteen Ganz DVM-4 locomotives delivered to the Korean State Railway of North Korea in 1964 were converted for 3,000 V DC electric operation by removing the diesel engine and adding a pantograph for current collection?

The Dumbarton Rail Bridge in 2003

• ...that if plans for the Dumbarton Rail Corridor proceed and the Dumbarton Cut-off is reused for modern rail service, the new service would be the first transbay rail line since Key System electric trains stopped running on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge in 1958?

Fátima station in April 2016

• ...that Fátima station on the the Buenos Aires Premetro in Argentina is one of only two Premetro stations (the other being Pola) to have been opened after the original inauguration of the Premetro in 1987?

• ...that the FS Class 670 steam locomotive introduced in 1900 was not only an early example of a cab forward locomotive, but also the first experiment with the 4-cylinder Plancher compound engine?

A train crosses one of the Fengtai–Shacheng Railway bridges over the Yongding River in 2010

• ...that the route of the Fengtai–Shacheng Railway in northern China includes the shortest standard gauge railway tunnel in China at just 19.8 m (65 ft) in length?

• ...that the Farmville and Powhatan Railroad in the 1890s in Virginia operated its passenger trains such that they would "stop anywhere" making Red Lane Tavern a common stop that was not listed on the schedule?

A Lackawanna MU at Short Hills, New Jersey in 1978

• ...that Thomas A. Edison, a key proponent of DC current, drove the first train of Erie Lackawanna MU Cars in 1930 for the first mile along its 13-mile trip from Hoboken to Montclair, New Jersey?

N&W LC-1 No. 2501 on the Elkhorn grade in 1915

• ...that with electric operation only partially implemented on Norfolk and Western Railway's Elkhorn Grade Electrification project, line usage increased by 60% between June 1914 and June 1915?

Dowling Street depot

• ...that Dowling Street Tram Depot, which served the Sydney tram network from 1909 until 1961, was the largest tram depot in Australia?

Builder's photo of DeRoI-33

• ...that the DeRoI-class locomotive, built by Mitsubishi for use in Korea and which also marked the first Japanese use of 3,000 V DC railway electrification, was designed as part of a plan to set a new world speed record?

• ...that Del Parque railway station, which was in service from 1857 to 1883 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was the first railway station in the country?

Dutton's Road-Rail tractor no. RR1155 circa 1923, rebuilt from a William Beardmore steam tractor

• ...that in 1923 South African Railways conducted trials with a prototype petrol-paraffin powered road-rail tractor and placed at least two in service on the new narrow gauge line between Naboomspruit and Singlewood in Transvaal?

• ...that when the last of the 500 DBAG Class 481 rail cars had been delivered to the Berlin S-Bahn in 2004, the theoretical 55 years average age shrunk to merely 6 years?