Portal:Trains/Did you know/July 2011

July 2011

...that Rothley railway station, which originally opened in 1899 in England as part of the original Great Central Railway's London Extension but now serves as a station on the preserved Great Central Railway, has been restored to late Edwardian era appearance showing what it would have looked like circa 1910?

...that the Forty Mile Desert, a valley the U.S. state of Nevada traversed by the Overland Route or First Transcontinental Railroad, was the most dreaded part of the California Trail as seen by settlers moving west in the mid-19th century?

...that Rodalies Barcelona's planned 120 km (75 mi) long orbital line, which is scheduled to open in 2016, will be the first line in the system that will not stop at any station within Barcelona, Spain?

...that Riihimäki railway station, which was opened in 1862 as one of the original stations on the main line from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna, Finland, became an important border crossing station when the Riihimäki – Saint Petersburg Railway was built in 1870?

...that Redditch railway station, which was opened in 1859 in Worcestershire, England, has been relocated three times, in 1868, 1972 and 1992, to allow for redevelopment in the town centre and the construction of a new bus station?

...that the history of railroad police in the United States traces back to the beginnings of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency when in the 1850s Allan Pinkerton met George B. McClellan, the president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad and Illinois Central Railroad, as well as its attorney, Abraham Lincoln, and began supplying detectives for the railroad?

...that because about 150,000 Jews passed through Radegast railway station in Łódź, Poland, on the way to their deaths at the Kulmhof and Auschwitz death camps in the period from January 16, 1942, to August 29, 1944, the station and grounds were converted to a Holocaust memorial in 2004?

JR East E351 series Super Azusa limited express on the Chūō Main Line between Takao and Sagamiko in 2001

...that Japan's Railway Construction Act promulgated by the Diet of Japan on June 21, 1892, and amended in 1922, designated government support for a network of thirty-three railway lines covering most of Japan, with the exception of Hokkaidō, a network that formed the backbone of the present national railway network, JR?

...that among the ticketing services offered by Rail Europe, Motorail trains operated in the summer months in France carry cars and motorbikes using car transporters attached to the trains allowing travelers to take their cars to the south of France and onwards with a minimum amount of driving?

Builder's photo of a Pennsylvania Railroad D4 class locomotive in 1874

...that in 1875, fifteen Pennsylvania Railroad D4 class 4-4-0 steam locomotives were either built or converted with 68-inch (1,727 mm) drivers for fast passenger service on the New Jersey lines and were reclassified as CA or D4a class locomotives?

...that the Polish Coal Trunk-Line, one of the most important rail connections in Poland connecting the Upper Silesian Coal Basin to the Baltic Sea port of Gdynia, was built because post-First World War border changes made old rail lines obsolete?

The locomotive "Lydia" of the Perrygrove Railway

...that the Perrygrove Railway in England, inspired by the minimum gauge estate railways developed by Sir Arthur Heywood at the end of the 19th century, such as the Duffield Bank Railway and the later Eaton Hall Railway, is the home of the Heywood Collection including the original saloon carriage from Eaton Hall?

...that the railway from Paris to Lille, an important French 251-kilometre (156 mi) long railway line, that connects Paris to the northern French city Lille with branch lines to Belgium and Great Britain predating the high-speed LGV Nord, was opened in 1846?

...that the Oregon Pacific Railroad, much of the route of which now forms the Oregon Pacific Railroad Linear Historic District, was originally founded in the late 1870s with the intention of making Corvallis, Oregon, the western terminal of a U.S transcontinental railway linked somewhere in Idaho?

One of the Line 3 platforms at Oksu Station in 2007

...that Oksu Station, an interchange station between the Jungang Line and Seoul Metropolitan Subway's Line 3 in South Korea, is one of only two stations out of the 43 stations on Line 3 that was built above-ground?

...that the track and sand sidings just north of Oakamoor railway station, which opened in 1849 as part of the Churnet Valley Line in England, then closed during the Beeching Axe era in 1965, are now owned by the Churnet Valley Railway which hosted a shareholders' special to the siding in 1988, the first train to the siding in 20 years?

A NZR 56-foot carriage used by the Taieri Gorge Railway at Dunedin Railway Station in 2009

...that upon their introduction in 1927, New Zealand Railways' 56-foot carriages were a development of the then-standard steel-panel Aa class 50-foot carriages with lengthened underframes at the ends and the same bogie spacing, but were clad in wood, to be rebuilt later with steel sides and new underframes to match the later 56 ft cars?

Main Street in Northport, New York, showing the abandoned streetcar track in 2008

...that although the Northport Traction Company on Long Island ended operations in 1924, the track used by this streetcar line, a former Long Island Rail Road subsidiary, is still extant in the middle of Main Street?
...that Norsk Bane, a company owned by municipalities, counties and other local forces in western Norway, has developed detailed plans for numerous new railway lines and claims they would be able to build and operate a high-speed network in Norway?

The Nice tramway on Place Garibaldi in Nice in 2010

...that the cars of the Nice tramway, built near La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes, France, based on the Alstom Citadis family of tramcars, were designed to blend in with the Niçois architecture?

...that the National Transportation Safety Board, the United States federal government's primary accident investigation agency for all modes of transportation, was originally established in 1967 with strong ties to the U.S. Department of Transportation, but these ties were later severed under the Independent Safety Board Act of 1975?

...that the Napier Deltic engine, considered one of the most complex engine designs of its day, which was used in British Rail's Class 55 locomotives, was originally designed during World War II by Napier & Son to be used in Royal Navy patrol boats?

...that Naarden-Bussum railway station, which opened in 1874 in the Netherlands, was also used as a tram station for the Bussum-Huizen tram service from 1883 to 1958?

...that Myōhōji Station on the Echigo Line of East Japan Railway Company in Nagaoka, Japan, was originally named Yoita Izumozaki when it opened in 1913 but was soon renamed to Myōhōji Station in 1915?

...that to cope with extra traffic demand derived from the opening of AsiaWorld-Expo station, one more car was added to each of the MTR A-Stock electric multiple unit trains, which are used on the Airport Express service in Hong Kong, to form a total of 8 cars per train?

...that at 19.8 kilometres (12.3 mi) with 33 stations, line 2 of the Montpellier tramway connecting Jacou in the northeast and Saint-Jean-de-Védas in the southwest, via Castelnau-le-Lez and the centre of Montpellier, is the longest tram line in France?

A former St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad MLW M420W at the Canadian Railway Museum in 2010

...that the M-420 diesel-electric locomotive model built by Montreal Locomotive Works from 1973 to 1977 was one of the first locomotive models (along with the GMD-built GP38-2) to use the wide-nosed safety (or comfort) cab, pioneered by Canadian National Railway?

...that due to the increase in passenger volume going to Furuichibashi Station and Ōmachi Station with the opening of the Astram Line, the platform style at Midorii Station in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, was changed from a single station-side platform to an island-style platform, making room for facilities which allowed trains to bypass the station without disrupting the increased regular station traffic?

...that the village of Melton Constable in England was originally built to house the employees who worked at Melton Constable Railway Works, a railway maintenance and production facility used from 1883 to 1964 on the Midland and Great Northern Railway?

...that McIver railway station, which opened in 1999 to provide access directly to Royal Perth Hospital in Perth, Western Australia, was named in honor of Ken McIver, a long serving steam engine driver and Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly?