Portal:Trains/Did you know/September 2019

September 2019

Natal Government Railways Class H 4-6-4T no. 1 circa 1900

• ...that Natal Government Railways' first Class C2 4-6-4T steam locomotive, built in 1896, was the earliest known locomotive with a 4-6-4 wheel arrangement in the world?

Newcastle - Middlesbrough express train arriving at Sunderland station in 1953

• ...that parcels traffic at Sunderland station in the 1960s included pigeon specials, heavy engineering parts, parcels to Europe, greyhounds to Ireland and the occasional corpse?

Preserved Sun Lounge car "Hollywood Beach" on display at National Train Day festivities in Tampa, Florida, in 2014

• ...that in 1956, Pullman-Standard built three Sun Lounge passenger cars for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that featured a distinctive glazed roof area meant to capture the ambience of a dome car in a lower profile?

Sudbury Hill tube station building entrance in 2008

• ...that District Railway's 1903 extension to South Harrow via Sudbury Hill was the first section of the London Underground's surface lines to be electrified and operate electric instead of steam trains?

Natal Government Railways Class C locomotive number 26 circa 1900

• ...that the surviving Natal Government Railways Class C 4-6-0T steam locomotives were the oldest pre-Union locomotives assimilated into the South African Railways roster in 1912?

A single-track section of the Stuttgart–Hattingen railway in 2016

• ...that a section of the current Stuttgart–Hattingen railway in Germany was single tracked in 1946 to help pay for World War II reparations to France?

Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof in 2010

• ...that in 2009, preservationists of the International Council on Monuments and Sites nominated the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof building for inclusion in UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list as part of an effort to prevent demolition of parts of the station complex?

A Flexity tram on the Strausberg Railway in 2013

• ...that although the Strausberg Railway in Germany uses tramway style rolling stock and is superficially indistinguishable from a tramway, it is formally constituted and regulated as a railway?

The preserved SAR Class A no. 196 in 2010

• ...that the first steam locomotives in the world with a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement were the Natal Government Railways' Class A tank locomotives built in the 1890s?

Castle Class 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe on the Shakespeare Express at Wilmcote in 2011

• ...that the William Shakespeare Express operated over the former Stratford on Avon Railway in 1951 using some of the first British Railways Standard coaches?

A Strasbourg tram at Homme de Fer station in 2009

• ...that were it not for the 1989 municipal elections, the Strasbourg tramway would have been built as a Véhicule Automatique Léger network rather than a tram system?

Stourbridge Junction platforms in 2015

• ...that Stourbridge Junction railway station provides the connection to the Stourbridge Town Branch Line which is said to be the shortest operational branch line in Europe?

Two Class 91-000 locomotives in October 2009

• ...that with a maximum weight of 48,000 kilograms (106,000 lb), South African Railways' Class 91-000 is the largest 2 ft (610 mm) gauge diesel–electric locomotive type in the world?

SRJ 28 in operation in Uppsala, Sweden, in September 2004

• ...that the three Stortyskarna (literally "the Great Germans") 2-6-2 steam locomotives of Stockholm–Roslagens Järnvägar were the largest steam locomotives ever built for the Swedish three foot gauge railways?

1890 map detail showing the depot next to Stockwell station

• ...that in addition to a deep-level air-raid shelter, there was originally a generating station, depot and workshop adjacent to Stockwell tube station?

A Stockholm commuter train at Krigslida station in April 2019

• ...that of the 53 stations in the Stockholm commuter rail network, only four are beyond the borders of Stockholm County?

One of locomotive number 33-506's number plates in 2013

• ...that unlike other South African Railways locomotive classes, the number plates affixed to Class 33-400 locomotive cabs alternated the Afrikaans and English language order on each side of the locomotives?

Robert Stephenson in 1856

• ...that Edward Pease loaned Robert Stephenson £500 so he could buy his share in Robert Stephenson and Company in 1823?