Portal:Trains/Did you know/August 2006

...that the ground-level power supply system used by the Bordeaux tram in France does not pose an electrocution hazard to people or animals because the eight-metre segments of electrical conductors are energized only when a tram is above them?

...that Australia's Savannahlander passenger service, formerly operated by Queensland Rail, is carried by a set of three railmotor cars?

...that a ride on the Danish railway operator Vemb-Lemvig-Thyborøn Jernbane A/S is the subject of the 1985 song VLTJ by Tørfisk?
...that CEBX 800, the largest schnabel car in operation worldwide, has 36 axles and when empty, measures 231 ft 8 in (70.6 m) in length?

...that some historians believe that Richard Trevithick's work on early steam locomotives was influenced by the "steam carriage" designs patented in 1789 by American inventor Oliver Evans?

...that, as a result of track switchbacks on either side of a mountain pass, all trains of the Gilmore and Pittsburgh Railroad crossed over the U.S. continental divide running backwards?

...that in the early- to mid-19th century, horsecars replaced omnibus operations in many cities due to the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on iron or steel rails, allowing the animals to haul a greater load for a given effort?

...that Slovenske železnice, the national railway of Slovenia, was created in 1991 from the Ljubljana Division of the former Jugoslovenske železnice after the breakup of Yugoslavia?

...that among the more unusual railway station layouts are stations within a tunnel, stations at a crossing, stations within a triangle and stations on a balloon loop?

...that the EMC AB6 was a diesel locomotive built exclusively for the Rock Island Railroad, who wanted a locomotive that could appear to be an integrated part of their Rocky Mountain Rocket passenger train until the train was split at Limon, Colorado?

...that in addition to making light rail vehicles for systems worldwide, Kinki Sharyo also makes steel doors for use in public housing in Japan?
...that before the development of autorack cars, automobiles were sometimes transported in boxcars?

...that the Vitebsk Rail Terminal in Saint Petersburg contains a replica of the first train used in the Russian Empire, which ran from this station to the imperial residence at Tsarskoye Selo on 30 October 1837?

...that although sabotage was suspected in the August 12, 1939, derailment of the City of San Francisco, the accident's cause still remains unsolved?

...that Cisalpino trains between Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy are staffed by personnel from Trenitalia, Swiss Federal Railways and Deutsche Bahn?
...that when the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued the decree to construct the Donetsk Metro in Donetsk, Ukraine on December 30, 1991, the completion date was first scheduled for 2002, later rescheduled to 2005, and is now still unknown due to the unstable economic situation in the city?

...that Russian engineer Fyodor Pirotsky's 1880 experiments with electric traction in Saint Petersburg are believed by some historians to be the world's first electric tramway?
...that the traveling art museum Artrain USA is hauled free of charge by Class I railroads, greatly reducing its operating costs?

...that London Underground trains are built in two different sizes due to the difference in the loading gauge between the newer and larger sub-surface lines and the older and smaller tube lines?

Warsaw Station before the Russian Revolution

...that the former terminal tracks of Warsaw Rail Terminal in Saint Petersburg, Russia, now hold more than 80 steam and diesel locomotives of the Museum of Railway Machinery, the station building's current tenant?

A preserved plough at the Belgrade Military Museum

...that a railroad plough, examples of which have been used in wartime, can be used to destroy the ties in a section of track, rendering the track unusable?

...that unlike most articulated locomotives, which were limited to slow speeds, Union Pacific Railroad's Big Boy class locomotives could run stably at 80 mph (130 km/h)?

...that two years before Mallard's record breaking run, Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft's BR 05 class locomotive number 05 002 set the world's speed record at 200.4 km/h (124.5 mph) on May 11, 1936, on a run between Hamburg and Berlin?

...that India's Shatabdi Express passenger train service was introduced in 1988 to commemorate the birth centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India?

...that although Sir William Mackenzie was knighted in 1911 for his contributions to Canadian railways, the Canadian Northern Railway which he helped found declared bankruptcy and was nationalized in 1918?

Big Liz, the sole PRR FF1

...that the sole example of Pennsylvania Railroad's FF1 electric locomotive class was so powerful that it often snapped couplers when pulling at the front of trains and destroyed cars when pushing at the rear?

the West Coast Main Line near Ansty in Warwickshire, England

...that until the 1920s, operations on Great Britain's West Coast Main Line were complicated by incompatible braking systems since the London and North Western Railway used the vacuum brake and the Caledonian Railway used the Westinghouse air brake?

Hanko-Hyvinkää Railroad, Hanko station, 1893

...that the Hanko-Hyvinkää Railroad was the first privately funded railroad in Finland and that its former station and yard in Hyvinkää are now the site of the Finnish Railway Museum?

...that adjacent to MTR's Sheung Wan station in Hong Kong are the unfinished, disused and some would say "haunted" platforms of Rumsey station?

Timken 1111

...that the demonstrator locomotive Timken 1111, built in 1930 by ALCO, was the first steam locomotive fitted with roller bearings, which reduced friction so much that in publicity stunts three people could move the locomotive by hand?