Portal:Trains/Did you know/October 2014

October 2014

The former Erie Railroad depot that serves as the museum headquarters in 2010

• ...that the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum is one of the only operating railroad museums in New York State, and the only railroad museum connected to another railroad museum (sister organization NYMT) by an operating 2-mile long (3.2 km) demonstration railroad constructed by volunteers?

The former railway bridge that carried the Chard branch line over the River Tone in 2009

• ...that There were two Chard Branch Lines serving the town of Chard in Somerset, England, each with its own Chard passenger station at first, although the two lines connected in Chard?

Higashi-Yamoto Station in 2007

• ...that Higashi-Yamoto Station, in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan, was opened on March 31, 1987, the very last day of operations of Japanese National Railways before privatization to the Japan Railways Group, and it was the only new station brought into service in Japan on that day?

The island platform at Hitotsubashi-Gakuen Station in 2008

• ...that the two tracks around the island platform at Hitotsubashi-Gakuen Station on the mostly single-track Seibu Tamako Line in Japan allows trains travelling in opposite directions to pass each other?

A British Rail train passing Hereford station in 1959

• ...that Hereford Barrs Court railway station in England was originally planned to be a joint standard gauge/broad gauge station, sponsored by the standard-gauge Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway and the Great Western Railway-sponsored Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway?

A Hankyu 6300 series train at Katsura Station in 2009

• ...that the Arashiyama Line now operated by Hankyu Railway in Kyoto, Japan, was opened in 1928 as a double track line, but one of the two tracks was removed and the metal in the rails was reclaimed as part of the Japanese war effort in 1944?

Godley station in 1989

• ...that Godley was the temporary terminus of the route to Sheffield, England, when the first section of the Woodhead Line was opened on 17 November 1841, but the original station was located about 1⁄4 mile (0.40 km) further west of the later Godley East railway station location?

The SNCF industrial site of Moulin-Neufin 2008

• ...that the Moulin Neuf Industrial Equipment Facility behind Gare de Chambly in France was originally built during World War I and opened in 1916 by the French military for repairing strategic infrastructure behind the front lines?

The former Ribbleton station building in 2007

• ...that the former Ribbleton railway station building in Ribbleton, a suburb of Preston, Lancashire, England, still stands as a private house with the former track bed through its garden?

express 09.50 Aberdeen - King's Cross is headed by Gresley A4 streamlined Pacific No. 60005 'Sir Charles Newton' in 1954

• ...that the Scottish Midland Junction Railway's line, which opened in 1848, was the last line in the United Kingdom to host regular steam locomotive hauled trains that ran at an average speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h)?

The tracks and platforms of Eltham station with the former Eltham Park station building visible in 2008

• ...that although both Eltham Park and Eltham Well Hall stations in South East London were closed and replaced by the current Eltham railway station, which opened on 17 March 1985 when a section of the A2 opened, the platforms and buildings of the disused Eltham Park station still survive?

The main facade of Gare de l'Est in 2009

• ...that Gare de Paris-Est in Paris, France, was the first departure station for the Orient Express to Istanbul when the service was inaugurated on 4 October 1883?

The abandoned platforms at Frankfurt East station in 2008

• ...that until the early 1990s, Frankfurt East station in Frankfurt, West Germany, was an important station for military trains to Berlin for the United States armed forces, and as a storage area for these trains when not in traffic?

Canterbury East station in 2012

• ...that despite its name, Canterbury East railway station, in Canterbury, Kent, England, is about 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) due south of Canterbury West station, and only about 20 yards (20 m) to its east?

The remains of Dunheved station in 2006

• ...that Dunheved Station, the first station and a junction on the Ropes Creek railway line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was the only station on the Ropes Creek line named after a suburb?

The preserved facade of Gothenburg Central Station in 2005

• ...that during the 19th and early 20th century about one million Swedish emigrants passed through Gothenburg Central Station in order to get to the harbour to continue their journeys?

The platform and track at Cobh station in 2011

• ...that Cobh railway station in County Cork, Ireland, served what was Ireland's largest emigration port in the 19th century and the station was the main receiving centre for mails for Ireland and Britain from the United States and Canada?

Cape Government Railways 3rd Class 4-4-0 of 1903 no. 49 pulls a motor train between Germiston and Wattles circa 1930

• ...that despite being considered obsolete in 1912, all eight of Cape Government Railways' 3rd Class 4-4-0 locomotives built in 1903 survived until c. 1918 with two being withdrawn from service between 1918 and 1931 while the rest survived in service until after 1931?

The site of the former Caldwell station in 2007

• ...that the Neilston Curling Club members enjoyed concessions granted by the Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway Company in Scotland for members and their curling stones to travel between Neilston and Caldwell stations and return for the cost of the single journey and a key for the clubhouse was also kept at Caldwell station?

The former Flax Bourton station in 2011

• ...that there are 22 disused railway stations in the 75 miles (121 km) between Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter St Davids on the Bristol to Exeter Line in the southern United Kingdom, of which 12 can be recognised from passing trains?

The entrance to the Pir Panjal Tunnel in February 2014

• ...that the 11.215-kilometre long (6.969 mi) Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel, which opened in 2013 in Jammu and Kashmir, India, is the longest railway tunnel in India, and the third longest railway tunnel in Asia?

An 1891 drawing of the earlier Ogden Union Station

• ...that after a 1923 fire, the Ogden Union Railway & Depot Co. originally planned on rebuilding Ogden Union Station in its original design, but an accident in which a stone from the clock tower fell and killed a railroad clerk reversed this decision and a new design was proposed?

The tracks and platforms at Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue station in 2008

• ...that the platforms at Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue station on the New York City Subway's IND Rockaway Line are 200 feet (61 m) longer than standard IND platform lengths because the line was originally built by the New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad and was acquired and operated by Long Island Rail Road?