February 2009

Timothy Hackworth

• ...that Timothy Hackworth was probably the first of the very few engineers throughout history to fully take into account the role of the steam exhaust blast in automatically realising the "perfect equilibrium between steam production and usage" in a locomotive fitted with a fire-tube boiler, and to consider the blastpipe as a distinct device, paying close attention to its proportions, nozzle size, positioning and precise alignment?

Fiji Sugar Corporation No 21 crossing Nadi Back Road into the cane fields with empty wagons in August 2008

• ...that although there used to be two horse-drawn street tramway systems, some other passenger systems, an underground mine system and some tramways on construction projects, rail transport in Fiji is now primarily limited to moving cut sugar cane to crushing mills?

Preserved Erie Lackawanna SD45 number 3607 at the Museum of Transport in St. Louis in 2006

• ...that the EMD SD45 diesel-electric locomotive model was initially somewhat unreliable because its V-20 diesel engine would occasionally snap its own crankshaft?

Mecklenburg XVIII class locomotive number 2 in the late 1890s

• ...that unlike larger steam locomotives, the footplate and firebox door of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg Friedrich-Franz Railway's Mecklenburg XVIII class were both located on the side of the boiler?

The Utrechtboog as seen from Duivendrecht railway station

• ...that until the Utrechtboog, a flyover railway line in the south-east of Amsterdam, was completed in March 2006, passengers traveling between Utrecht and Schiphol were required to change trains at Duivendrecht railway station?

Nankai Electric Railway type 50000 for Rapi:t

• ...that the "Outdated Future" styling of the Nankai 50000 series trains' exterior was the work of Hiroyuki Wakabayashi, an architect who was also responsible for designing Uji Station on the Keihan Electric Railway Uji Line?

An SD90MAC owned by Union Pacific Railroad in 2007

• ...that like the AC6000CW built by rival GE, the EMD SD90MAC suffered reliability problems with its 6,250 hp (4.66 MW) engine, which resulted in EMD selling more than 400 of them with 4,300 hp (3.2 MW) engines that could be upgraded later?

An EMU operated by PV in 2005

• ...that the Latvian company Passenger Train (Latvian: Pasažieru Vilciens; abbreviated: PV), formed in November 2001 by bringing together three separate companies under one name, is the first subsidiary of Latvijas dzelzceļš?

India's railway network in 1909

• ...that in the history of rail transport in India, a rail system in India was first proposed in 1832 in Madras but it never materialised; it took until December 22, 1851, for the first train to operate hauling construction materials in Roorkee?

D60 1 preserved at the Yamaguchi Museum in 2008

• ...that the Japanese D60 class of 2-8-4 steam locomotives consists of 78 rebuilds of the successful pre-World War II 380-strong D50 class of 2-8-2 locomotives with the last of the D60 class being withdrawn from regular service in August 1974?

Santa Fe 3751 pulling an employee recognition special through Streator, Illinois, in 1992

• ...that the now preserved and operational former Santa Fe Railroad 4-8-4 steam locomotive number 3751 was the first 4-8-4 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works and the first 4-8-4 owned by Santa Fe?

Modern low-floor Berlin trams in 2005

• ...that the Berlin Straßenbahn in Germany incorporates the route of the world's first electric tramway, built in 1881 by Werner von Siemens in the village of Groß-Lichterfelde?

Map of the former Lebanon Railway

• ...that rail transport in Lebanon began with the first 1,050 mm (3 ft 5+11⁄32 in) gauge line opening in 1895 and continued for most of the twentieth century, but has ceased as a result of the country's political difficulties, with the last regular rail operations in Lebanon consisting of trains carrying cement from Chekka to Beirut in 1997?

Route map of the Adelaide-Darwin railway

• ...that construction on the Adelaide-Darwin railway in Australia began in 1878 with a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge line from Port Augusta in the south, but it wasn't until 2003 that tracks finally reached Darwin in the north?

Integra-Signum magnets on a Be 6/8 III "Crocodile" locomotive

• ...that the Integra-Signum train protection system introduced in Switzerland in 1933 prompts the train driver to confirm distant signals that show stop and distant or home signals that show caution and will automatically stop the train if he does not confirm or passes a home signal that shows stop?

The locomotive Eureka in operations on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway

• ...that in 1997, the recently restored Eureka 4-4-0 narrow gauge steam locomotive was operated in excursion service over the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway between Chama, New Mexico, and Antonito, Colorado?
• ...that the SEK Class Λβ 2-10-0 steam locomotives in Greece were allocated to the Salonika division where they hauled main line passenger trains, including Athens to Istanbul Expresses and they remained in service through the 1970s with the last withdrawn in 1979?

A TBA train in 2008

• ...that when all its commuter and long-distance services are included, Trenes de Buenos Aires in Argentina runs approximately 1,000 trains per day and conveys about 147.7 million passengers annually, or 500,000 daily?

Dorasan station at the frontier between North and South Korea, 2003

• ...that when it opened in 1906, the Gyeongui Line linked Seoul in what is now South Korea to P'yŏngyang and Sinŭiju in what is now North Korea, and in 2007 the line hosted the first train across the Demilitarized Zone?

TTA's model AR 93 vicinal tram in 2002

• ...that the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge Tramway Touristique de l'Aisne between Érezée and Dochamps, Belgium, is the oldest and longest tramway of the Luxembourg?

A light rail train at Pantano station in 2002

• ...that 18.4 kilometres (11.4 mi) of the original 950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in) gauge Rome-Fiuggi railway line, which was closed in 1983, was reused in urban service from Roma Laziali station and is now being rebuilt to become part of Rome Metro's Line C?
• ...that the 7.8-mile (12.6 km) long New Cascade Tunnel, which was opened in 1929 by Great Northern Railway, reduced the railroad's Cascade Pass summit by 501 feet (153 m) from the original tunnel completed in 1900 and it is now the longest railroad tunnel in the United States?

Class 41 Rekolokomotive

• ...that the German term Rekonstruktionslokomotive was used beginning in 1957 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in the GDR to refer to classes of steam locomotives that underwent considerable rebuilding in order to improve performance, rectify design faults and redress wartime austerity features?

GWR Ariadne or "Standard Goods" Class broad gauge 0-6-0 at Trowbridge

• ...that Great Western Railway's Ariadne Class and Caliph class broad gauge 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed for goods train work by Daniel Gooch were often referred to as his Standard Goods locomotives?

Busan Subway line 2 train and station

• ...that all directional signs on the Busan Subway in Busan, South Korea, are written in both Korean and English, and the voice announcement in the trains indicating the upcoming station, possible line transfer and exiting side are all spoken in Korean, followed by English?

Railway Bridge, Kaunas, in 2006

• ...that the Railway Bridge in Kaunas, Lithuania, completed in 1862 across the Nemunas river, is often called Green (Lithuanian: Žaliasis) because of its green paint?

Vasar Valley Mocăniţa, a narrow gauge railway in Romania

• ...that a mocăniță (Romanian pronunciation: [mokəˈnit͡sə]), a term derived from the Romanian word mocan, meaning shepherd or one who lives in the mountains, is a narrow gauge railway in Romania, most notably in Transylvania and nearby regions?