January 2009

The Valenciennes tram during its first city circulation

• ...that the second line of the Valenciennes tram, a light rail system in the Valenciennes urban area in the Nord département of northern France, reuses the platform of a railway line that opened in 1838?

Preserved Milwaukee Road #760, the first Fairbanks-Morse locomotive, preserved at Illinois Railway Museum

• ...that the opposed-piston engines built by Fairbanks-Morse were used in stationary applications in the 1920s and then marine applications in the 1930s before the company built its first diesel locomotive for Milwaukee Road in 1939, a locomotive that is now preserved in operating condition at Illinois Railway Museum?

Moscow Monorail train at a station

• ...that the Moscow Monorail Transit System opened to passengers on November 30, 2004, in "tourist mode," then on January 10, 2008, normal operations started, meaning a reduction in ticket prices (from $2 to the standard Moscow rapid transport prices) and more frequent trains?

The north end of Olive Mount chord during reconstruction in July 2008

• ...that the Olive Mount chord, a 300 m (980 ft) long line in Liverpool, England, was taken out of service following a fire in the signal box at Edge Lane Junction in 1988 and subsequently lifted but has been restored to service in 2008 because delays resulting from its removal became a limiting factor in access to the Port of Liverpool?

profile diagram of the Iwate-Ichinohe Tunnel

• ...that the 25.810 km (16.038 mi) long Iwate-Ichinohe Tunnel (岩手一戸トンネル), part of the Tōhoku Shinkansen route, linking Tokyo with Aomori, was the longest in-use terrestrial (land based) tunnel in world when it opened in 2002 but the title was overtaken by the Lötschberg Base Tunnel in June 2007?
• ...that one of the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad nicknames, "Little Sally and Imogene," was derived from the names of two daughters of H. R. Harris, the railroad's first general manager?

Inscription "Kaiser Ferdinand Nordbahn" on the Main Rail Station in Bielsko-Biała

• ...that the Northern Railway (German: Nordbahn, KFNB; Czech: Severní dráha císaře Ferdinanda, SDCF) was the name of a former railway company during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and the term is still used to describe certain railway lines which were formerly operated by that company?

Old Ghan locomotive in the "Old Ghan Museum" in Alice Springs

• ...that a few of the Commonwealth Railways NSU Class of diesel locomotives in Australia survived more or less intact up to just about the end of ANR operations carrying out the ignoble task of removing the line for which they were built?
• ...that the ER200 class electric multiple unit (EMU) train built in Riga by Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca was the first high-speed direct current intercity EMU with a rheostatic brake?

Rio Grande Southern caboose in 1940

• ...that the Durango to Ridgway route of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad in Colorado was completed only a short time before the Silver Panic of 1893 which resulted in most of the mines the railroad served closing overnight and the railroad losing most of its traffic?

Interior of a Mugunghwa-ho train

• ...that the Mugunghwa-ho class of trains operated by Korail, the national railroad of South Korea, are the least expensive class of trains to operate cross-country and prior to the introduction of the KTX in 2004, they were the most common passenger trains along most railroad lines in the country?

Petit train de la Rhune France

• ...that although the summit of La Rhune lies on the border between France and Spain, the Petit train de la Rhune line from the Col de Saint-Ignace to the summit lies entirely within the French département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques?

LNER 4472 Flying Scotsman at Seymour, Victoria, during its visit to Australia in 1988-89

• ...that in addition to its tour of the United States from 1969 to 1973, preserved LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman traveled over 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi) in Australia in the late 1980s to commemorate the Australian Bicentenary?

Rovos Rail train about to depart from Capital Park Station

• ...that Rovos Rail, a private railway company operating out of Capital Park Station in Pretoria, South Africa, on a Cape to Cairo route for the first time in 2008?

A freight train on the Benguela railway with a number of riders.

• ...that the Benguela railway, linking the copperbelts of Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia, roughly follows old trade routes between the ancient trading centre of Benguela and its hinterland of the Biė plateau?

Preserved El 8.2060 in 2004

• ...that although NSB's El 8 class of electric locomotives were capable of achieving a top speed of 110 km/h (68 mph), this class did not have bogies making them rather stiff in the turns, a problem which was remedied with the introduction of the EL 11 and El 13 classes in the 1950s?

A Santa Fe freight train crosses over itself at Tehachapi Loop in 1987

• ...that the location of Tehachapi Loop in southern California is known as Walong in honor of Southern Pacific District Roadmaster W. A. Long?

A train of the Renon railway in its first years of operation passing the only tunnel along the now closed rack section

• ...that the Renon railway, which connects Bolzano with the Renon plateau in Italy, was designed to allow the downhill train to generate some of the electrical power for the uphill train?

A WAM-4 locomotive leading other locomotives in a train

• ...that Indian Railways' WAM-4 class of electric locomotives designed specially for mixed traffic and built between 1967 and 1997 use the same power bogies as the successful WDM-2 diesel locomotive class?

A Picton-bound TranzCoastal service heading north from Christchurch station on the Main North Line

• ...that the Main North Line, connecting Christchurch in New Zealand up the east coast of the South Island through Kaikoura and Blenheim to Picton, was the longest railway construction project in New Zealand's history, with the first stages built in the 1870s and not completed until 1945?

A Metro-North Port Jervis Line train crossing the Moodna Viaduct in 2007

• ...that the Moodna Viaduct, spanning the Moodna Creek and its valley in New York for 3,200 feet (980 m) and 193 feet (59 m) high at its highest point, the highest and longest railroad trestle in the United States east of the Mississippi River?
• ...that PKP's SM42 diesel shunter locomotive class built between 1967 and 1972 by Fablok Chrzanów was the first Polish diesel locomotive class?

A grain elevator and train north of Shu, Kazakhstan, in 2007 on the Turkestan–Siberia Railway

• ...that the first locomotive to operate over the entire route of the Turkestan–Siberia Railway from Tashkent to Semipalatinsk, which was built in the early 20th century as a means to import Siberian grain to Russian Turkestan, has been preserved as a static display in Almaty?

A preserved "short Oppeln" wagon

• ...that the "short Oppeln" type of covered van built in Germany beginning in 1937 rapidly became the most numerous Austauschbau goods wagon with 28,000 units built?

A BNSF Railway locomotive in the United States on January 25, 2008

• ...that although rail transport in Rwanda has been largely nonexistent, on January 26, 2008, Rwanda's President announced plans for BNSF Railway to build a link from Rwanda's capital Kigali to Tanzania's rail network in Isaka Tanzania?
• ...that the first batch of 7800 Class 4-6-0 steam locomotives built in the late 1930s for Great Western Railway in Great Britain used parts from scrapped 4300 Class 2-6-0s, including the driving wheels, motion components and tenders?

A modern refrigerator car

• ...that although experiments with shipments of refrigerated products by rail took place as early as 1842, it wasn't until 1878 that refrigerator cars became practical based on a design created for Swift & Company to ship dressed meats?

Part of a modern Bangladesh Railway passenger train

• ...that the first section of the present day Bangladesh Railway originally opened in 1862 as a 53-kilometre (33 mi) long broad gauge line and the second section opened in 1885 as a 15-kilometre (9.3 mi) long metre gauge line?

Pontiac & Pacific Junction Railway No. 4 pulling a train leaving Campbell's Bay, Quebec, in 1902

• ...that in the early history of rail transport in Canada, the Guarantee Act of 1849 that guaranteed bond returns on all railways over 75 miles (121 km) long led to rapid expansion of railways in the Canadas, sometimes to excessive growth as uneconomic lines were built because the government guaranteed profits?

NZR EC class No. 7 at the Ferrymead Railway for the Easter 2008 railfan event

• ...that of the six EC class electric locomotives purchased by New Zealand Railways in 1929 in order to reduce the smoke nuisance in the 2.6 km (1.6 mi) long Lyttelton Tunnel, three remained in regular use until the line was dieselized in 1970?

A Fertagus suburban train at Corroios station, near Lisbon, Portugal

• ...that Fertagus, a commuter rail operator connecting Lisbon, Portugal's capital, to suburbs on the Setúbal Peninsula, is the first private rail operator in Portugal?