June 2018

Two Green Line trains at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 2015

• ...that the Metro Green Line connecting the downtown districts of both Minneapolis and Saint Paul is one of only six mass-transit rail lines in the United States that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week?

One of the Hudson locomotives in Mercury service in 1939

• ...that designer Henry Dreyfuss cut the total cost by 75% for his design of the Mercury passenger train after seeing unused passenger cars in one of New York Central Railroad's yards?

Two rusty hopper cars on the Melba Line in 2009

• ...that the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge Melba Line on the West Coast of Tasmania was originally constructed as the Emu Bay Railway and was one of the longest-lasting private railway companies in Australia?

A new boiler under construction at Meiningen in 2016

• ...that Dampflokwerk Meiningen in Germany is the only facility in Europe capable of constructing new steam locomotive boilers up to modern standards of construction, performance, and safety?

The first car operated in subway service in the United States with its first crew, motorman James Reed and conductor George Truffant, in 1897

• ...that the first regularly scheduled subway service in the United States was a precursor to the MBTA Subway with a run through the Tremont Street Subway in Boston in September 1897?

The Mayiladuthurai–Coimbatore Jan Shatabdi Express at Mayiladuthurai Junction in 2009

• ...that in 2017 as part of a Go Green initiative, one of the coaches of the Mayiladuthurai–Coimbatore Jan Shatabdi Express was fitted with solar photovoltaic panels?

Drawing of Matthias Baldwin in 1899

• ...that pioneering steam locomotive builder Matthias W. Baldwin patented a method of maintaining and swapping out interchangeable fire grates with active fires on them?

A preserved Mason locomotive in Michigan

• ...that the steam locomotives built by Mason Machine Works in the 19th century were known by railroad engineers and operators to be the easiest engines to repair?

First tramload of cheese, butter and wool to Smithton on the Marrawah tramway

• ...that the first regularly scheduled train on the Marrawah Tramway in Tasmania, which was founded as a timber hauling line, carried nine tons of cheese and two tons of wool, skins and hides?

A Class 165 DMU on the Marlow branch line in 2006

• ...that the train that runs on the Marlow branch line in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, England, is known as The Marlow Donkey although the exact derivation of the term is unclear?

Mansfield station in 2011

• ...that Mansfield, Massachusetts, and Kingston, Rhode Island, are the only two stations on the Northeast Corridor where the Acela reaches its top speed of 150 mph (240 km/h) on platform tracks?

Map of the Manhattan Beach Railway in 1878

• ...that Long Island Rail Road's now freight-only Bay Ridge Branch contains a portion of the former Manhattan Beach Branch that provided passenger service to Coney Island?

A Manchester Corporation Tramways tram in front of Manchester London Road station in the 1900s.

• ...that at its formation in 1901, Manchester Corporation Tramways was faced with electrifying more than 140 miles (230 km) of track?

The inaugural Maitree Express on April 14, 2008

• ...that in 2008 the Maitree Express reestablished a connection that had been closed for 43 years between the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka with Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal?

William Mahone in 1865

• ...that as chief engineer of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad in 1853, William Mahone built log-foundations under the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia that are still intact today?

Mære Station circa 1948

• ...that the Parliamentary proposal in 1900 that led to the construction of Mære Station in Trøndelag, Norway, originally suggested two separate nearby stations?

A RENFE class 103 train on the Madrid-Barcelona line in 2012

• ...that the 300 km/h (190 mph) services on the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line have reduced travel times between Madrid and Barcelona from over six hours to just two hours and 30 minutes?

An M1 on the Long Island Rail Road at Jamaica in 2005

• ...that the M1 and M3 EMU cars built by Budd for use on commuter lines radiating out from New York City were the catalyst of change for their respective systems as the high-level boarding required all stations in the electrified zone to be rebuilt from 1966-1968?

Three of the four TE70-4S on their first day of service

• ...that the modified Southern Pacific Daylight livery applied to the four M-K TE70-4S led to their nickname as "Popsicles"?

Map of the three Bavarian main lines with the Ludwig South-North Railway in red

• ...that on the slopes of the Fichtelgebirge (Hills) between Neuenmarkt and Wirsberg, the original route of the Ludwig South-North Railway incorporates a stretch with an average gradient of 23‰?

Two trains at Lübeck Hauptbahnhof in June 2017

• ...that Lübeck Hauptbahnhof, which opened in 1908 replacing an earlier station built in 1851, is the busiest of all the railway stations in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany?