March 2007

NMBS/SNCB trains in Antwerp-Central

• ...that in 2005 the National Railway Company of Belgium was split into three parts: Infrabel to maintain the infrastructure, NMBS/SNCB to manage train operations, and NMBS/SNCB-Holding to own and coordinate the other two?

Map of Thailand rail lines

• ...that the Northern Line of the State Railway of Thailand was originally built to standard gauge in 1891 but regauged to metre gauge in 1919?
• ...that the dynamite blast that officially 'holed' through the initial bore of Moffat Tunnel in Colorado was set off by United States President Coolidge upon pressing a key in Washington, D.C.?

William Wordsworth

• ...that the famous British poet William Wordsworth was so displeased at the incursion of the Kendal and Windermere Railway into the picturesque Lake District landscape, he composed a sonnet in opposition to the project?

Victorian Goldfields Railway

• ...that when the Victorian Goldfields Railway in Australia commenced heritage train services from Maldon into Castlemaine Railway Station on 19 December 2004, it marked the return of regularly-scheduled passenger services along the restored branch line between these towns for the first time since World War II?

CN Tower

• ...that the CN Tower, built by Canadian National Railway, was the world's tallest freestanding structure on land from its completion in 1976 until being surpassed by the Burj Dubai in 2007?

Kalka-Shimla Railway train traveling toward Shimla in 2000

• ...that construction cost overruns and insufficient revenues resulted in the British Raj taking control of the Kalka-Shimla Railway in northwest India in 1906?

Andrew Vivian

• ...that Richard Trevithick's cousin Andrew Vivian financed construction of Trevithick's first full-sized locomotive and operated it for demonstrations in 1801?

A Ma On Shan Rail train in Hong Kong

• ...that medium capacity systems, as opposed to light rail or heavy rail systems, can carry from 6,000 to 35,000 passengers per hour?

GO Transit cab control car with the CN Tower in the background

• ...that since it began operating in the greater Toronto, Canada, area in May 1967, GO Transit, has carried more than 1 billion passengers?

Velachery station in Chennai

• ...that each station of the Mass Rapid Transit System in Chennai, India, was designed by a different architect and can accommodate trains up to nine cars long?

Changing wheels of the Trans-Mongolian railway at the Mongolia-China border

• ...that trains on the Trans-Mongolian Railway traveling to China must stop at the border to have their wheels changed due to a break-of-gauge between the broad gauge tracks of Mongolia and standard gauge tracks of China?
• ...that in 1949, one of Victorian Railways' X class steam locomotives in Australia was fitted with German 'Stug' (Studiengesellschaft) equipment and a specially modified tender to burn pulverised brown coal?

The Empire State Express takes on water from a track pan in 1905

• ...that track pans allowed steam locomotives with specially equipped tenders to take on water without stopping the train?

Cornish Riviera Express circa 1910

• ...that the Great Western Railway's Cornish Riviera Express between London and Penzance was inaugurated on July 1, 1904, and not officially named until after a public competition in The Railway Magazine in August?

Aftermath of a boiler explosion circa 1850

• ...that parts of a steam locomotive's firebox in contact with full steam pressure have to be kept covered with water to prevent them from overheating and weakening in a way that could cause a boiler explosion?
• ...that the railway development-themed board game Railway Rivals was originally developed as a teaching aid for geography and to demonstrate how geography and competition led to railway line development and construction?

The Mormon Rocks

• ...that a section of Cajon Pass in Southern California is named Mormon Rocks in commemoration of a group Mormon settlers who crossed through the pass in 1851?
• ...that bank engines, also called helper engines, are sometimes added to trains that require more power or traction to climb a grade (or bank)?

William Dargan bridge on the Luas Green Line

• ...that the right-of-way of the Harcourt Street railway line in Dublin, Ireland, was preserved for future railway use after its closure in 1959 and was then reused by the Luas light rail system's Green Line in 2004?

A Bombardier CX-100 train at South View LRT Station

• ...that the windows of Bombardier CX-100 cars in use on Singapore's Light Rapid Transit for the Bukit Panjang LRT Line will mist over when the cars are within 6 meters (20 ft) of apartment blocks to preserve the residents' privacy?

The Goldfields Railway at the Waikino terminus in 2005

• ...that the Goldfields Railway's line to Waikino runs over the only private railway bridge over a state highway in New Zealand?

An Austro-Hungarian armoured train of 1915

• ...that armoured trains have been used for military transportation during wartime as early as the American Civil War (1861-1865)?

The approach to the Hell Gate Bridge

• ...that the Hell Gate Bridge, which crosses the East River in New York City, was the world's longest steel arch bridge when it opened in 1916?

Locomotives receiving maintenance at Crewe Works

• ...that by 1870, the railway engineering facility known as Crewe Works in England had installed a Bessemer converter for manufacturing steel, became the first place to use open-hearth furnaces on an industrial scale, and built its own brickworks?

Two 400-class Redhen railcars working a Belair to Adelaide local train in 1990

• ...that South Australian Railways introduced Redhen railcars in suburban service around Adelaide in October 1955, and the last was withdrawn from service by TransAdelaide in October 1996?

Volos station in 1990

• ...that Volos railway station, now part of the Organismós Sidirodrómon Elládos (OSE) system in Greece, was the terminus of three different gauges of railway line: standard gauge, metre gauge and 60 cm gauge?

John Bull circa 1893

• ...that John Bull, the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, was originally named Stevens in honor of the first president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad, Robert L. Stevens?
• ...that the original Montserrat Rack Railway north of Barcelona in the Catalonia region of Spain opened in 1892, closed in 1957, was replaced by an aerial cable car system and then reopened as a rack railway using the Abt system in 2003?

A covered hopper owned and operated by Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad

• ...that because covered hoppers typically carry loads of less dense, and therefore lighter, materials such as grains, they are built to a higher cubic capacity than open top hoppers?

End of track at Thurso

• ...that Thurso railway station on the Far North Line is the most northerly railway station in Great Britain, located 248 km (154 miles) north of Inverness?