May, 2006

A crocodile on SNCF

• ...that Le Crocodile is the name of an electrical contact placed on the track between the rails to provide warnings in the locomotive cab of SNCF trains?
• ...that the trucks on a railroad crane often include traction motors so that the crane is able to move itself along the track at a work site?

Union Pacific 844 on an excursion run

• ...that Union Pacific 844, the last steam locomotive delivered to Union Pacific, is the only steam locomotive that was never retired by a Class I railroad?

Follow the Leader

• ...that the boiler on Oliver Bulleid's locomotive Leader was mounted six inches (15¼ cm) off center, requiring massive lead weights on the opposite side of the frame to balance it?

A Sirio tram in Athens

• ...that the Sirio low-floor trams built by Ansaldobreda for use in Milan, Italy, are limited to a top speed of 70 km/h (43 mph)?

Trans-Siberian Railway map

• ...that the Trans-Siberian Railway, a network connecting Moscow and European Russia with the Russian Far East provinces, Mongolia, China and the Sea of Japan, carries the three longest continuous train routes in the world?
• ...that Union Pacific Railroad's current locomotive paint scheme is closely based on that of the 1934 M-10000 streamliner, which operated as the City of Salina passenger train?

Eurostar train

• ...that when High Speed 1 is completed in 2007, it will be possible to travel from London to Paris in just over two hours?
• ...that the Seikan Tunnel (connecting the islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō in Japan) is currently the longest railway tunnel in the world, and will be until the new Gotthard Base Tunnel (Switzerland), with a length of 57 km (36 miles), is opened?

ČKD Tatra-T3 tram car in Kiev

• ...that during World War II, the Czech tram builder ČKD was temporarily renamed BMM (Böhmisch-Mährische Maschinenfabrik AG) and manufactured arms for the Wehrmacht?
• ...that because its factor of adhesion was found to be too small, only two examples of the PRR K5 class of steam locomotive were built (one by Pennsylvania Railroad, the other by Baldwin Locomotive Works)?

An NJ Desiro DMU at the Herregårdsparken halt between Hjørring and Hirtshals

• ...that Nordjyske Jernbaner (NJ) operates trains over the former Hjørring Privatbaner (HP) and Skagensbanen (SB) railway lines in Denmark?

Track with concrete ties

• ...that there are approximately 3,000 railroad ties in a typical mile (1.6 km) of track?
• ...that the Harbor Springs, Michigan, hexagonal house of Ephraim Shay, who invented the Shay locomotive in 1881, is used today as the location for the annual "Shay Days" festival?

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• ...that the Walschaerts valve gear, invented by Belgian railway mechanical engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844, was the most popular type of valve gear fitted to steam locomotives?

Gare du Charonne Voyageurs, aka "La Fléche d'Or Café", October 1998

• ...that although the Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture in Paris, France, has been in a state of abandon since 1934, its rails and a few stations still remain along much of its path, and the future of its yet-unurbanized terrain is the subject of much debate?

An MMTS train at the Necklace Road station

• ...that the equipment cost of the MMTS Hyderabad system in India was shared by the railway and the Andhra Pradesh state government in a first ever endeavour of its kind?

preserved BR52-8177-9 in Leipzig in 2003

• ...that 53 German-designed DRG BR 52 class steam locomotives were built for Turkish Republic Railways forming the TCDD 56501 Class?

Goderich-Exeter Railway locomotive 177

• ...that the Goderich-Exeter Railway was the first short line railway in Canada to be purchased from a Class I railroad, in this case from Canadian National Railway?

London Underground train emerging from a tunnel

• ...that the London Underground has the smallest loading gauge of any standard gauge railroad in the world?
• ...that the T-money debit cards used as fare cards on the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system use RFID tags to perform the fare transaction?

One of the two Electroliners, preserved at IRM

• ...that each door on the two Electroliner trainsets, built for the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad in 1941, had steps and a trap door for boarding from both street level and high-level platforms?

A boxpok driver

• ...that boxpok driving wheels were designed as a single cast metal wheel to allow for better counterbalancing on locomotives built for high speed service?

Cergy – Saint-Christophe Station

• ...that the Cergy – Saint-Christophe station building includes a large glass structure placed above the RER's A3 line at street level and features a metal and glass cylinder with Europe's largest clock?

The westernmost point of the Lanxin railway in Alataw Pass

• ...that the Lanxin railway, connecting Urumqi to Lanzhou, Alataw Pass and Kashgar, is the only railway linking the autonomous region of Xinjiang to the rest of China?

Okinawa City Monorail at Akamine station

• ...that as of 2005, the Okinawa Monorail is the only rail line providing rail transportation in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan?

Side view rendering of a pair of Centipedes

• ...that the Baldwin DR-12-8-1500/2 diesel locomotive, built from December 1945 to July 1948, was better known as the "Centipede" because of its 12 axle wheel arrangement?