May 2008

Preserved GS-4 locomotive 4449

• ...that lateral motion devices enable locomotives with a long, fixed wheelbase such as the Southern Pacific class GS-4 to negotiate tight curves without the wheel flanges binding against the rail?

X20 on a preserved line in Victoria in 1994

• ...that the Tasmanian Government Railways X class locomotive was the first class of diesel-electric locomotives to enter main line service on a Government-owned railway in Australia?

Diagram of chain-driven valve gear for steam locomotive, designed by Oliver Bulleid

• ...that British mechanical engineer Oliver Bulleid's problematic chain-driven valve gear was an attempt to design a new miniaturised Walschaerts motion layout that was compact enough to enclose the whole system in an oil bath casing, obviating the daily need to oil all moving parts as they were protected from the elements?

Ls40-5438 locomotive in Kościerzyna Railroad Heritage Park

• ...that the PKP class SM02, a small shunting locomotive weighing 16 tonnes (35,000 lb) built in the 1950s by Fablok, was the first diesel locomotive class to be built in Poland?

Coupling and connecting rod on a locomotive wheel, with counterweight

• ...that hammer blow, also called dynamic augment, refers to the vertical forces transferred to the track by the driving wheels of a steam locomotive, due to the unbalanced reciprocating motion as well as piston thrusts, which cannot be compensated for by a counterweight?

Steam locomotive instruments, Flaman Speed Indicator and Recorder at bottom.

• ...that the Flaman Speed Indicator and Recorder, a device patented in 1901 by Nicolas Charles Eugène Flaman of France, enabled locomotive speed to be immediately indicated as well as recorded to paper tape for later study?

Works photograph of TGR locomotive K 1

• ...that the Tasmanian Government Railways K Class of 1909 was the world's first Garratt-type articulated locomotive, and the original prototype locomotive K 1 has survived into preservation and has returned to operating condition?

The collapsed Tay Bridge

• ...that The Tay Bridge Disaster, probably the most famous poem of William McGonagall, renowned as one of the worst poets in the English language, was one of three plays by McGonagall inspired by the Tay Bridge Disaster and the replacement bridge built in its wake?

A C301 car in operation in 2006

• ...that the Taipei Metro C301 cars were built in the former Otis Elevator Company plant in Yonkers, New York, which was the first elevator factory in the world?

Indigenous liveried locomotive NR52 with AN2 in Melbourne, Victoria

• ...that a number of Australia's National Rail Corporation NR class locomotives, which are used to haul transcontinental freight and passenger services including The Ghan and the Indian Pacific, have received special liveries for passenger services while three locomotives have been painted in unique designs by indigenous artists?

Three UP GEVO locomotives in Kansas in 2008

• ...that the GE Evolution Series locomotives were designed to replace the GE C40-9W, C44-9W and AC4400CW as a result of stringent United States EPA emissions requirements that went into effect in 2005?

A Swiss-built Forney locomotive used on Finnish State Railways

• ...that a Forney locomotive, a patented design of 0-4-4 tank locomotive in which the water tank is stored behind the cab rather than above or beside the boiler, had the advantage of a constant axle load on the driving wheels compared to other tank locomotive designs where axle load varied according to how much water remained in the tanks?

A section of metre-gauge line in Hanoi

• ...that the state-owned Vietnam Railways is considering a long-term plan to build a completely new standard gauge line to replace the current metre gauge Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City North-South Railway, which is in poor condition and subject to closure in times of flood?
• ...that The Titfield Thunderbolt, a 1953 comedy film about a group of villagers trying to prevent British Railways from closing the fictional Titfield branch line, featured the historic Liverpool and Manchester Railway locomotive Lion starring as the Thunderbolt?

The Gran Capitán, FA's long-distance service to Misiones province

• ...that Ferrocarriles Argentinos, a public company that managed the entire Argentine railway system for nearly 45 years, at one point operated the largest rail system in Latin America with over 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi) of railways?

The Gresley valve gear and third cylinder are visible below the smokebox of this 4-12-2

• ...that the Gresley conjugated valve gear is a type of valve gear for steam locomotives, designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and Harold Holcroft, which enables a three-cylinder locomotive to operate with only two sets of valve gear for the outside cylinders, using levers connected to them to derive the valve motion for the third cylinder?

Preserved Chinese narrow-gauge Kowloon-Canton Railway locomotive No. 2227

• ...that only one of the once-numerous Chinese narrow gauge railways, the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge Kunming-Hekou Railway, remains in the national network and it is expected to be converted to standard gauge soon?

Forth Bridge at night

• ...that the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail link in Scotland is expected to open on 19 May 2008 and will relieve congestion on the Forth Bridge, using the previously closed Kincardine Line and Stirling and Dunfermline Railway to provide an alternative route via the north shore of the River Forth?
• ...that Poland's Pm36 class of steam locomotives included one example, prototype Pm36-1, which was exhibited and won a gold medal at the International Exposition of Art and Technology in Paris in 1937?

The first locomotive on the railway, arriving at Léopoldville in 1898

• ...that Matadi-Kinshasa Railway in the Democratic Republic of the Congo cost the lives of 1,932 people during its construction, the hard conditions of which were witnessed by author Joseph Conrad and later mentioned in his novel Heart of Darkness?

URC locomotives at Kampala station, Uganda

• ...that Uganda Railways Corporation, the parastatal railway of Uganda, was a joint recipient of the 2001 Worldaware Business Award for "assisting economic and social development through the provision of appropriate, sustainable and environmentally complementary transport infrastructure"?

Soo 2719 operating in Two Harbors, Minnesota, in 2007

• ...that restored American 4-6-2 steam locomotive Soo Line 2719 was used to haul the Soo Line's last steam-powered train on a June 21, 1959, round-trip excursion between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Ladysmith, Wisconsin?

A Connex South Eastern service

• ...that Connex South Eastern, a train operating company in the United Kingdom, was originally contracted to run passenger services in South London and Kent until 2011, but in June 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority decided to cut the South Eastern franchise short at the end of 2003, citing poor financial management?

Locomotive N 110, equipped with booster engine

• ...that the Victorian Railways N class steam locomotive class leader N 110 was the first 2-8-2 'Mikado' tender locomotive in Australia, the first gauge-convertible locomotive design on Victorian Railways, and the first Victorian Railways locomotive to be equipped with a booster engine?

DB AG historic diesel locomotive V200 002 at Stuttgart main station

• ...that Deutsche Bundesbahn's class V 200 diesel-hydraulic locomotive was driven by twin V12 engines supplied by Maybach or MAN, and due to both designs being completely interchangeable, it was not unusual for a V200 to run with one Maybach and one MAN engine?

A Vauclain-type compound locomotive

• ...that a compound locomotive is a kind of steam locomotive where steam is expanded twice by passing it through high and low pressure cylinders in series, resulting in increased efficiency and in many cases, superior riding qualities with consequent less wear on the track?

Thermic syphons, viewed through the firebox door

• ...that thermic syphons are heat-exchanging elements in the firebox or combustion chamber of some steam locomotive designs, and are utilised to increase the evaporative capacity of a locomotive boiler by increasing the heating surface?