October 2008

Haxo station on the Paris Metro

• ...that Haxo, a ghost station on the Paris Métro, has never had a regular in-service train call at the station and no access to street level was ever constructed?

AD60 Garratt locomotive 6012 tops the grade at Cowan

• ...that the New South Wales Government Railways' AD60 class 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt locomotives had the highest tractive effort of any steam locomotive in Australia?
• ...that in Britain, where steam hauled trains generally have vacuum operated brakes, it was quite common for turntables to be operated by vacuum powered motors worked from the locomotive's vacuum ejector or pump via a flexible hose or pipe?

A diesel locomotive in AW Bremen, 1984

• ...that an Ausbesserungswerk is a railway facility in German-speaking countries, the primary function of which is the repair (and formerly also the construction) of railway vehicles or their components?

Canted curve on the Nuremberg–Ingolstadt line in Germany

• ...that cant, the difference in elevation of rails around a curve also known as superelevation, helps steer a train around a curve, keeping the wheel flanges from touching the rails and minimizing friction and wear?

Brussels-North railway station

• ...that Brussels-North railway station in Belgium replaced Groendreef/Allée Verte station, where in 1835 the first train on a public railway on the European continent departed?
• ...that while the British Railways standard class 4 2-6-0 freight locomotive was celebrated for its running of the London Waterloo to Lymington boat train, its running of the service was not due to the performance of the locomotive so much as the fact that only a 2-6-0 or 4-4-0 could fit on the turntable at Brockenhurst?

4303 passes the wheat silos at Temora in January, 1966

• ...that the New South Wales Government Railways' 43 class locomotives, built by Australian Electrical Industries Pty. Ltd., were unusual in having ALCO power units in General Electric-designed bodies?

DE10 locomotive of JR Hokkaido

• ...that the class DE10 diesel-hydraulic locomotives built for Japanese National Railways rode on five axles in a C-B wheel arrangement and that about half of the class included steam generators for use in passenger train service?

Los Angeles Municipal Warehouse No. 1

• ...that for many years, Municipal Warehouse No. 1 at the Port of Los Angeles stored the rail car that carried Winston Churchill's body to burial?
• ...that in 1936 an aerodynamics laboratory was formed within the LMS Scientific Research Laboratory which, using 1:24 scale models, was involved in the design work for Stanier's Coronation class locomotives, and went on to assess smoke deflectors, carriage ventilation and the effect of passing trains on structures and passengers in stations?

5808 with a westbound goods train passing below the Lithgow Zig Zag

• ...that the New South Wales Government Railways' D58 class 4-8-2, intended to be an improved version of the D57 class, had smaller diameter cylinders which demanded a later cut-off and used more steam, thus making the locomotives uneconomical in the use of coal and water when compared with the D57?

Odakyū 50000 series VSE

• ...that the Odakyu Electric Railway 50000 series VSE trainset features regenerative brakes similar to that of hybrid automobiles for a smaller carbon footprint than previous designs, and won a Japanese good design award?

El Paso and Southwestern Railroad bridge spanning the Rio Grande River

• ...that after their success with the Detroit Copper Mining Company of Arizona, William E. Dodge, Jr. and his partners founded the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad?

An LNER A1 class locomotive pulling a passenger train in 1951

• ...that Sidney Weighell, a fully qualified engine driver for LNER and later General Secretary of Great Britain's National Union of Railwaymen from 1975 to 1983, played professional football with Sunderland for two seasons?

A railway junction in Norway

• ...that the Norwegian National Rail Administration owns all 4,114 km (2,556 mi) of railways and a majority of the stations in Norway, but does not operate any trains?

Winnipeg skyline

• ...that the neighborhood of Elm Park in Winnipeg, Canada, was originally a park created by the Winnipeg Street Railway Company to increase trolley use?

Atlantic & Pacific freight cars in Winslow, Arizona, circa 1890

• ... that the U.S. Congress incorporated the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in 1866 to connect Missouri and California, but the company only completed portions at each end?

A train undergoing service in Jolimont Workshops

• ...that the Jolimont Workshops, operated by Victorian Railways beside Jolimont Yard in inner city Melbourne, Australia, were built for the maintenance of Melbourne's new fleet of suburban trains in 1917?

The eastbound platform of Jernbanetorget Metro station, Oslo, Norway

• ...that when the Common Tunnel, a rapid transit tunnel that is used by all lines of Oslo T-bane, opened in 1928 it made the Holmenkoll Line the first underground railway in Scandinavia?

The entrance and "platform 3" at Redruth railway station

• ...that Redruth railway station in Great Britain was only moved to its present site when a viaduct was built 61 feet (19 m) above the streets of the town?

Henry Shippen Huidekoper (1839-1918)

• ...that after receiving the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Gettysburg, Henry S. Huidekoper helped to suppress the Great Railroad Strike of 1877?

Scene of the derailment

• ...that the 1949 Matsukawa derailment was reported to have occurred as the result of sabotage, which the government in Japan blamed on the Japanese Communist Party and the Japan National Railway Union?

A Siemens Eurobalise in Germany

• ...that a balise is an electronic beacon or transponder placed between the rails of a railway as part of an Automatic Train Protection system?

The retarders grip the sides of the wheels on passing cars to slow them down

• ...that retarders, a series of stationary brakes surrounding a short section of each rail on the track that grip and slow the cars' wheels through friction as they roll through them, are used in classification yards to reduce the speed of freight cars as they are sorted into trains?

Spårakoff Tram Pub in Helsinki, Finland

• ...that an HM V-type tram on the Helsinki tram network was converted into a pub, renumbered to 175 and renamed Spårakoff in honour of the 175th anniversary of the Finnish brewery Sinebrychoff?

Gauntlet track for a tram line in a narrow alley at Malá Strana, Prague

• ...that gauntlet track is railway tracks that converge onto a single roadbed and are interlaced to pass through a narrow passage such as a cutting, bridge, or tunnel, which eliminates the complexities of a switching system since both tracks remain discrete?

Hunting oscillation

• ...that hunting oscillation is a swaying motion of a railway vehicle caused by the coning action on which the directional stability of an adhesion railway depends, which above a critical speed can be damaging to track and wheels, and can potentially cause a derailment?

Locomotive #6031 of Brazil's RFFSA is a GMDH-1

• ...that General Motors Diesel's four experimental GMDH-1 locomotives had varied operating careers, with one ending up in Brazil, another in Pakistan, one being preserved in the Canada Science and Technology Museum and one passing through a succession of owners before ending up in the hands of Amoco Canada Petroleum, for whom the locomotive remains operable?

A semaphore signal fitted with a diamond sign denoting exemption from Rule 55

• ...that Rule 55, a problematic operating rule adopted by railway companies in the British Isles in the late 19th century, required that if a train was brought to a stand at a signal in rain, snow or fog, the fireman, guard or any shunter riding on the train must immediately make his way back to the signal box to ensure that the signalman was aware of the presence of the stopped train?