Portal:Trains/Did you know/April 2017

April 2017

Advertisement showing UP's Challenger train dining service

• ...that in an attempt to draw Depression-Era passengers back to rail travel, Union Pacific Railroad and Chicago and North Western Railway advertised dining car service on the Challenger as "three meals for under a dollar a day"?

CGR 0-4-0ST of 1873, no. M2 Little Bess circa 1880

• ...that the first Cape gauge steam locomotives to operate in present day South Africa were a pair, soon followed by a third locomotive of the same design, of 0-4-0ST locomotives in construction service for Mac Donald & Company?

CFR class 40 number 0014-7 in 2007

• ...that over 1000 Class 40 electric locomotives were constructed by Electroputere from 1967 to 1991 for Căile Ferate Române (Romanian Railways) and the vast majority of them were still in service as of 2013?

4th Street Portal under construction in February 2016

• ...that with the addition of the Central Subway in 2018, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's T Third Line is projected to become the most heavily ridden line in the Muni Metro system by 2030?

Platform 3 on the Island Line at Central Station in 2013

• ...that Hong Kong MTR's Central Station was initially conceived to cater to 330,000 passengers daily and was planned to be 380 metres (1,250 ft) long, making it one of the longest stations in the world?

The northern end of the platforms at Central station, Montreal, in 1952

• ...that Canadian National Railway opened Central Station in Montreal in 1943 to consolidate services from four separate stations, Bonaventure Station, Tunnel Terminal, Moreau Street Station and McGill Street Terminal?

Construction of Central station in 1902

• ...that Central railway station in Sydney, NSW, Australia, was built on land previously occupied by several tenants including a police barracks, a convent and the Devonshire Street Cemetery?

A mosaic wall panel at Central Park North–110th Street station in 1968

• ...that both track walls of Central Park North–110th Street station on New York City Subway's IRT Lenox Avenue Line have some of the original, hanging mosaic designs that were installed for the station's opening in 1904?

Local residents at Bancroft wait on the station platform for the ceremonial first passenger train to arrive in 1900

• ...that the Central Ontario Railway carried its first load of ore from Coe Hill in 1884, but when samples were analyzed, the ore was too low grade to be useful for mining, leaving the company on the verge of bankruptcy?

One of Central Funicular's cars in 2010

• ...that the Central Funicular of Naples, Italy, which opened for passenger traffic in 1928, is one of the most used funicular railways in the world, and carries over 10 million passengers per year?

Map showing the Central Branch and Eastern Division (both yellow) meeting near Clay Center, Kansas

• ...that despite its name, the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad, founded in 1859 as the Atchison and Pike's Peak Railroad and renamed in 1867, was not associated with the Union Pacific Railroad until 1880?

Trains at Rosario central station in 1905

• ...that when it was completed in 1870, the Central Argentine Railway was the longest railway system in Argentina and was the first railway to join two of its provinces?

CBH class locomotive no. CBH002 Mooterdine, at Wagin, Western Australia, in 2012

• ...that MotivePower Industries' 2011 contract with CBH Group to supply new CBH class diesel-electric locomotives was the first of what MotivePower hoped would be many international contracts?

A streetcar at North Station's southbound platform in 1912, five days after the Causeway Street Elevated opened

• ...that the Causeway Street Elevated, which opened in 1912, was one of the last pieces of elevated line constructed in Boston, and, except for a short section remaining at Lechmere, was the last section in service?

Catskill Mountain Railroad's Kingston Holiday Shuttle in 2008

• ...that Earl Pardini, President of the Catskill Mountain Railroad's corporate predecessor Catskill Mountain Transportation Corporation, was the brakeman on the last freight train that ran on the line when it was closed to freight in 1976?

Preserved JF class locomotive in 2008

• ...that after the formation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) over 400 China Railway JF type 2-8-2 steam locomotives were manufactured in China for domestic use with some locomotives of this type remaining in service until the end of the 20th century?

An FS class 428 locomotive similar to the one of the 1962 disaster

• ...that during the Castel Bolognese train disaster in 1962 in Italy, a shipment of truffles received minor damage, but its strong smell became a distinctive memory for the emergency responders?

Santa Ana station in 2008

• ...that when Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center in California opened in 1985, it was the largest new rail station built in the United States since the completion of the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal circa 1955?

A village scene at Bekonscot in 2008

• ...that Bekonscot's Gauge 1 outdoor model railway is among the largest public garden railways in the United Kingdom, at ten scale miles?