Portal:Trains/Did you know/June 2019

June 2019

SMR Rail Car No 2 outside the workshops in 1961

• ...that the South Maitland Railway Workshops complex is one of the oldest continually operating railway workshops in Australia?

A South Island line train approaching Ocean Park in 2016

• ...that the MTR South Island line is the second fully automatic and driverless line in the MTR system after the Disneyland Resort line, and the third such line in Hong Kong?

Map of proposed and completed railway lines in southeast England in 1840, showing the South Eastern Railway to Folkestone

• ...that in the 1840s South Eastern Railway showed that a day excursion from London to Boulogne was feasible via ferry from Folkestone?

SAR Class 7E E7058 in 2013

• ...that the South African Railways Class 7E electric locomotives were the first 25 kV AC locomotives to enter service in South Africa?

SNCF locomotive number 40110 preserved in 2009

• ...that although SNCF's CC 40100 class of electric locomotives, the first to use the 'Nez Cassé' body style, was designed for quad-voltage working, they never worked scheduled services east of France and never required one of their four voltage abilities?

London Underground tracks at Finchley Central station in 2014

• ...that electrification method proposed in the early 20th century for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway used four rails like London Underground and the L&NWR?

Smardale Gill Viaduct in 2016

• ...that Smardale Gill Viaduct, on the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway line, was built wide enough for double track but was initially laid as single track to ease the curve on it?

E238 at the Salt River Depot, Cape Town, in 1966

• ...that the "eyebrow" sunshades installed on South African Railways' Class 4E electric locomotives were added to prevent pantograph grease from befouling the windscreens?

SNCF 13052 preserved at Cité du Train in 2013

• ...that the single cab design was chosen for SNCF's BB 13000 class because previous experience had suggested that providing duplicated control gear at the ends of the locomotive was the least reliable part of an electric locomotive?

A Dart Valley Railway train in 1973

• ...that the founders of the Dart Valley Railway, now known as the South Devon Railway, were involved in the preservation of the world's first ever heritage railway, the Talyllyn Railway?

The old and new Como Bridges in 2011

• ...that after the New South Wales, Australia, South Coast line duplication in 1890, the original lattice girder Como Bridge across the Georges River was relaid as gauntlet track, which remained a bottleneck on the line until 1972?

A train arriving at South Attleboro station in June 2013

• ...that MBTA Commuter Rail's South Attleboro station is the southernmost station on the Providence/Stoughton Line in Massachusetts and the ninth busiest station in the commuter rail system?

Portrait of Class 2 locomotive number 326 circa 1905

• ...that after the two NGR Class A 4-6-2 steam locomotives were placed in service, chief mechanical engineer D.A. Hendrie adopted Walschaerts valve gear and outside valves on all his subsequent locomotive designs for their greater accessibility?

The footbridge over the tracks and platforms at South Acton station in 2017

• ...that South Acton has had continuous Boston commuter service since its inception except for five months in 1965 during the transition from fully private railroad operations to state subsidy?

A SMART train at Santa Rosa Downtown station in 2018

• ...that although many of the SMART station platforms are located near historic depots in city centers, all stops use newly-constructed 48-inch (120 cm) high-floor platforms for improved accessibility?

Northbound Somerset & Dorset train climbing up from Shepton Mallet at Windsor Hill in 1959

• ...that in the 1960s, the traditional nature of operation of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway route was reflected in the fact that most of the originating towns were on the former Midland Railway system, almost as if the railway grouping of 1923 had never taken place?

A train on the Solis Viaduct in July 2009

• ...that the Solis Viaduct, built in 1902 and now the highest bridge on the Rhaetian Railway, was the first stone arch bridge in Switzerland to be designed in accordance with the elasticity theory?

A train on the Sōbu Main Line in May 2009

• ...that the more urbanized section of JR East's Sōbu Main Line west of Chiba is informally, but commonly, called the Sōbu Line (総武線, Sōbu sen), while the "Main Line" refers to the more rural section east of Chiba?

PO E.1 preserved at Mulhouse railway museum, 2012

• ...that SNCF's BB 1280 class of electric locomotives was designed for use on a line in Paris that was similar to the then recently constructed Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad?

Preserved SM91 tram number 606 in May 2008

• ...that the SM91 trams used in Oslo, Norway, were originally built for the Gothenburg tram network in the 1950s and modified in preparation for Sweden's change from left to right-side driving on Dagen H?

A train arriving at Selby station, mentioned in the song "Slow Train", in 1957

• ...that many of the stations named in the 1963 Flanders and Swann song "Slow Train", which lamented the Beeching Axe closures, remained open long after the report was published?

The conduit for the River Westbourne above a Circle Line train at Sloane Square station in 2006

• ...that the River Westbourne is carried in a conduit above the platforms of Sloane Square tube station?

A Skyline dome on the Canadian at Jasper in 2006

• ...that as of 2015 Via Rail rostered 16 former Canadian Pacific Railway Skyline series dome cars that were built in the 1950s for the Canadian and Dominion trains?