Portal:Trains/Did you know/August 2005

...that Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) was the first heavy rail system in the world to incorporate platform screen doors in its stations in 1987?

...that magnetic levitation train technology is being considered for possible future train routes in the Netherlands, especially between Amsterdam, Flevoland and Groningen?

...that as a result of the Eschede train disaster in Germany on June 3, 1998, the ICE's rubber-isolated wheel design, which was found to be the primary fault of the accident, has since been replaced with conventional solid steel wheels?

...that trains serving Zürich Main Station, the largest train station in Zürich, Switzerland, arrive and depart on 24 tracks arranged in three separate levels?

...that Angels Flight, a landmark funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California, claims to be the "shortest railway in the world"?

...that a balloon loop is a track arrangement that allows a train to reverse direction, and return to where it came from, without having to shunt or even to stop?
...that Great Britain's Great Central Railway is the only heritage railway in the country with a double track right of way?

...that Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania, has been criticized for using restored Canadian rather than American steam locomotives to power its tours and excursions?

...that on Japan Railway's Narita Express, a train from Ōfuna or Yokohama (on the Tōkaidō Line) will be coupled with a train from Shinjuku, Ikebukuro or Omiya to form one trainset for the remainder of the journey to Narita International Airport?

...that the EMD SD38-2 shares the same frame as the SD40-2 and SD45-2, which gives the SD38-2 a length of 68 ft 10 in (20.98 m)?

...that in contrast to regular low floor trams, the floor in the interior of Ultra Low Floor tram is low enough to be at the same height as a sidewalk (about 18 cm above the road surface), which makes access to trams particularly easy for passengers in wheelchairs or with perambulators?

...that most bogies (also called trucks) have two axles, but some cars designed for extremely heavy loads have been built with up to five-axle bogies?

...that Ward Kimball's former Grizzly Flats Railroad 2-6-0 Emma Nevada and the only remaining operable GE U25B in North America are both on display at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California?
...that EWS (English, Welsh and Scottish Railway), the largest British rail freight operating company, was originally created as a subsidiary of Wisconsin Central Ltd in 1996, and was acquired by Canadian National Railway when it bought Wisconsin Central in 2001?

...that railway post office cars in North America were often equipped with a hook that could be used to snatch a sack of outgoing mail hanging on a track-side pole as the train passed it?

...that since a conventional steam locomotive is directly driven, one of the few ways to 'gear' a locomotive for a particular performance goal is to size the driving wheels appropriately; typically larger for passenger train service than for freight service?

...that some reports suggest Joseph Locke (1805-1860), who had apprenticed with George Stephenson, was driving Stephenson's Rocket when Liverpool MP William Huskisson became the first rail fatality on September 15, 1830?

...that The first SD7 built by EMD, Southern Pacific Railroad number 1518, is preserved in operational condition at the Illinois Railway Museum?

...that rail freight services in Japan are provided by the Japan Freight Railway Company which operates under trackage rights on Japanese National Railways?
...that the Turbo train, built by United Aircraft and operated by Canadian National Railway between Toronto and Montreal, was powered by a jet turbine?
...that in addition to designing many locomotive styles for the Pennsylvania Railroad, including the GG1, Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) also designed refrigerators for Sears-Roebuck, Mobil Oil's Pegasus logo, the Studebaker Avanti and the interior design of Skylab?

...that about 100,000 Asian and 16,000 Allied prisoners of war died in the construction of the Death Railway connecting Bangkok and Rangoon, a route that includes the famous bridge over Kwae Yai river?

...that nearly 5,000 PCC streetcars were built for rail transit systems in the United States and CKD Vagonka built nearly 13,000 for the European market?

...that every piece of rolling stock in interchange service and every container carried on railroads in North America is labeled with reporting marks that uniquely identify the equipment's owner?
...that on the westbound run of the Santa Fe de Luxe passenger train, female passengers received a basket of California oranges while the male passengers received pigskin wallets when the train reached the summit of Cajon Pass?
...that most of the deceased from the Hammond Circus Train Wreck, many of whom could not be identified, are buried in a section of Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), called Showmen's Rest?
...that Union Pacific's competition to Santa Fe's Super Chief, the City of Los Angeles passenger train, used one of only two model EMD E2 diesel locomotives ever built?
...that Nigel Gresley (1876–1941) designed some of the most famous steam locomotives in Britain including the LNER Class A4 4-6-2 type?

...that one of RER's routes, the Paris-St Germain-en-Laye line, uses the right of way of the first railway built in France?

...that the first 2-6-0 steam locomotive in the United States with a single-axle swivelling leading truck was built in 1860 for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad?