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Portal:Trains/Did you know/November 2008

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November 2008

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Silkstone Common railway station in 2018
Silkstone Common railway station in 2018
A Citadis 402 of Line B on Pont de Pierre
A Citadis 402 of Line B on Pont de Pierre
Former Prussian T 20 95 028 in the Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum
Former Prussian T 20 95 028 in the Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum
Georgia Railroad 1026, an EMD GP7 on permanent display in Duluth, Georgia
Georgia Railroad 1026, an EMD GP7 on permanent display in Duluth, Georgia
Poster advertising the Winter 1888-1889 timetable for the Orient Express
Poster advertising the Winter 1888-1889 timetable for the Orient Express
An Arriva train in service in the Netherlands
An Arriva train in service in the Netherlands
Map of railroad lines in north Hudson County, New Jersey
Map of railroad lines in north Hudson County, New Jersey
P8 locomotive
P8 locomotive
5711 stands in Junee yard ready to head north on 23 September 1961
5711 stands in Junee yard ready to head north on 23 September 1961
Crossing river into Wilderness, South Africa
Crossing river into Wilderness, South Africa
A Conrail train leaving Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1993
A Conrail train leaving Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1993
  • ...that prior to the passage of the Staggers Rail Act in 1980, Conrail was consistently unprofitable, sometimes posting losses of a million dollars a day?
A modern fusible plug showing the core of low melting-point metal
A modern fusible plug showing the core of low melting-point metal
Steam locomotive with Giesl flat ejector
Steam locomotive with Giesl flat ejector
  • ...that the Giesl ejector, which replaced the traditional blastpipe of a steam locomotive with several, small, fan-shaped, diverging blast pipes, from which the diffuser gets its flat, long-drawn out shape, enabled a claimed savings in coal of between 6 and 12 %?
Dining car from the Blue Train
Dining car from the Blue Train
Samuel Spencer
Samuel Spencer
A pneumatic buffer with sections cut away
A pneumatic buffer with sections cut away
  • ...that although the buffers in the very earliest days of railways were rigid (dumb buffers), they soon came to be spring-loaded, while those fitted to modern locomotives and rolling stock incorporate oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers?
The running gear of a quill drive-equipped electric locomotive
The running gear of a quill drive-equipped electric locomotive
Chemnitz Culemeyer in the Saxon Railway Museum
Chemnitz Culemeyer in the Saxon Railway Museum
  • ...that the Johann Culemeyer developed the Culemeyer heavy trailer, a heavy road trailer with four axles and 16 solid rubber wheels, in 1931 to enable the transportation of goods wagons on the road for factories and other places that did not have their own railway link?
An example flying junction track layout
An example flying junction track layout
  • ...that a flying junction is a railway junction at which one or more diverging or converging tracks in a multiple-track route cross other tracks on the route by bridge to avoid conflict with other train movements?
The 'Camden Tram' at the bottom of the grade upon leaving Campbelltown
The 'Camden Tram' at the bottom of the grade upon leaving Campbelltown
  • ...that the Camden railway line in Australia, a light railway line that carried freight and passengers but was rarely busy, had steep grades and passengers would sometimes have to disembark from the train and walk alongside it, leaving their bags on board?
US Army No. 101, a Consolidation type 2-8-0 on display at the National Railroad Museum on April 26, 2004.
US Army No. 101, a Consolidation type 2-8-0 on display at the National Railroad Museum on April 26, 2004.
044-508 at Essen main railway station
044-508 at Essen main railway station
A contemporary drawing of Stephenson's Rocket
A contemporary drawing of Stephenson's Rocket
Józef Piłsudski
Józef Piłsudski
DR Class 52.80, Rekolokomotive of the best-known Kriegslokomotive
DR Class 52.80, Rekolokomotive of the best-known Kriegslokomotive
  • ...that Kriegslokomotiven were German 'war locomotives', produced in large numbers during the Second World War, whose construction was tailored to wartime economic circumstances such as shortages of materials, goods transportation (in support of military logistics), ease of maintenance under difficult conditions, resistance to extreme weather, limited life and rapid, cheap, mass production?
'Platform 9¾' at King's Cross Station
'Platform 9¾' at King's Cross Station
  • ...that the fictional Platform 9¾ of King's Cross railway station, featured in the Harry Potter books and films, has been commemorated with a 'Platform 9¾' sign in the actual station building, complete with a luggage trolley ‘stuck’ halfway through the wall?
Heyl & Patterson Rotary Dumper
Heyl & Patterson Rotary Dumper
  • ...that rotary car dumpers, mechanisms used for unloading certain railroad cars that hold the car to a section of track and rotate the track and car together to dump out the contents, are making open hopper cars obsolete through faster unloading time and elimination of the wasted volume under the sloping bottoms of a traditional hopper car?