Portal:Trains/Did you know/May 2005

A Fairlie steam locomotive

...that in early Fairlie steam locomotive designs, both boilers shared a common firebox?

Rochelle Railroad Park sign

...that Rochelle Railroad Park is a public park operated by the city of Rochelle, Illinois, where railfans can safely observe passing UP and BNSF trains on the two railroad's double-track mainlines?

Shinkansen 0 Series at Fukuyama in 2002

...that construction on Japan's first Shinkansen route, the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka, began in 1959?

The Forth Bridge

...that the Forth Bridge across Scotland's Firth of Forth is 2.5 km (1.5 miles) long and the rail tracks it carries are 46 m (approx. 150 ft) above the Firth's high tide?

Unloading sheep from a stock car c. 1916

...that Alonzo C. Mather was awarded a medal by the American Humane Society in 1883 for the humane treatment of livestock carried in stock cars he designed?
...that ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways) operated steam locomotives until retiring the last one in 1978?
...that all Tranz Metro passenger trains operated by Toll NZ (in New Zealand) connect to the capital, Wellington
...that the Iowa Interstate Railroad is dispatched not by centralized traffic control, but by track warrants?
...that most of the railroad lines operated by the Taiwan Railway Administration are fully electrified?
...that the Channel Tunnel (sometimes called the "Chunnel") under the English Channel is the second longest railway tunnel in the world?
...that the British Columbia Railway used Budd Rail Diesel Cars for passenger train service until October 31, 2002?

Cecil Rhodes and Africa

...that plans begun in the mid-19th century for a Cape-Cairo railway across Africa are still under consideration?

a fish car

...that a fish car is a specialized type of stock car designed to carry live fish?

LNER Mallard

...that LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard set the speed record for steam locomotives on July 3, 1938, at 126 mph (203 km/h)?

a covered hopper

...that a covered hopper, although very similar to a hopper car, is normally used to carry loads that are susceptible to the weather (like cement or kaolin clay) or that are less dense (like corn, wheat or barley)?
...that Showmen's Rest in Forest Park, Illinois is a 750 plot section of Woodlawn Cemetery where members of a circus troupe were interred following the Hammond circus train wreck in 1918?
...that the load carried in a Schnabel car makes up part of the car structure itself?
...that to advertise the Southern Belle passenger train service inauguration, the Kansas City Southern Railway held a beauty contest to find Miss Southern Belle?