Portal:Trains/Did you know/November 2015

November 2015

• ...that the Rocky Mountaineer Station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was originally built in 1954 as a locomotive repair shed for Canadian National Railway then converted to be the Rocky Mountaineer terminus in 2005?

• ...that the Rhônexpress tram service in Lyon, France, is independently operated and is not a part of the TCL system, although it appears on TCL maps?

• ...that the majority of lines for rail transport in Catalonia were built to 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in) gauge (Iberian gauge) to match the Spanish network, but some new lines were built to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) gauge (standard gauge) to match the European network with train gauge conversion facilities at Portbou and Roda de Barà stations?

• ...that the 15 in (381 mm) gauge Prater Liliputbahn in Vienna, Austria, was built in 1928 as part of the commemoration for composer Franz Schubert's death centennary?

• ...that the homestead site and grave of magician Richard Potter and his wife are located across the tracks from Potter Place Railroad Station in Andover, New Hampshire?

• ...that due to the distance between Erie Railroad's Pavonia Terminal and Hudson and Manhattan Railroad's (H&M) Erie station through inclined pedestrian tunnels, H&M installed a 277-foot long (84 m) moving sidewalk known as "the Speedwalk" in 1954, the first such moving walkway built in the United States?

• ...that in preparation for the redevelopment of Newmarket Railway Station in Auckland, New Zealand, the historically and architecturally significant old station building and signal box were removed from the site to an undisclosed storage location to prevent vandalism?

• ...that the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram, which opened in 1883, was the first electric tram and railway in Austria?

• ...that Caltrain's 22nd Street station, the only below-grade station in the Caltrain system, was known as 23rd Street station by Southern Pacific Railroad although the station's location has not changed?

• ...that Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue, on the New York City Subway's IND Rockaway Line, is the easternmost station in the system and as of 2014 the busiest of all subway stations in the Rockaway peninsula?

• ...that unlike the Madrid Metro rapid transit system to which it connects, the Metro Ligero de Madrid light rail system is in Spain operated with right-hand running?

• ...that tram route 86 in Melbourne, Australia, incorporates the route of the former Bourke Street cable lines, the last cable trams to operate in Melbourne?

• ...that although the Meishō Line in Japan was planned to connect Nabari (名張) and Matsusaka (松阪), from which kanji characters the line takes its name, the section from Ise-Okitsu to Nabari was never built, due to the prior completion of the present Kintetsu Osaka Line?

• ...that mechanical stokers were developed for steam locomotives as an aid to help move fuel from the tender to the firebox at a rate faster than the fireman could shovel, with the first practical versions installed in 1905 by the Pennsylvania Railroad?

• ...that more than 200 individual steam locomotives were purchased from Woodham Brothers scrapyard, Barry Island, Wales, for preservation in Great Britain?

• ...that after the Kosovo Train for Life carried humanitarian aid to Kosovo in 1999, some of the rolling stock, including Class 20 diesel locomotives 20903, 20901 and 20902 belonging to Direct Rail Services, remained in Kosovo for a while and were used for regular rail services?

• ...that before Long Island Rail Road opened the West Side Yard in 1987, trains arriving at Penn Station in New York City during the morning rush hour had to deadhead back to Long Island for midday storage?

• ...that following the 2009 death of Michael Jackson, New York City Councilwoman Letitia James advocated renaming Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station in Jackson's honor and hanging a plaque at the station to commemorate the filming of his video there, but met with resistance from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority?

• ...that Herbesthal Railway Station was opened in 1843 at the border of Belgium and Prussia and became the oldest railway station frontier crossing in the world?

• ...that Gyumri Railway Station originally opened in 1897, making it the oldest railway station in Armenia?

• ...that the phenomenon known as ground vibration boom made by high-speed trains on certain ground conditions and first observed in Sweden in 1997, represents a major environmental problem associated with building new high-speed railway lines?