Portal:Trains/Did you know/April 2007

...that British Railways standard class 9F heavy freight locomotive No. 92220 was the last steam locomotive built for British Railways and was named Evening Star at a special ceremony in 1960?

...that Hell station in Norway (the town name being derived from the old Norse word "hellir", meaning "cave") features a sign for "Gods Expedition" (meaning goods/cargo transport) that based on its entirely different English meaning has become a popular photographic subject for English-speaking visitors?

...that DUEWAG AG built virtually all vehicles for West Germany's tram and light rail network since the 1960s and remained a major manufacturer of railway vehicles until being bought and subsequently dissolved by Siemens AG in 1999?

...that "The Tsar's finger", a deviation on the Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway along an otherwise straight route, takes its name from an urban legend that claims it is the result of Russian railway engineers faithfully copying the route Tsar Nicholas I of Russia selected by ruling a straight line on a map and accidentally drawing around his finger?

...that portions of the Portland and Western Railroad system in the Portland, Oregon, metro area are currently being planned for conversion to commuter rail operations by area transit operator, TriMet?

...that the Rosstown Railway in Australia, a private railway built to service a sugar beet mill that never went into production, reportedly only ever carried one train (other than construction and ballast trains) between its construction in 1888 and dismantling in 1916?

...that although Iraq shares borders with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Iran, the Iraqi Republic Railways' only international interchange is with Chemins de fer Syriens (Syrian Railways)?

...that the Victoria Falls Bridge, which carries the only rail link between Zambia and Zimbabwe and passes the famous Victoria Falls, is today used not only to carry rail traffic but also for bungee jumping?

...that the first NTrak modules were displayed at the 1973 Model Railroad Industry Association show in Costa Mesa, California and were then displayed at the National Model Railroad Association's 1974 national convention in San Diego?
...that HO scale model trains were first introduced in the United Kingdom in the 1930s, originally as an alternative to OO scale?
...that the German company Trix began producing electrically powered model trains under the brand name "Trix Express" in 1935?
...that the goal of train shunting puzzles can be to shunt the cars making the minimum number of couplings and uncouplings, or making the minimum number of junction direction changes, or completing the puzzle within a specified time limit?