Portal:Trains/Did you know/June 2005

...that the 4-6-0 steam locomotive used to power the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter series of films is used in regular operation on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway?
...that only one example of a 4-14-4 steam locomotive was ever built, and that the Russian railways that tested it found it unsuitable for continued use?

...that many examples of the EMD GP30, the first of General Motors Electro-Motive Division's "second generation" diesel locomotive models which were built between 1961 and 1963, are still in operation today?

...that dual gauge track can be used to accommodate both narrow gauge and standard gauge trains on the same right of way?

...that Citytrain, a division of QR in Brisbane, Australia, carries an average of 142,000 passengers on each weekday, and averages 873,000 passengers per week?

...that Clapham Junction in southwest London, England, is reputed to be the busiest train station in all of Europe?

...that a wye is a track configuration that allows entire trains to be turned around easily?

...that the Chicago and North Western Railway was one of only a few railroads in the United States that ran "left hand main" on double track mainlines (the normal direction of travel was to use the track on the left)?
...that in 1933 six engineers from the British railcar manufacturing firm Metropolitan-Vickers were arrested in Russia and found guilty on charges of espionage?

...that Henry Kirke Porter, who founded the steam locomotive manufacturing firm H. K. Porter, Inc, was President of the Pittsburgh YMCA from 1868 to 1887 and President of the Western Pennsylvania Institute for the Blind in 1904?
...that the unified paint scheme developed for the failed Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad merger between the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Santa Fe Railroad has been dubbed Kodachrome by railfans because of the colors the railroads chose?

...that CountryLink's XPT is the fastest regular passenger train service in New South Wales, Australia?

...that Maersk is currently the largest intermodal container operator in the world?

...that cabooses on most freight trains in North America have been supplanted by flashing rear end devices that automatically monitor air brake pressure?

...that enthusiasts of rail transport, railfans (US), are also sometimes called trainspotters (UK), ferroequinologists (US), foamers (US) or gunzels (Australia)?

...that the Orient Express, which began carrying passengers between Paris, France, and Istanbul, Turkey, in 1883, made its last run on May 19, 1977?

...that Isambard Kingdom Brunel is credited as the person who set the Great Western Railway's gauge at 7 ft 0¼ in (2140 mm) rather than what has come to be known as standard gauge, 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm)?

...that the first regularly operating Magnetic levitation train in the world, which opened in 2002 and operates between Shanghai, China, and Pudong International Airport, has a top speed of 430 km/h (269 mph)?

...that after World War II, in the History of rail transport in Germany, the German railway system was split into Deutsche Reichsbahn in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and Deutsche Bundesbahn in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)?
...that the prominent steam locomotive manufacturer ALCO also built automobiles from 1906 until 1913 under the direction of plant manager Walter P. Chrysler?

...that a Pendolino is a type of tilting train used in Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Czech Republic and now the United Kingdom to increase passenger train speeds on some routes?

...that, at 410,000 m² (4,413,200 ft²) Nagoya Station in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Japan, is the world's largest train station by floor size?

...that Swift Refrigerator Line, founded by Gustavus Franklin Swift, was formed in 1880 because American railroads didn't want to buy refrigerator cars and subsequently lose their investments in stock cars?

...that the Disneyland Monorail System, which opened June 14, 1959, is the first monorail system to operate on a daily schedule in the western hemisphere?