Portal:Trains/Did you know/November 2018

November 2018

RENFE AVE and SNCF TGV trains at Figueres Vilafant station in 2013

• ...that the Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line, which fully opened in 2013, is the first rail connection between Spain and the rest of Europe constructed without a break-of-gauge?

portrait drawing of Charles Elliott Perkins circa 1910

• ...that as president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in the late 19th century, Charles Elliott Perkins pushed for dual routes through market territories to keep his competitors out?

Penrith station in 2011

• ...that the Platform 3 building at Penrith railway station in Sydney, Australia, dates from 1863?

PRR 5549, the last of the T1 class locomotives built for Pennsylvania Railroad, on display in 1949

• ...that work is underway to construct Pennsylvania Railroad T1 class locomotive number 5550, which would become only extant example of the class when completed?

A MARC train on the Penn Line at Odenton station in 2014

• ...that the Penn Line, which derives its name from the former Pennsylvania Railroad, is MARC's busiest line and its only electric line?

The City Island Railroad's 'Flying Lady' circa 1910

• ...that between 1910 and 1914, the City Island Railroad in the Bronx operated a monorail named The Flying Lady?

The remains of PD Draw bridge in 2007

• ...that in October 1970, in what was called an act of sabotage, a 22-car freight train that included five locomotives was secretly assembled at the nearby rail yard and intentionally let plunge from PD Draw bridge into the Passaic River?

One of the columns on the platform at PATH's Newport station in 2005

• ...that the 'E' engraved on the platform pillars of PATH's Newport station in New Jersey stand for Erie Railroad and the station's former connection to Erie's Pavonia Terminal which closed in 1958?

The platforms and tracks at Paul Avenue station as seen from a passing train in 2005

• ...that Caltrain service reductions at Paul Avenue station in San Francisco began soon after publication of a 1982 study recommending its closure?

A PATrain train at Pittsburgh in 1985

• ...that although PATrain service between Pittsburgh and Versailles, Pennsylvania, was twice as fast as comparable bus service, it was discontinued in 1989 due to declining ridership and increasing operating losses?

Postcard view of the original Passaic Park station circa 1914

• ...that the city of Passaic, New Jersey, held hearings in 1917 where the Board of Public Utility Commissioners testified that the design and layout of Erie Railroad's Passaic Park station was inconvenient for a majority of passengers using it?

Parnell Tunnel southern portal, showing the current double-track line and the former single-track tunnel entrance in 2011

• ...that there is a proposal to re-open the original Parnell Tunnel in New Zealand to pedestrians and cyclists, as part of cycleway projects in the area?

Interior of an Amtrak parlor car in 2009

• ...that author H. L. Mencken called the parlor car "the best investment open to an American"?

Logo of the United States Military Railway Service

• ...that in the original 1920s documentation for the United States Military Railway Service, all Class I railroad companies were to create a battalion for the war effort making up 11 Grand Divisions and 46 operating battalions?

A double-stack container train of the Panama Canal Railway in 2007

• ...that the Panama Canal Railway, now paralleled by the Panama Canal, was opened in 1855 to help the United States handle the vast increase in passenger and freight traffic to California following the 1849 Gold Rush?

A Baldwin-built 4-6-0 and a passenger train at Haifa station in 1931

• ...that until 1933 import freight and rolling stock for Palestine Railways (PR) was shipped through Port Said in Egypt and ferried across the Suez Canal between the Egyptian State Railways and PR stations on opposite banks at El Kantara?

A Palembang light rail car in July 2018

• ...that the Palembang Light Rail Transit system in Indonesia was originally proposed in 2012 as a 25-kilometre long (16 mi) monorail line?

An Inverclyde Line service to Glasgow Central departs Paisley Gilmour Street station in 2012

• ...that after Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley, and Glasgow Queen Street, Paisley Gilmour Street is the fourth busiest railway station in Scotland?