Portal:Trains/Did you know/February 2022

February 2022

The main entrance to the El Tovar Hotel in the early 1900s

• ...that the El Tovar Hotel, built on the south rim of the Grand Canyon by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, helped inspire the National Park Service Rustic architectural style?

Preserved RSD-1 from the Eglin Air Force Base Railroad, at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in 2006

• ...that German POWs were used in clearing and grading the track alignment of the Eglin Air Force Base Railroad during World War II?

An example of an Edmonson ticket for passage on an LMS train in the 1930s

• ...that the Edmondson railway ticket system was used by railways in the United Kingdom from its introduction in the 1840s until British Rail completely ceased its use in February 1990, replacing it with the standard APTIS orange card tickets?

A Bluebell Railway train at the new East Grinstead platform in 2013

• ...that in the 1990s, J Sainsbury plc tried to block the Bluebell Railway's access to a proposed new station area at East Grinstead railway station by proposing an extension to the supermarket's own parking lot?

An E235-0 series train on the Yamanote Line in 2019

• ...that the window behind the drivers cab of JR East's new E235 series trains introduced in 2015 has been lowered so children can get a better view of the operator of the cars?

Ex-Milwaukee streetcar 846 on the East Troy Electric Railroad in 2006

• ...that the East Troy Electric Railroad's reporting mark of METW is based on "Municipality of East Troy Wisconsin Railroad", the former official name of the railroad?

Sir Alexander Valentine in 1964

• ...that Alexander Valentine was a member of the London Plan Working Party helping to plan the route of the Victoria line in 1946-48, then as a member of the London Transport Executive board after 1948, argued for the abandonment of Trams in London?

BR/GEC Class 91 of East Coast in their livery at Kings Cross in 2012

• ...that East Coast's plain silver livery was intentionally styled so that future operators of the franchise could easily apply their own branding following their takeover of operations?

Chūō–Sōbu Line 10-car E231-500 series set A545 in March 2021

• ...that the E231-500 series trains operating on Yamanote Line services were delivered with bench seats that were folded up until 10 a.m. on weekdays to provide standing room only during the morning peak?

East Brixton station in 1963

• ...that proposals have been forwarded to reopen East Brixton railway station due to its location almost exactly in the middle between the Victoria line's Brixton tube station and Thameslink's Loughborough Junction station?

An E7 Series Shinkansen on a preview run in February 2015

• ...that in November 2021, JR East demonstrated autonomous operation of an E7 Series Shinkansen in Niigata prefecture?

The renovated platform at Dyckman Street station in 2013

• ...that the 2010 renovation plans for New York City Subway's Dyckman Street station did not include an elevator for accessibility until the United Spinal Association filed suit?

The Dumbarton bridge in July 2021

• ...that the Dumbarton Rail Bridge, which is planned to be reopened as part of the Dumbarton Rail Corridor, was the first bridge constructed across San Francisco Bay?

Burlington promotional photo of the new Denver Zephyr 10-car train

• ...that on October 23, 1936, one of the new ten-car Denver Zephyr trainsets made a special run nonstop from Chicago to Denver in an effort to break the 1934 record of the Pioneer Zephyr between the two cities?

Duluth & Northern Minnesota Railroad No. 14 at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in July 2017

• ...that Duluth and Northern Minnesota Railroad steam locomotive number 14, now preserved at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, was the last steam locomotive operated in regular service in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan?

An 1872 drawing of the Duisburg-Hochfeld Railway Bridge with the train ferry it replaced in the foreground

• ...that Prussian military opposition the building of fixed bridges across the Rhine delayed construction of the Duisburg-Hochfeld Railway Bridge for several years?

Portrait drawing of Robert Davidson circa 1900

• ...that the first known electric locomotive was built by Scottish inventor Robert Davidson in 1837?