Portal:Trains/Did you know/November 2017

November 2017

A train on the Guizhou–Guangxi Railway in 2008

...that from 2004 to 2009, the Guizhou–Guangxi Railway was rebuilt to add tunnels and bridges in place of switchbacks over mountainous terrain, reducing the line's length from 607 km (377 mi) to 489 km (304 mi)?

Grimsby & Immingham tram 26 preserved at Beamish Museum in 2012

...that the majority of the Grimsby and Immingham Electric Railway fleet, at 43 feet 8 inches (16.51 metres) overall length, were by far the largest British trams until modern times?

Gresham Central Transit Center in 2011

...that Gresham Central Transit Center in Oregon originally opened as a bus-only transit center in 1981 in the form of multiple bus stops?

An Abellio Greater Anglia liveried class 90 hauling the Norwich to London intercity express service at Stratford station in 2014

...that in 2013, Abellio Greater Anglia was named train operator of the year, but a survey in February 2014 by the consumer group Which? found that customer satisfaction of Abellio Greater Anglia was at last place out of 20 train operators?

A preserved GWR 2884 Class steam locomotive with power and weight classification markings

...that Great Western Railway's locomotive Power and Weight Classification system developed in the 1920s was continued in use by the Western Region of British Railways?

"Train Robbers' Bridge" in 2013, so named as it was the scene of the 1963 robbery

...that the perpetrators of the 1963 Great Train Robbery on the UK's West Coast Main Line planned the heist with inside information from an individual known as "The Ulsterman" who was not named until 2014?

Railway shop workers leaving their workplace to strike in 1922

...that United States Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty sensationally charged strikers in the Great Railroad Strike of 1922 with conducting "a conspiracy worthy of Lenin and Zinoviev"?

Great Northern Railway logo on a locomotive in 1968

...that the logo used by Great Northern Railway in the United States, depicting a Rocky Mountain goat, was based on a goat William Kenney, one of the railroads presidents, had used to haul newspapers as a boy?

The Fintona horse tram circa 1930

...that Great Northern Railway (Ireland) operated the 1-mile long (1.6 km) Fintona horse tram as a branch line from Fintona Junction until 1957?

The main entrance of Rosa Parks RER station in 2015

...that Rosa-Parks Station is in France?

A GNER train at Kings Cross station in 2007

...that in the bid for the East Coast franchise, Great North Eastern Railway noted the similarity between its initials, GNER, and those of the line's former operator, London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), and that two of LNER's predecessors were the GNR and the GER?

The preserved body of a suburban passenger car built by the Great Eastern Railway in 1892

...that the Great Eastern Railway in England made every effort to maximise the capacity of its suburban carriages to deal with the rise in usage, including cutting some cars in half longitudinally and inserting a section to make them wider?

Lever frame of Everglades Junction

...that the lever frames controlling signals and switches on the ridable miniature Great Cockcrow Railway originally controlled Crewe South junction, South Croydon junction and the Waterloo terminus of the Waterloo & City line?

Aftermath of the 1906 Grantham accident

...that the Grantham rail accident of 1906 has been described as "the railway equivalent of the mystery of the Marie [sic] Celeste" because no explanation has been determined for why the train did not stop at Grantham station?

Diagram of tracks at a grand union

...that a grand union junction consists of 88 frogs (where one rail crosses another rail), and 32 switchpoints (point blades) if single-point switches are not used?

System map of Grand Trunk Railway in 1901

...that in addition to the Central Vermont Railway, Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and Grand Trunk Western Railroad, Grand Trunk Railway chartered but never built a fourth subsidiary in 1910, the Southern New England Railway, to connect to the deep-water, all-weather port of Providence, Rhode Island?

Postcard showing the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad's Northland Limited

...that facing decreasing lumber business in the 1880s, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad in Michigan marketed itself as "The Fishing Line" to attract tourists?

An AB6 locomotive in suburban service in Joliet in 1966

...that Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad commissioned construction of the EMC AB6 locomotive specifically for use on separate sections of the railroad's Rocky Mountain Rocket passenger train service?

A pair of EMUs in Southern livery operated by Govia Thameslink Railway in 2016

...that the addition of Southern and Gatwick Express as part of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) in July 2015, made GTR it the largest train operating company franchise in terms of passengers, staff and fleet in the UK?

Goudhurst station in the 1900s

...that shortly before it was closed in 1961, Goudhurst railway station in Kent, England, achieved some degree of fame when it appeared in the 1950s children's television series "The Old Pull and Push"?

A train on the Goole swing bridge in 2003

...that in the latter part of the 20th century, the Goole railway swing bridge in England became known for the frequent incidents involving ship collisions with the superstructure?

A tram crossing the bridge above Goodwood station in 2010

...that the bridge carrying the current Glenelg tram line over Goodwood railway station was built during a track gauge conversion of that line from broad gauge to standard gauge in 1929?

A train on the Göltzsch Viaduct in 2014

...that the 574-metre long (1,883 ft), 78-metre tall (256 ft) Göltzsch Viaduct in Germany is the largest brick-built bridge in the world, and for a time it was the tallest railway bridge in the world?

Göhrde station circa 1900

...that the station at Breese am Seißelberge, Lower Saxony, was renamed in 1875 to Staatsbahnhof Göhrde because of its importance to the imperial hunts which took place from 1871 to 1913 in the state forest of Göhrde?

The Glasgow Bridge Street station building in 2008

...that opposition to bridging the River Clyde in the 19th century by Glasgow Corporation, the Clyde Navigation Trustees, the Bridge Trustees, and by the Admiralty kept Bridge Street station as a terminal station for nearly 30 years?