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Portals → Technology → Transport → Trains
In rail transport, a train is a vehicle or (more frequently) a string of vehicles capable of being moved along a continuous line of rails or other guideway for the purpose of conveying freight or passengers between points on a predetermined route. The train may be hauled or propelled by one or more vehicles designed exclusively for that purpose (locomotives) or may be driven by a number of motors incorporated in all or several of the vehicles. |
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Rail transport • Operations • Stations • Trains • Locomotives • Rolling stock • History/Timeline • Rail terminology • By country • Disasters • Modelling
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The A2 class was an express passenger steam locomotive that ran on Victorian Railways (VR) in Australia from 1907 to 1963. A highly successful design entirely the work of Victorian Railways' own design office, its long service life was repeatedly extended as economic depression and war delayed the introduction of more modern and powerful replacement locomotives. The introduction of the A2 class marked a turning point in Victorian Railways locomotive design, as it was entirely designed by VR engineers of the newly established Locomotive Design Section and the entire class built in-house at Victorian Railways workshops. For over forty years, the A2 was the main express passenger locomotive on the VR, hauling intrastate and interstate services. With a maximum permitted speed of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) the A2 was instrumental in the acceleration of timetables on many lines in the years following its introduction. They famously ran the Geelong Flier service (the first "named" train in Victoria) slashing journey times between Melbourne and Geelong from 90 minutes to 63 and finally 55 minutes, a time not significantly improved upon until the introduction of 100 mph (160 km/h) Regional Fast Rail services in 2006. In 1951 the A2 was finally superseded. In 1953, no fewer than 53 A2s went to scrap, followed by 36 more in 1954. However, many of the class continued on in secondary roles such as branch line passenger and goods services and a number lasted into the 1960s. Their last regular mainline duty was hauling services between Flinders Street Station and Leongatha, on the South Gippsland line. The last in service, A2 986, was withdrawn on 2 December 1963, exactly 56 years after the original A2 572 entered service.
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The viaduct at Vecchio, 140 metres (459 ft) long and 94 m (308 ft 5 in) high, designed by Gustave Eiffel, is one of 51 bridges and viaducts on the Chemins de fer de Corse on the island of Corsica.
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- ...that the Gresley conjugated valve gear is a type of valve gear for steam locomotives, designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and Harold Holcroft, which enables a three-cylinder locomotive to operate with only two sets of valve gear for the outside cylinders, using levers connected to them to derive the valve motion for the third cylinder?
- ...that only one of the once-numerous Chinese narrow gauge railways, the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3⅜ in) gauge Kunming-Hekou Railway, remains in the national network and it is expected to be converted to standard gauge soon?
- ...that the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail link in Scotland is expected to open on 19 May 2008 and will relieve congestion on the Forth Bridge, using the previously closed Kincardine Line and Stirling and Dunfermline Railway to provide an alternative route via the north shore of the River Forth?
- ...that Poland's Pm36 class of steam locomotives included one example, prototype Pm36-1, which was exhibited and won a gold medal at the International Exposition of Art and Technology in Paris in 1937?
- 1869 – The first trains operate the entire length of the First Transcontinental Railroad in North America traveling between Omaha, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California.
- 1882 – Lehrter Stadtbahnhof (pictured), the precursor to the current Berlin Hauptbahnhof, opens in Germany.
- 1936 – The first City of Los Angeles passenger train makes its debut, using the streamliner trainset M-10002, running from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, on the Chicago and North Western Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad.
- 2004 – With repairs to tunnels 8 and 16 complete and destroyed bridges rebuilt, including the Goat Canyon Trestle, the Carrizo Gorge Railway officially reopens freight service to Plaster City and the Union Pacific Railroad interchange.
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| Europe | Albania · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Croatia · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Georgia · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Ireland · Italy · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · United Kingdom (Great Britain · Northern Ireland · Scotland · Wales) |
| Middle East | Iran · Israel · Saudi Arabia |
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April 29 – Germany's proposed plan to sell 24.9% of shares in Deutsche Bahn (DB) to private investors moves closer to adoption when the Grand Coalition of stakeholders reaches an agreement. The plan has been criticized by some economists as a potential danger to minimum wages and pensions. The latest agreement limits the shares to be sold to business units that involve train operations, while station and infrastructure management will remain controlled by the state. The sale's estimated value is between €6 billion and €8 billion. (Bloomberg)
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April 28 – Wrexham & Shropshire begins operating passenger services between London, the West Midlands, Shropshire and east Wales, serving one of the only counties in England without a long-distance rail service. Initially using Class 67 locomotives, trains are scheduled to run five times daily with stops at ten stations between the route's endpoints. (BBC) (Wrexham & Shropshire)
- April 28 – 71 people were killed and 416 injured today when a passenger train from Beijing careered off the rails and slammed into another train in eastern China. Ruling out terrorism, the official Xinhua news agency said preliminary investigations found human error was to blame, without elaborating. The train was travelling to Qingdao - the coastal city that will host the Olympic sailing competition in August - when it derailed, causing the other train to leave the tracks too. The rail accident, the worst in China in more than a decade, happened near the city of Zibo in Shandong province, Xinhua said. (China View)
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April 25 – In a meeting between Chinese and Nepalese officials, the Chinese delegation announces that country's intention to extend the Qingzang railway from Lhasa to Khasha on the Nepalese border. Nepal had requested that the railway be extended to enable trade and tourism between the two nations. Construction of the extension is planned to be completed by 2013. (Zee News)
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April 24 – Lena Guerrero, the first woman and the first hispanic person to serve on the Texas Railroad Commission dies. She was appointed to the commission by Texas Governor Ann Richards, but lost a subsequent election after it became known that she had lied about holding a degree from the University of Texas. Her death followed a long bout with cancer that was diagnosed in 2000. (AP/CBS11)
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April 23 – Bulgaria's National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC) announces that it has been awarded a €580 million grant from the European Union's Operative Program "Transport" to improve railway lines in the country. The amount of the grant to NRIC is the second largest portion of the funds, with the largest amount going to Bulgaria's Republic Road Infrastructure Fund. The funds will be used to improve railway lines connecting Sofia with the Danube valley region and to the border with Turkey, which is hoped to allow train speeds up to 200 km/h (120 mph). (China View)
WikiProject Trains (Shortcut: WP:TWP)
- WikiProject Stations (WP:STA)
- WikiProject Streetcars (WP:TRAM)
- WikiProject Rapid transit (WP:RTPJ)
- By region:
- Fictional rail transport topics:
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See also Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/Todo |
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