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Portal:Trains/Intro/Image, month 04, 2023

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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 (multiple units).

As of 2018^[update], there are approximately 1,052,000 kilometres (654,000 mi) of railway track in use worldwide. (World Bank (via Archive.org))

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Selected article of the week

Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 17, 2023

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Selected image of the week

Portal:Trains/Selected picture/Week 17, 2023

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Did you know...

...that the opening ceremonies of the Galway to Clifden railway were very sparsely attended because the event date was a strict church holiday and was reserved for attending church services?
...that following heavy damage to the Galveston Island Trolley track and cars from Hurricane Ike in 2008, substitute service with replica buses was operated until service resumed in October 2021?
...that although the former Santa Fe Railway's Galesburg station was demolished after regular passenger service to the station ended in 1996, the site is still used if derailments cause trains to use the Chillicothe Subdivision instead of the Mendota Subdivision?
...that the Fuzhou–Xiamen railway, which opened in 2010, was so heavily used that it reached capacity in 2015, spurring construction on the parallel Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed railway for CRH passenger train services?

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Selected anniversaries

April 25

1831 – Matthias W. Baldwin displays a model steam locomotive at the Philadelphia City Museum a year before building his first full-size locomotive for a working railroad.
1937 – Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue passenger train is re-equipped with cars rebuilt in the B&O's company shops.
1997 – Construction begins on Phase II of Manchester Metrolink in Manchester, England.
2005 – A JR West commuter train derails and strikes an apartment building in Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan, killing 106 and injuring more than 460 others; see Amagasaki rail crash (pictured).

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Train News

July 24, 2021 – Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe No. 2926, a 4-8-4 steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1944, moves under its own power for the first time since Christmas Eve of 1953, after nearly twenty-two years of being rebuilt by volunteers. The locomotive will be put into mainline excursion service. (NMSL&RHS, Trains Magazine on Facebook)
May 5, 2021 – Steamtown National Historic Site completes thorough cosmetic overhaul on Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4012, which is moved back on static display before National Train Day. (NEPA Scene)
April 2, 2021 – 2021 Hualien train derailment – A Taroko Express train operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) derails at the north entrance of Qingshui Tunnel in Heren Section, Xiulin Township, Hualien County, Taiwan, killing 49 people and injuring at least 200 others. North of Hualien City a construction truck had fallen down a slope onto the tracks. The eight-carriage train derailed after colliding with the truck, and then came to a rest in the tunnel, with severe damage and many casualties. (Bloomberg, CNN, CNA, New York Times, Financial Times)

December 31, 2020 – Following a complete restoration, Chesapeake and Ohio 1309, a 2-6-6-2 Mallet locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1949, the last steam locomotive built by Baldwin for the North American market, is operated under its own power for test runs. When returned to service on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, it will be the largest steam locomotive in regular scheduled service in the United States and take 2-8-0 No. 734’s place as the largest active steam locomotive in the state of Maryland. (Trains.com Newswire)

September 28, 2020 – Amtrak operates a test run using one of the 28 new Avelia Liberty trains manufactured by Alstom along the full length of the Northeast Corridor to Boston South Station. Previous test runs had occurred from Washington, D.C., only as far north as New Jersey and Delaware. Barring any problems, the trains are expected to enter regular service on the route in 2021. (Universal Hub)

June 13, 2020 – The Bay Area Rapid Transit Silicon Valley BART extension opened its stations in Milpitas and North San Jose. (San Jose Spotlight, SF Gate)

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General images

The following are images from various train-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Second-class compartment of a China Railways CRH1A-A train (from Train)
Image 2Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 3The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power (from Train)
Image 4A narrow gauge battery-electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 5Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 6A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 7Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 8A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 9A London Underground battery-electric locomotive at West Ham station used for hauling engineers' trains (from Locomotive)
Image 10A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 11Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 12Union Pacific 18, a gas turbine-electric locomotive preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum (from Locomotive)
Image 13A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 14A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 15China operates an extensive high speed rail network (from Train)
Image 16VR Class Tk3 steam locomotive in the town of Kokkola in Central Ostrobothnia, Finland (from Locomotive)
Image 17US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 18A passenger car from the Taiwan Railways Administration (from Railroad car)
Image 19A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 20A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars (from Train)
Image 21Wainwright SECR Class P on the Bluebell Railway, England (from Locomotive)
Image 22The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 23The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 24A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 25Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 26British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 27A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 28This cab car includes a horn (top), a bell (top right), headlights (above the door), classification lights (red lights on side), and ditch lights (white lights on side) (from Train)
Image 29Bombardier ALP-45DP at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 30World's first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel-electric locomotive) for long distances SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 31Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 32Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 33Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both pantograph and contact shoes (from Locomotive)
Image 34Škoda Artic light rail train near the cathedral in Tampere, Finland (from Train)
Image 35Smaller local hydraulic "dowty retarders" finesse the speed of a car being sorted as it approaches a switch or the new consists to which it is being joined. (from Rail yard)
Image 36A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 37A large Amtrak and Metra coach yard in Chicago, Illinois. About 25 percent of all rail traffic in the United States travels through the Chicago area. (from Rail yard)
Image 38Variety of rolling stock in rail yard (from Rolling stock)
Image 39Pacific National diesel locomotives in Australia showing three body types, cab unit (front), hood unit (middle) and box cab (rear) (from Locomotive)
Image 40A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom. (from Railroad car)
Image 41Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 42A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 43The Locomotion No. 1 at Darlington Railway Centre and Museum (from Locomotive)
Image 44An early Diesel-mechanical locomotive at the North Alabama Railroad Museum (from Locomotive)
Image 45An interior of a S7 Stock in London. (from Railroad car)
Image 46The 1902 Maudslay Petrol Locomotive (from Locomotive)
Image 47The New Orleans Streetcar System is one of the oldest in the world (from Train)
Image 48A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 49Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 50Trevithick's 1802 locomotive (from Locomotive)
Image 51Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 52Steam locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 53The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service (from Train)
Image 54Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons (from Train)
Image 55A hump classification type of yard. The camera is positioned near where cars are decoupled and begin to accelerate downhill past a scale. The speed regulation (retarder brakes and speed sensors) devices shown in the foreground adjust the car speed for the calculated soft-coupling on arrival along the sorting track for the consist it is being routed to join. (from Rail yard)
Image 56This map of Cedar Hill Yard in Connecticut shows a variety of different facilities, including receiving yards, departure yards, classification yards, and a repair yard. (from Rail yard)
Image 57A German DB Class V 200 diesel-hydraulic locomotive at Technikmuseum, Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 58A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London. (from Railroad car)