April 2018

• ...that the LGV Est line connecting Paris to eastern France was used as the test track to set a new world speed record at 574.8 km/h (159.6 m/s, 357.2 mph) in 2007?

• ...that during World War II, the new London Underground tunnels at Leytonstone tube station were used as an aircraft component factory with the part closest to Leytonstone being used as a public air raid shelter?

• ...that as part of the door to door concept of public transportation, in 2015 the Czech open-access train operator Leo Express announced a partnership with Uber in major cities?

• ...that preceding the Leipzig City Tunnel completed in 2013, the Saxon State Railway had planned and partially built a tunnel to Bayerischer Bahnhof in 1915?

• ...that with the exception of the curve at Mauch Chunk, the original line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad from Mauch Chunk to Easton had no curve of less than 700-foot (210 m) radius?

• ...that the two narrow gauge, outside-cylindered 2-6-4Ts, built by Kitson & Co. for the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway were the first 2-6-4T locomotives to run in Britain?

• ...that while traveling to Terre Haute, Indiana, on behalf of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in February 1875, Joshua A. Leach inspired the 19-year old Eugene V. Debs to become active in the organization, starting him on a career as a trade union organizer?

• ...that following successful trials of London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's first J1 class 4-6-2T steam locomotive, construction of the second locomotive was delayed because its designer went on extended sick leave?

• ...that the 284-metre long (932 ft) Langwieser Viaduct, which opened in 1914, was the world's first railway bridge to be constructed of reinforced concrete?

• ...that Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited was the last train to use the decaying Buffalo Central Terminal, departing on October 28, 1979?

• ...that the La Brugeoise cars introduced in 1913 on the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company's first underground line were originally designed to run both as metro and tramway cars?

• ...that the nose of L0 Series maglev trains being developed by Central Japan Railway Company extends 15 metres (49 ft) for better aerodynamics and reduced noise in tunnels?

• ...that the two 21+1⁄2-by-26-inch (546 mm × 660 mm) inside cylinders on Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Class 32 0-8-2T steam locomotives were the largest in size of any non-compound engine in England?

• ...that New York City Subway's L service is the first in the system to be automated using communications-based train control?

• ...that a special track was installed at Southern Pacific Railroad's locomotive facility in Roseville, California, to service the imported Krauss-Maffei ML-4000 diesel–hydraulic locomotives purchased in the 1960s?

• ...that a HEMU-430X train, the next model train for Korea Train eXpress, achieved 421.4 km/h in 2013, making South Korea the fourth country in the world to develop a high-speed train running on conventional rail above 420 km/h?

• ...that when the Koralm Railway construction in Austria is completed, the railway is expected to reduce travel time from Klagenfurt to Graz from three hours to 45 minutes?

• ...that when British Railways discontinued passenger services on the former Kent and East Sussex Railway in 1954, four different locomotives were used on the last passenger train?