December 2015

• ...that two wood-burning 2-6-0T locomotives named Durban and Pietermaritzburg built by Kitson and Company in 1876 were the first Cape gauge locomotives to enter service in Natal (a former colony within present-day South Africa)?

• ...that New Haven's EP-1 class electric locomotives had to support two electric systems and three collection methods so were built with two sets of pantographs, one for AC and one for DC collection, and a contact shoe for third rail operation?

• ...that New Delhi railway station, the main railway station in Delhi, is the busiest and largest railway station in India serving more than 350 trains and 500,000 passengers daily?

• ...that at the time of their introduction in 1914, Norfolk and Western Railway's LC-1 class electric locomotives were both the largest and heaviest electric locomotives in the United States?

• ...that the valves for the inside cylinders of LSWR's prototype T7 class 4-2-2-0 locomotive were operated by Stephenson valve gear while the valves for the outside cylinders were operated by Joy valve gear?

• ...that as of 2015, more than 3,500 examples of Bombardier Transportation's Flexity family of trams are in regular operation in 100 cities in 20 countries worldwide?

• ...that at the apex of services in the history of the Staten Island Railway, passenger lines went to the southern, eastern, and northern shores of Staten Island, but service has since been reduced to one line along the east side of the borough?

• ...that DB Class 611 diesel multiple unit trains were built with an electrically-actuated tilting system rather than the more common hydraulic system, and since the class's introduction in 1996, the tilting system has been disabled citing safety concerns for much of the time?

• ...that when the first Château series and Park series cars were delivered by Budd in 1954, the two cars were sent on a cross-Canada publicity tour promoting the new equipment for the Canadian and Dominion trains?

• ...that during the planning for Busan Metro Line 3, Line 4 was proposed as Phase 2 of Line 3's construction?

• ...that the Choshi Electric Railway 2000 series EMU cars introduced in 2010 are upgraded former Iyo Railway 800 series EMU cars which were themselves converted from former Keio Corporation 2010 series EMUs built in 1962?

• ...that three of Cape Government Railways Western System's 3rd Class 4-4-0 locomotives of 1883 were converted from Joy to Stephenson valve gear and although this improved their performance, the modification was not carried out on any of the other locomotives of the class?

• ...that despite enjoying a successful service life on Buenos Aires Underground's Line D, the 100 Series trains are the noisiest on the network?

• ...that when Brussels-Congress railway station opened in 1952, it served as a ventilation shaft for the subterranean North–South connection through Brussels, Belgium?

• ...that the experimental monorail Boynton Bicycle Railroad operated for several weeks in 1890 with services between the Gravesend and Coney Island areas of Brooklyn on an abandoned section of an old standard gauge track of the Sea Beach and Brighton Railroad?

• ...that when the North British Railway (NBR) absorbed the 4+3⁄4-mile long (7.6 km) Aberlady, Gullane and North Berwick Railway by a stock purchase in 1899, the transaction gave a considerable profit to Aberlady shareholders, the largest of whom were NBR directors?

• ...that the 521 Exhibition East Toronto Transit Commission route is the last surviving streetcar route to serve the Canadian National Exhibition?

• ...that unlike more modern electric locomotives, the traction motors for the Paris Orléans 400 class locomotives were mounted on the locomotive frame above the driving wheels with jackshaft cranks and coupling rods connecting to the wheels?

• ...that the Kaliningrad Tram network was the first electric tram network built within the current territory of Russia and is the only surviving tram network in the Kaliningrad Oblast?

• ...that the press in Sydney, Australia, referred to the O-Class trams as "toastracks" because all the seats are transverse or crossbench?

• ...that Smithsonian curator John H. White, Jr. described Southern Railway's Ps-4 class of 4-6-2 steam locomotives as being "among the most celebrated passenger locomotives operated in the United States...."?

• ...that the acquisition by Transnet of the Class 44-000 of diesel-electric locomotives forms part of the largest-ever locomotive supply contract in South African history and the single-biggest investment initiative by a South African corporation?

• ...that for the new X60 trains introduced as Greater Stockholm Transport's (SL) new Coradia Nordic-model commuter trains in 2005, high environmental standards shaped the choice of materials in their construction such that 95% of a car can be recycled when one is ready to be scrapped?

• ...that the Sea World Monorail System around the Sea World theme park on the Gold Coast of Queensland became the first monorail system in Australia when it opened in 1986?