November 2007

• ...that when Odakyu Electric Railway introduced its Romancecar service southwest of Tōkyō, Japan, in 1957, the train set the world speed record at 145 km/h (90 mph) for a narrow gauge train and was the inspiration for the 0 Series Shinkansen design?

• ...that Route 15 of the SEPTA system in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is operated with a fleet of restored PCC streetcars and is the only surface trolley line in the City Transit Division that is not part of the Subway–Surface Trolley Lines?

• ...that the Class Q 0-6-0 steam locomotives of Southern Railway in England were the last Southern steam locomotive design before World War II and the final design of Richard Maunsell's career as Southern's Chief Mechanical Engineer?

• ...that the Park Railway Maltanka in Poznań, Poland, was originally built in 1956 as the Harcerska Kolejka Dziecięca (English: Scout Children Railway) and was operated by Polish Scouting Association as a children's railway where teens could learn railway professions?

• ...that the 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) gauge Radebeul-Radeburg line in Dresden, Germany, is regularly operated by BVO GmbH using steam locomotives built in the 1950s, while older trains, using engines and cars built in the late 19th and early 20th century, are maintained by the non-profit Traditionsbahn Radebeul e.V. and are operated for special occasions?

• ...that the Public Transport Corporation, a State Government of Victoria, Australia, owned corporate body established in 1989 to operate passenger and freight trains, trams and bus services, was privatised in 1999 by the Kennett Government and sold off to several companies including Freight Victoria, Connex Melbourne, Yarra Trams, the National Express Group and Metlink?

• ...that Line 14 of the Paris Métro system in France was the second automated line of Île-de-France after Orlyval, but the first fully integrated one into the existing Paris metro network?

• ...that Oxford railway station, originally opened by Great Western Railway in England in 1844, was for a time known as Oxford General station to distinguish it from the London and North Western Railway Oxford Rewley Road station (terminus of the Varsity Line from Cambridge) which was adjacent and came under joint management in 1933?

• ...that unlike most MTR stations in Hong Kong, the concourse, gates and platform of Po Lam Station are at the same level, and there is only one track from which trains depart in the same direction as they arrived which necessitates the halting of trains from Hang Hau Station midway between the stations while a train currently at the station departs?

• ...that in order to hasten the introduction of more powerful locomotives into Polish railways the first two of PKP's class SM15 locomotives, SM15-01 and SM15-02, were imported from the Soviet Union with subsequent production beginning in 1963 in Fablok, Chrzanów, with mainly of Soviet parts?

• ...that after serving as a passenger train station from 1901 to 1949 for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and again from 1973 to 1986 for Amtrak's James Whitcomb Riley and George Washington routes, the Cincinnati, Richmond & Muncie Depot in Muncie, Indiana, now serves as a visitor center and offices for the Cardinal Greenway bicycle trail?

• ...that the Schiphollijn railway line connecting Schiphol with Amsterdam and Leiden includes the first railway station in the Netherlands to be built within a tunnel?

• ...that rail transport in Victoria, Australia, is provided by a number of private railway companies who operate over the government owned lines, using 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge, with the exception of a few experimental narrow gauge lines, and a number of standard gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) freight and interstate lines?

• ...that when Bodmin Road, now Bodmin Parkway railway station in Cornwall, United Kingdom, opened in 1859, the station master was paid five pounds by the Post Office to carry out the duties of postmaster due to the station's remote location?

• ...that Union Pacific Railroad's 4-6-6-4 locomotive number 3985, built by ALCO in 1945, is currently the largest operational steam locomotive in the world?

• ...that on RER's Line B in Paris, France, the portion south of Gare du Nord is operated by RATP while the portion north of the station is operated by SNCF, requiring a change of train drivers at the station for the Interconnexion trains that travel from one network to the other?

• ...that during the Franco-Prussian War the Rechte Rheinstrecke line in present day Germany received great strategic importance as a supply route and as a result the building of the Sieg bridge was accelerated with extra workers, starting in the late summer of 1870?

• ...that proposals to extend the Watercress Line, running 10 miles (16 km) from New Alresford to Alton, England, to rejoin the South Western Main Line at Winchester junction have been dropped because the M3 motorway from London to Southampton cuts across the route and houses have been built across the right-of-way in Itchen Abbas?

• ...that Victorian Railways in Australia received two McKeen railmotor cars in 1911, but they were removed from service within three years due to their many breakdowns and in 1919 were de-engined and converted to passenger cars?

• ...that the Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George" was an association composed largely of railway sleeping car porters in the United States to promote the elimination of the degrading and racist practice of referring to all porters by the name "George" regardless of their actual names?

• ...that the 108.5-kilometre (67.4 mi) long RER line A in Paris, France, is the busiest rapid transit line in Europe, carrying over one million passengers per day?

• ...that PKP's class SM01 diesel shunter locomotives were Deutsche Bundesbahn Baureihe Köf II locomotives that were brought to Poland after World War II?

• ...that construction of the Nuremberg-Erfurt high-speed rail line in Germany, which is planned to be part of a high-speed rail connection between Italy and Scandinavia, began in 1996, was halted in 1999, recommenced in 2002 and is now expected to be completed in 2015 and is projected to now cost more than €5 billion?

• ...that the number of driving wheels on steam locomotives varied from just two (one axle) on the first locomotives in the early 19th century up to 24 (twelve axles) on the 2-8-8-8-2 and 2-8-8-8-4 triplex locomotives built in the 20th century?

• ...that Paris Métro Line 1, the first metro line opened in Paris, France, in 1900, was constructed using the "cut and cover" method and, as a result, follows the line of the streets above and is the closest line to the surface with some surface running at Bastille station and for the Seine-crossing at Pont de Neuilly?

• ...that the original station buildings and one of the two platforms of North Woolwich railway station in east London are occupied by the North Woolwich Old Station Museum, a museum dedicated to the history of the Great Eastern Railway?

• ...that the boiler tubes used in the construction of the Tom Thumb, the first steam locomotive built in the United States, were made from recycled rifle barrels?

• ...that PKP's class ET40 electric locomotives, a design based on the EU05, were originally developed in the 1970s for use on heavy freight trains between Silesian coal mines and Polish Baltic ports?