Portal:Trains

Portals → Technology → Transport → Trains

The trains portal

Image:

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))

Shortcuts

edit

Selected article of the week

Anderson Street Station is a New Jersey Transit rail station on the Pascack Valley Line. The station is one of two rail stations in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, and is located at Anderson Street near Linden Street. The Essex Street station is also located in Hackensack. This line runs to Hoboken Terminal with connections via the Secaucus Junction transfer station to New Jersey Transit one-stop service to New York Penn Station and to other NJ Transit rail service. All normal schedule trains service this station seven days a week, except for the Metro-North Railroad Express trains to Spring Valley, New York. The station house was built in 1869 (and opened on September 9, 1869) by the Hackensack and New York Railroad on a track extension from Passaic Street in Hackensack. The station was turned over to the Erie Railroad in 1896 and New Jersey Transit in 1983. The next year, the station was listed on the List of Registered Historic Places in New Jersey. The station building, which was 139 years old, was destroyed in a three-alarm fire and explosion at 5:55 AM on January 10, 2009. At the time the station house was the second-oldest in New Jersey (second to Ramsey's Main Street station.) The station building was also the site for the Green Caboose Thrift Shop, a charity gift shop maintained by a branch of the Hackensack University Medical Center.

Recently selected: British Rail Class 180 - Copenhagen Metro - Pere Marquette 1225

More selected articles - Candidates

edit

Selected image of the week

A train crew exchanges block occupancy tokens at a junction on the Conwy Valley Line in north Wales. Possession of the token authorizes the train to enter the next section of track and ensures that no other train is operating in that section to prevent collisions.

Recently selected: Norfolk & Western 1218 - Meitetsu 7000 series - Soviet postage stamp with VL80 locomotives

More selected pictures - Candidates

edit

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?

More did you know facts - Candidates

edit

Selected anniversaries

December 29

1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster, the worst train disaster in America to date, occurs in Ohio when a Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway passenger train falls into the Ashtabula River as the bridge collapsed under the train.
1904 – New Haven Railroad acquires control of Greenwich Tramway and New York and Stamford Railway, extending its streetcar network through Greenwich, Connecticut, into New Rochelle, New York.
1939 – The Pioneer Zephyr streamliner trainset (pictured) crosses the one million mile (1.6 million km) mark in revenue service near Council Bluffs, Iowa.
1967 – The first steam locomotive powered train operates at Illinois Railway Museum using a Shay locomotive.

Archive

edit

Train News

Santa Fe No. 2926 at Albuquerque, New Mexico
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)
Big Boy No. 4012 at Steamtown National Historic Site
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)
The derailed Taroko Express trainset, as seen from outside the entrance to the tunnel
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)

The preserved C&O 1309 at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in October 2009

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)

An Avelia Liberty train on a test run in Delaware in May 2020

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)

Berryessa/North San José station on the first day of service

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)

Archive

General images

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

Image 1Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 2A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 3A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 4The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 5China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)
Image 6Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 7A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 8Pacific National diesel locomotives in Australia showing three body types, cab unit (front), hood unit (middle) and box cab (rear) (from Locomotive)
Image 9An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 10Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 11The "hump" of a hump yard. Railcars travel past retarders, which control their speed, and are directed onto tracks to be assembled into new trains. The control tower operates the retarders. (from Rail yard)
Image 12A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 13This 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 14Bombardier ALP-45DP at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 15Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 16Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 17A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 18Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 19Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both pantograph and contact shoes. (from Locomotive)
Image 20Variety of rolling stock in rail yard (from Rolling stock)
Image 21A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 22A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 23A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)
Image 24This 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 25A narrow-gauge battery–electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 26Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 27British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 28The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 29The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service. (from Train)
Image 30Trains carrying hazardous materials display information identifying their cargo and hazards. This tank car carrying chlorine displays, among other markings, a U.S. DOT placard showing a UN number that identifies the hazardous substance. (from Train)
Image 31US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 32Škoda Artic light rail train near the cathedral in Tampere, Finland (from Train)
Image 33Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 34A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 35Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 36Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 37Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 38A London Underground battery–electric locomotive at West Ham station used for hauling engineers' trains (from Locomotive)
Image 39Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 40Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 41The New Orleans Streetcar System is one of the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 42A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 43A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 44The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 45Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin (from Railroad car)
Image 46Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons. (from Train)
Image 47A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 48A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 49Second-class compartment of a China Railways CRH1A-A train (from Train)
Image 50World's first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel–electric locomotive) for long distances SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 51A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 52A large Amtrak and Metra coach yard just south of Chicago Union Station. About 25 percent of all rail traffic in the United States travels through the Chicago area. (from Rail yard)