This page is an archive of facts that have appeared in the "Did you know..." section of Portal:Trains during the month of December2005. To suggest a fact for inclusion, please follow the guidelines on the suggestion page.
Archives from previous months are available on the archive page.
December 2005
0-4-4 built by Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works
...that the 0-4-4 type of steam locomotive is often called a Forney, characterized by the truck under the coal bunker/water tank?
The track side of the depot at Mid-Continent Railway Museum
A CP Rail train passes under itself in the lower tunnel
...that the 1909 opening of Canadian Pacific Railway's Spiral Tunnels on the line through Kicking Horse Pass reduced the maximum gradient of the track from 4.5% to 2.2%?
A pocket watch
...that because of the likelihood of train wrecks and other accidents if all railroad workers did not accurately know the current time, pocket watches became required equipment for all railroad workers?
Vesterport Station, Copenhagen, Denmark, December 2001
A gondola in a train passing through Rochelle Railroad Park
...that because of its low side walls, a gondola can be used to carry either very dense material, such as steel plates or coils, or bulky items such as prefabricated pieces of rail track?
Soo 1003 in Madison, Wisconsin
...that one of the delays in the restoration of Soo Line 1003 was due to an order for boiler flues that were three quarters of an inch (19 mm) too short?
A handcar from the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Railroad
...that handcar enthusiasts organize races between handcars driven by five person teams (one to push the car from a halt, four to pump the lever)?