Portal:Trains
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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)) |
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First Great Western is a major British train operating company owned by FirstGroup. It provides the majority of commuter and outer-suburban services from its Central London terminus at London Paddington station to West London and the Thames Valley region including Berkshire, parts of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire along with long-distance inter-city services via the Great Western Main Line to South West England and South Wales. It also provides regional services throughout the South West of England and to the south coast of England. All regular services serving London are operated to and from London Paddington station. First Great Western operates 208 stations, and its services call at over 270. Intercity trains run to Cardiff, Swansea, Plymouth, Bristol, Exeter and Hereford, and to the towns of Carmarthen, Pembroke (summer), Newquay (summer), Great Malvern, Penzance, Weston-super-mare and Cheltenham. First Great Western also serves two of London's airports: Heathrow (through Heathrow Connect) and Gatwick. First Great Western operates a large diesel fleet, and services are operated by diesel trains only (with the exception of Heathrow Connect). High-speed services are operated by British Rail Class 43 (HST) locomotives with Mk3 coaches. Commuter services in the Thames Valley use Class 165 and Class 166 Thames Turbo trains, while local services in the south-west are operated with a variety of one-, two- and three-car diesel multiple unit trains. On 1 April 2006, First Great Western, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains were combined into the new Greater Western franchise. First had been announced in December 2005 as the operator of the combined franchise for a 7-year period.
Recently selected: Finse Tunnel - F Market & Wharves - Essex Street (NJT station)
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A 2-car diesel multiple unit set designed for the Transwa Prospector makes a trial run at Windmill Cutting near Toodyay, Western Australia, in 2004.
Recently selected: Western Pacific Railroad California Zephyr - Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Class S - Dutch East Indies Staatsspoorwegen EMUs
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?
Selected anniversaries
- December 7
- 1835 – The Ludwigs-Eisenbahn starts the first regular passenger service between Nuremberg and Fürth using a steam locomotive.
- 1842 – George Whale, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Western Railway 1903–1909, is born (d. 1910).
- 1906 – The Southern Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad jointly form the Pacific Fruit Express Company (PFE) refrigerator car line.
- 2005 – QJ 7081 (pictured) pulls the world's last regularly scheduled passenger train behind a steam locomotive on a mainline railroad when it pulls a train between Daban and Chabuga, China.
Train News
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
General images
WikiProjects
WikiProject Trains (Shortcut: WP:TWP)
- WikiProject Stations (WP:STA)
- WikiProject Streetcars (WP:TRAM)
- WikiProject Rapid transit (WP:RTPJ) inactive
- By region:
- WikiProject Metros of the former Soviet Union (WP:SOVMETRO) inactive
- WikiProject Indian railways (WP:INRW)
- WikiProject Trains in Japan (WP:TJ)
- WikiProject New Zealand Railways (WP:NZR)
- WikiProject Pakistan Railways (WP:PKR) inactive
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Fictional rail transport topics:
Note: WikiProjects marked as inactive are retained pending future editing activity
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Things you can do
See also Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/Todo and Wikipedia:Pages needing attention/Railroads
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