Portal:Trains/Did you know/February 2020

A UTA TRAX red line train at Daybreak Parkway station in August 2011

...that Salt Lake City's successful bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympics gave the TRAX light rail project, managed by the Utah Transit Authority, some priority over transit projects in other cities competing for federal funds?

...that the front two driving axles on the United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class 2-8-0 steam locomotives were sprung independently from the rear two driving axles to allow for running on poor quality track?

The tracks and platforms at University station in 2014

...that Ma Liu Shui Station, now known as University station on the MTR system, was built because it would be at a convenient location for a passing loop along the single-track line between Tai Po and Sha Tin?

The main station building of Los Angeles Union Station in 2012

...that the Los Angeles Times argued in editorials against a 1926 ballot measure that Union Station would "forever do away with Chinatown and its environs"?

The Owensboro Union Station building in 2013

...that at its height in the 1920s, Union Station in Owensboro, Kentucky, daily served eighteen passenger trains?

The first northbound "Vermonter" arrives at the new temporary station platform in Northampton, Massachusetts, on December 29, 2014

...that following the discontinuance of the Montrealer in 1987, Amtrak did not serve Union Station in Northampton, Massachusetts, until 2014?

Meridian, MS, Union Station in 2008

...that the success of Union Station in Meridian, Mississippi, encouraged more than $8 million in private investment in the Depot District within the first few years since it was rebuilt in 1997?

UP 1943, honoring the US Armed Forces on a train in 2017

...that in addition to steam locomotives 844, 3985, and newly restored 4014, the Union Pacific Heritage Fleet also includes locomotives painted to honor the United States Armed Forces, the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization?

The Ramsey car-transfer apparatus at Phoenicia in 1882

...that the installation of a Ramsey car-transfer apparatus at Phoenicia, New York, reduced interchange time between the Ulster and Delaware Railroad and the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad to about eight minutes?

Ulm Hauptbahnhof in 2012

...that when Ulm Hauptbahnhof was rebuilt after World War II, Carl Ebner, the first chairman of the Tourist Office of Ulm/Neu-Ulm, called the new structure "the biggest train wreck of Ulm"?

A Ukrainian Railways long-distance passenger train in 2006

...that Ukrainian Railways' 'South-Western Railway' actually operates the north-central part of Ukraine's rail network, while the 'Southern Railway' actually operates in the east of the country?

An S10 Uetlibergbahn train of Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn (SZU), tailed by Be 556 524, has just left Uetliberg station for Zürich HB in 2005

...that with a maximum gradient of 7.9%, the Uetliberg railway line in Switzerland is the steepest standard gauge adhesion railway in Europe?

A Tzu-chiang train at Changhua Station in 2009

...that the name of the Tze-chiang express train service operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration was derived from a phrase in an address that Chiang Kai-shek delivered in 1971?

A train at Metrocentre station in 2014

...that after its opening in 1835, services on the first section of what has become the Tyne Valley line were suspended for a few months when a local landowner objected to the use of locomotives?

Overhead view of Twyford station in 2013

...that the original Twyford railway station served as the terminus for Great Western Railway in 1839 and 1840 until the completion of Sonning Cutting?

Postcard showing Milwaukee Road Class A locomotive number 2 on a Hiawatha train

...that Milwaukee Road's Class A steam locomotives pulled the Twin Cities Hiawatha trains between Chicago and the Twin Cities at sustained speeds more than 100 mph (160 km/h) in the 1930s?

A Twilight Shoreliner train at Boston South Station in 2002

...that after Amtrak discontinued the Northeast Corridor Twilight Shoreliner service, a southbound connection to a Newport News-bound Regional was available at Washington, D.C., but northbound trips required a three-hour layover?

A TCDD train at Çorlu railway station in 2017

...that of the 5,538 km (3,441 mi) of new railway lines included in Turkish State Railways' 1948 expansion plan, only 96 km (60 mi) were actually built?

Tulip Viaduct in 2006

...that in 1906, the workers building the Tulip Viaduct in Indiana, at the time the longest railroad trestle in the United States, were paid up to 30 cents per hour?

A London Underground train at Farringdon station in 2012

...that the competition for the fastest time to travel to all London Underground stations, known as the Tube Challenge, has been tracked as a Guinness World Record since 1960?

A Class 8 tram at St. Olavs Gate in 2005

...that the unusual combination of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge and 260 cm (100 in) wide wagons made it difficult to sell the Class 8 trams that remain in service on the Trondheim Tramway?

Tsim Sha Tsui station's exit A1 after a 2016 renovation

...that the site of Tsim Sha Tsui station's Exit A1 was once the vehicular entrance to Kowloon Park?

Aerial view of Troy Transit Center in late October 2014

...that a title dispute regarding the land under the Troy Transit Center in Michigan delayed the station's opening for a year?