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A PKP class SM42 diesel locomotive pulls a passenger train in Poland in 2011

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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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Selected article of the week

Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers, more formally referred to as "section hands", who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. The British equivalents of the term gandy dancer are "navvy" (from "navigator"), originally builders of canals or "inland navigations", for builders of railway lines, and "platelayer" for workers employed to inspect and maintain the track. In the Southwestern United States and Mexico, Mexican and Mexican-American track workers were colloquially "traqueros". In the United States, early section crews were often made up of recent immigrants and ethnic minorities who vied for steady work despite poor wages and working conditions, and hard physical labor. The Chinese, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans in the Western United States, the Irish in the Midwestern United States, and East Europeans and Italians in the Northeastern United States all worked as gandy dancers. Though all gandy dancers sang railroad songs, it may be that African American gandy dancers from the Southern United States, with a long tradition of using song to coordinate work, were unique in their use of task-related work chants. There are various theories about the derivation of the term, but most refer to the "dancing" movements of the workers using a specially manufactured 5-foot (1.52 m) "lining" bar, which came to be called a "gandy", as a lever to keep the tracks in alignment.

Recently selected: Ayer (MBTA station) - Amfleet - Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel

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Selected image of the week

Belgian soldiers fire artillery on an armoured train in combat during the German advance towards Antwerp in 1914 during World War I.

Recently selected: Matzleinsdorfer Platz tram station - LMS 6233 Duchess of Sutherland - Canadian National Railway

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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?

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Selected anniversaries

May 25

Third rail on Boston's Red Line

1865 – The first steel rails are rolled at a foundry in Chicago from Bessemer steel made in blast furnaces in Wyandotte, Michigan.
1903 – The Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad opens, becoming the first railroad in the United States to use an electrified third rail (pictured) to power its trains.
1991 – A Class 43 high-speed train from Newquay to London Paddington on the Atlantic Coast Line derails in the Luxulyan Valley.
2005 – The Martello, Shakespeare and Abbotscliffe railway tunnels in Kent, England, close after 160 years of continuous service for renovation work estimated at £10 million; the work is expected to take four months to complete.

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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)

General images

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

Image 1A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 2A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 3Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 4A narrow gauge battery-electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 5The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 6A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 7Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 8This 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 9Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 10A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 11The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 12Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both pantograph and contact shoes (from Locomotive)
Image 13Škoda Artic light rail train near the cathedral in Tampere, Finland (from Train)
Image 14Pacific National diesel locomotives in Australia showing three body types, cab unit (front), hood unit (middle) and box cab (rear) (from Locomotive)
Image 15Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 16Second-class compartment of a China Railways CRH1A-A train (from Train)
Image 17Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 18US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 19A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 20A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 21A passenger car of the China Railway, 2011 (from Railroad car)
Image 22A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 23Bombardier ALP-45DP at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 24Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 25The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service. (from Train)
Image 26An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 27Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons (from Train)
Image 28The 1902 Maudslay Petrol Locomotive (from Locomotive)
Image 29A German DB Class V 200 diesel-hydraulic locomotive at Technikmuseum, Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 30World's first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel-electric locomotive) for long distances SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 31Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 32Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 33The "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 34The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 35A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 36Trains 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 37An early Diesel-mechanical locomotive at the North Alabama Railroad Museum (from Locomotive)
Image 38A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 39China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)
Image 40A 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)
Image 41A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 42Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 43A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 44The New Orleans Streetcar System is one of the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 45Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 46A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)
Image 47Union Pacific 18, a gas turbine-electric locomotive preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum (from Locomotive)
Image 48Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 49This 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 50A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 51A London Underground battery-electric locomotive at West Ham station used for hauling engineers' trains (from Locomotive)
Image 52Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 53Variety of rolling stock in rail yard (from Rolling stock)
Image 54British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 55Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 56A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)