1.
Amtrak
–
Founded in 1971 to take over most of the remaining U. S. passenger rail services, it is partially government funded yet operated and managed as a for-profit corporation. Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces, operating more than 300 trains each day over 21,300 miles of track, some track sections allow trains to run as fast as 150 mph. In fiscal year 2015, Amtrak served 30.8 million passengers and had $2.185 billion in revenue, nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas, 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than 400 miles. Its headquarters is at Union Station in Washington, D. C, the name Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and trak, the latter itself a sensational spelling of track. From the mid-19th century until about 1920, nearly all intercity travelers in the United States moved by rail, historically, U. S. passenger trains were owned and operated by the same privately owned companies that operated freight trains. About 65,000 railroad passenger cars operated in 1929, from 1920 into the later 20th century, passenger rails popularity diminished and there was a series of pullbacks and tentative recoveries. Rail passenger revenues declined dramatically between 1920 and 1934 because of the rise of the automobile, in the same period, many travelers were lost to interstate bus companies such as Greyhound Lines. However, in the mid-1930s, railroads reignited popular imagination with service improvements and new, diesel-powered streamliners, such as the gleaming silver Pioneer Zephyr and Flying Yankee. Even with the improvements, on a basis, traffic continued to decline. World War II broke the malaise, passenger traffic soared sixfold thanks to troop movements, in 1946, there remained 45 percent fewer passenger trains than in 1929, and the decline quickened despite railroad optimism. Passengers disappeared and so did trains, few trains generated profits, most produced losses. Broad-based passenger rail deficits appeared as early as 1948, and by the mid-1950s, by 1965, only 10,000 rail passenger cars were in operation,85 percent fewer than in 1929. Passenger service was provided on only 75,000 miles of track, the 1960s also saw the end of railway post office revenues, which had helped some of the remaining trains break even. The causes of the decline of rail in the United States were complex. Until 1920, rail was the practical form of intercity transport. By 1930, the companies had constructed, with private funding. In 1916, the amount of track in the United States peaked at 254,251 miles, some rail routes had been built primarily to facilitate the sale of stock in the railroad companies, they were redundant from the beginning. These were the first to be abandoned as the financial positions deteriorated
2.
Metra
–
Metra is a commuter railroad in the Chicago metropolitan area. The railroad operates 241 stations on 11 different rail lines and it is the fourth busiest commuter rail system in the United States by ridership and the largest and busiest commuter rail system outside the New York City metropolitan area. There were 83.4 million passenger rides in 2014, up 1. 3% from the previous year, the estimated busiest day for Metra ridership occurred on Nov.4, 2016—the day of the Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series victory rally. Using Chicagos rail infrastructure, much of which was created in the 19th century, the Illinois General Assembly established the RTA, Metras creation was a result of the anticipated failure of commuter service operated and owned by various private railroad companies in the 1970s. Freight rail companies still operate some routes, however, these operations are guided by contracted service agreements, Metra owns all rolling stock and is responsible for all stations along with the respective municipalities. Since its inception, Metra has directed more than $5 billion into the rail system of the Chicago metropolitan area. Since its founding in the 19th century, Chicago has been a major Midwestern hub in the North American rail network and it has more trackage radiating in more directions than any other city in North America. Railroads set up their headquarters in the city and Chicago became a center for building cars, passenger cars. By the 1930s Chicago had the worlds largest public transportation system, by the mid-1970s, the commuter lines faced an uncertain future. The Burlington Northern, Milwaukee Road, Chicago and North Western, to provide stability to the commuter rail system, the Illinois General Assembly formed the Regional Transportation Authority in 1974. Its purpose was to fund and plan the Chicago regions public transportation, in the beginning the Regional Transportation Authority commuter train fleet consisted of second-hand equipment, until 1976 when the first order of new EMD F40PH locomotives arrived. That F40PH fleet is still in service today, less than a decade later the Regional Transportation Authority was already suffering from ongoing financial problems. In 1983 the Illinois Legislature reorganized the agency and that reorganization left the Regional Transportation Authority in charge of day-to-day operations of all bus, heavy rail and commuter rail services throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. It was also responsible for directing fare and service levels, setting up budgets, finding sources for capital investment, due to the broad range of responsibilities entrusted with the Regional Transportation Authority, the Commuter Rail Service Board was created in 1984. It was renamed Metra in July 1985, the newly reorganized Metra service helped to bring a single identity to the many infrastructure components serviced by the Regional Transportation Authoritys commuter rail system. Metras operating arm, the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, was created as a separate subsidiary which operates seven Metra owned routes. Contracts were set up with the Union Pacific and BNSF railroads to operate four other Metra routes, while Metra owns all rolling stock and is responsible for most stations on those routes, the freight carriers use their own employees and control the right-of-way for those routes. In keeping with Metras purpose to provide an identity for commuter rail in the region
3.
Chicago
–
Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
4.
Los Angeles River
–
Several tributaries join the once free-flowing and frequently flooding river, forming alluvial flood plains along its banks. It now flows through a channel on a fixed course. Environmental groups and park advocates support the removal of concrete and the restoration of natural vegetation, portions of the river now have earthen bottoms and restored habitat. There are also plans for a series of parks along the rivers city frontage in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles River also flows through several Los Angeles County communities and has been featured in many Hollywood films. Before the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the river was the source of fresh water for the city. Although the Los Angeles region still gets some of its water from the river and other local sources, the river suffers pollution from agricultural and urban runoff. Fed primarily by rainwater and snowmelt, the Donald C, tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys, and urban discharge, it is one of the few low-elevation perennial rivers in Southern California. This is helped by the channel, which limits absorption of water into the earth. Flow, while low in volume, can be extremely brisk even in summer. 1952°N118. 601838°W /34.1952. Bell Creek flows east from the Simi Hills, and Arroyo Calabasas flows north from the Santa Monica Mountains, from there the river flows east through a concrete flood control channel and very soon receives Browns Canyon Wash, which flows south from the Santa Susana Mountains. The river then bends south and receives Aliso Canyon Wash. The river then flows through the district of Winnetka, then Reseda and enters the Sepulveda Basin, as the river proceeds into the usually-dry reservoir, it spills out into a channel that is similar to its historical, unchannelized form. It crosses under Balboa Boulevard and then passes through the works of Sepulveda Dam,43 miles from the mouth. It flows again into a channel and crosses under Interstate 405 as it passes through Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks. Paralleling U. S. Here, the river begins to flow over a natural riverbed, paralleling Interstate 5 for the next few miles, the river runs by the eastern side of Griffith Park and the Harding-Wilson Golf Course. It passes Silver Lake Reservoir, which is to the right and it then receives the Arroyo Seco, another major tributary, from the left. The river flows south past the Mission Junction, a railroad yard on the left. It then makes a turn east and then turns southeast, flowing a few miles before it begins to parallel Interstate 710 near Maywood, Bell, Cudahy
5.
Track (rail transport)
–
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties and ballast, plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a surface for their wheels to roll upon. For clarity it is referred to as railway track or railroad track. Tracks where electric trains or electric trams run are equipped with a system such as an overhead electrical power line or an additional electrified rail. The term permanent way also refers to the track in addition to structures such as fences etc. Most railroads with heavy traffic use continuously welded rails supported by sleepers attached via baseplates that spread the load, a plastic or rubber pad is usually placed between the rail and the tieplate where concrete sleepers are used. The rail is held down to the sleeper with resilient fastenings. For much of the 20th century, rail track used softwood timber sleepers and jointed rails, jointed rails were used at first because contemporary technology did not offer any alternative. The joints also needed to be lubricated, and wear at the mating surfaces needed to be rectified by shimming. For this reason jointed track is not financially appropriate for heavily operated railroads, timber sleepers are of many available timbers, and are often treated with creosote, copper-chrome-arsenic, or other wood preservative. Pre-stressed concrete sleepers are used where timber is scarce and where tonnage or speeds are high. Steel is used in some applications, the track ballast is customarily crushed stone, and the purpose of this is to support the sleepers and allow some adjustment of their position, while allowing free drainage. A disadvantage of traditional track structures is the demand for maintenance, particularly surfacing and lining to restore the desired track geometry. Weakness of the subgrade and drainage deficiencies also lead to maintenance costs. This can be overcome by using ballastless track, in its simplest form this consists of a continuous slab of concrete with the rails supported directly on its upper surface. There are a number of systems, and variations include a continuous reinforced concrete slab. Many permutations of design have been put forward, however, ballastless track has a high initial cost, and in the case of existing railroads the upgrade to such requires closure of the route for a long period. Its whole-life cost can be lower because of the reduction in maintenance, some rubber-tyred metros use ballastless tracks
6.
Railroad car
–
A railroad car or railcar, railway wagon or railway carriage, also called a train car or train wagon, is a vehicle used for the carrying of cargo or passengers on a rail transport system. Such cars, when coupled together and hauled by one or more locomotives, alternatively, some passenger cars are self-propelled in which case they may be either single railcars or make up multiple units. The term car is used by itself in American English when a rail context is implicit. Indian English sometimes uses bogie in the manner, though the term has other meanings in other variants of English. In American English, railcar is a term for a railway vehicle, in other countries railcar refers specifically to a self-propelled, powered. Tables may be provided between seats facing one another, alternatively, seats facing in the same direction may have access to a fold-down ledge on the back of the seat in front. If the aisle is located between seats, seat rows may face the direction, or be grouped, with twin rows facing each other. In some vehicles intended for services, seats are positioned with their backs to the side walls. This gives a wide accessway and allows room for standing passengers at peak times, if the aisle is at the side, the car is usually divided into small compartments. These usually contain six seats, although sometimes in second class they contain eight, modern cars usually have either air-conditioning or windows that can be opened, or sometimes both. Various types of onboard train toilet facilities may also be provided, other types of passenger car exist, especially for long journeys, such as the dining car, parlor car, disco car, and in rare cases theater and movie theater car. In some cases another type of car is converted to one of these for an event. Observation cars were built for the rear of many trains to allow the passengers to view the scenery. Sleeping cars outfitted with small bedrooms allow passengers to sleep through their night-time trips, long-distance trains often require baggage cars for the passengers luggage. In European practice it used to be common for day coaches to be formed of compartments seating 6 or 8 passengers, in the UK, Corridor coaches fell into disfavor in the 1960s and 1970s partially because open coaches are considered more secure by women traveling alone. Another distinction is between single- and double deck train cars, an example of a double decker is the Amtrak superliner. A trainset is a semi-permanently arranged formation of cars, rather than one created ad hoc out of cars are available. These are only broken up and reshuffled on shed, trains are then built of one or more of these sets coupled together as needed for the capacity of that train
7.
Locomotive
–
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. A locomotive has no payload capacity of its own, and its purpose is to move the train along the tracks. In contrast, some trains have self-propelled payload-carrying vehicles and these are not normally considered locomotives, and may be referred to as multiple units, motor coaches or railcars. The use of these vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front, however, push-pull operation has become common, where the train may have a locomotive at the front, at the rear, or at each end. Prior to locomotives, the force for railroads had been generated by various lower-technology methods such as human power, horse power. The first successful locomotives were built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick, in 1804 his unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Although the locomotive hauled a train of 10 long tons of iron and 70 passengers in five wagons over nine miles, the locomotive only ran three trips before it was abandoned. Trevithick built a series of locomotives after the Penydarren experiment, including one which ran at a colliery in Tyneside in northern England, the first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murrays rack locomotive, Salamanca, built for the narrow gauge Middleton Railway in 1812. This was followed in 1813 by the Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the locomotives of Trevithick. He built the Blücher, one of the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotives, Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of steam locomotives. His designs improved on the work of the pioneers, in 1825 he built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north east England, which became the first public steam railway. In 1829 he built The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials and this success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the United Kingdom, the United States and much of Europe. The first inter city passenger railway, Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830, there are a few basic reasons to isolate locomotive train power, as compared to self-propelled vehicles. Maximum utilization of power cars Separate locomotives facilitate movement of costly motive power assets as needed, flexibility Large locomotives can substitute for small locomotives when more power is required, for example, where grades are steeper. As needed, a locomotive can be used for freight duties. Obsolescence cycles Separating motive power from payload-hauling cars enables replacement without affecting the other, to illustrate, locomotives might become obsolete when their associated cars did not, and vice versa
8.
Switcher
–
They do this in classification yards. Switchers may also make short runs and even be the only motive power on branch lines and switching. The term can also be used to describe the workers operating these engines or engaged in directing shunting operations, the typical switcher is optimised for its job, being relatively low-powered but with a high starting tractive effort for getting heavy cars rolling quickly. Switchers are geared to produce high torque but are restricted to low top speeds and have small diameter driving wheels, switchers are rail analogs to tugboats. US switchers tend to be larger, with bogies to allow them to be used on tight radiuses, European shunters tend to be smaller and more often have fixed axles. They also often maintained coupling rods for longer than other types, although bogie types have long been used where very heavy loads are involved. Switching is hard work, and heavily used switch engines wear out quickly from the abuse of constant hard contacts with cars, nevertheless, some types have been remarkably long-lived. Diesel switchers tend to have a cab and often lower and/or narrower hoods containing the diesel engines. Slugs are often used because they allow even greater effort to be applied. Nearly all slugs used for switching are of the low hood, good visibility in both directions is critical, because a switcher may be running in either direction, turning the locomotive is time-consuming. Some earlier diesel switchers used cow-calf configurations of two powered units in order to provide greater power, the vast majority of modern switchers are diesels, but countries with near-total electrification, like Switzerland, use electric switchers. Prior to the introduction of locomotives, electric shunting locomotives were used to an extent in Great Britain where heavy trains needed to be started on steep gradients. The steeply-graded Quayside Branch in Newcastle upon Tyne was electrified by the North Eastern Railway in 1905,1, is now part of the National Collection and resides at Locomotion in Shildon. A number of the early German locomotives built for use on lines have been preserved. These specialised locomotives were tall steeple-cab types not seen anywhere else, one example built by Greenwood and Batley in Armley, Leeds is preserved at the Middleton Railway, not far from where it was built. Small industrial shunters are sometimes of the battery-electric type, an early battery-electric shunting locomotive is shown here. The Tyne and Wear Metro has three battery electric shunters built by Hunslet, which are used to haul engineering trains when the supply is switched off. Flywheel energy storage was used experimentally by Sentinel
9.
Centralized traffic control
–
Centralized traffic control is a form of railway signalling that originated in North America. CTC consolidates train routing decisions that were carried out by local signal operators or the train crews themselves. The system consists of a train dispatchers office that controls railroad interlockings. One hallmark of CTC is a panel with a graphical depiction of the railroad. On this panel the dispatcher can keep track of trains locations across the territory that the dispatcher controls, larger railroads may have multiple dispatchers offices and even multiple dispatchers for each operating division. These offices are located near the busiest yards or stations. Key to the concept of CTC is the notion of control as it applies to railroads. Trains moving in opposite directions on the same track cannot pass each other without special infrastructure such as sidings, the starting point of each system was the railroad timetable that would form the advanced routing plan for train movements. Trains following the timetable would know when to take sidings, switch tracks, however if train movements did not go as planned the timetable would then fail to represent reality, and attempting to follow the printed schedule could lead to routing errors or even accidents. This was especially common on single-track lines that comprised the majority of railroad route miles in North America, therefore, timetable operation was supplemented with train orders, which superseded the instructions in the timetable. The development of Direct Traffic Control via radio or telephone between dispatchers and train crews made telegraph orders largely obsolete by the 1970s. Where traffic density warranted it, multiple tracks could be provided, trains running counter to this flow of traffic would still require train orders, but other trains would not. Such a Mexican standoff not only represents a safety hazard, before the advent of CTC there were a number of solutions to this problem that did not require the construction of multiple single direction tracks. In areas of traffic density, sometimes bi-directional operation would be established between manned interlocking towers. Each section of track would have a traffic control lever associated with it to establish the direction of traffic on that track. Often, both towers would need to set their traffic levers in the way before a direction of travel could be established. Block signals in the direction of travel would display according to track conditions, furthermore, no train could be routed into a section of track against its flow of traffic and the traffic levers would not be able to be changed until the track section was clear of trains. Both APB and manual control would still require train orders in certain situations
10.
Goods wagon
–
Goods wagons or freight wagons are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. At the beginning of the era, the vast majority of goods wagons were four-wheeled vehicles of simple construction. These were almost exclusively small covered wagons, open wagons with side-boards, over the course of time, an increasing number of specialised wagons were developed. Special wagons for specific purposes or wagons with special features were already being introduced around 1850 by private companies, amongst these were tank wagons and numerous refrigerated vans. In countries like Germany, wagon hire firms procured large numbers of these wagons, in the early days of the railway, goods trains still ran at top speeds of only about 20 mph. However, the introduction of through brakes using air pipes from the 1920s enabled higher speeds to be safely achieved, the Deutsche Bahn even has goods wagons cleared for high-speed rail travel at up to 100 mph. In Europe, the first agreements were struck early on between the national state railways and private companies for the mutual use of each other’s goods wagons. Around 1850, the Union of German Railway Administrations drew up regulations for the standardisation of dimensions, the formation of the Prussian State Railway Union in 1881 encouraged the emergence of wagon classes built to standard norms. One further European milestone was the formation of the German State Railway Wagon Association on 1 April 1909. With the participation of all the German state railways, it created a pool of goods wagons. In addition, they all had standardised inscriptions and red-brown livery, in order to standardise future procurements, a total of 11 wagon classes were defined. From 1939, wagons were developed primarily from a point of view and were known as wartime classes. After the war, in East Germany, some pre-war goods wagon classes were given a new lease of life as ‘reconstructed goods wagons’, since the Union of Private Goods Wagon Companies was founded in 1921, the interests of private transport organisations in Germany has been jointly represented. The Union has around 100 members who own 50,000 goods wagons, in 2007, they transported 361,000,000 t of goods. Since 1922, the agreement for the use of goods wagons in international traffic has regulated the exchange of goods wagons in Europe. In addition, international goods wagon fleets were created in 1953 in Western Europe with the Europ-Verband, during the second half of the 20th century, national goods wagon classes in Europe were increasingly replaced by Union internationale des chemins de fer standard wagons. Since 1964, all goods wagons in Germany, for example, have had to be classified using the UIC goods wagon classification system, lowmacs Covered wagons or vans have a fixed roof and are mainly used for the transportation of part-load goods or parcels. Today these are divided into, Ordinary classes Special classes, which are distinguished by their large loading volumes
11.
Classification yard
–
A classification yard or marshalling yard is a railway yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railway cars on to one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill, from there the cars are sent through a series of switches called a ladder onto the classification tracks. Larger yards tend to put the lead on an artificially built hill called a hump to use the force of gravity to propel the cars through the ladder, freight trains that consist of isolated cars must be made into trains and divided according to their destinations. Thus the cars must be shunted several times along their route in contrast to a unit train and this shunting is done partly at the starting and final destinations and partly in classification yards. Flat yards are constructed on ground, or on a gentle slope. Freight cars are pushed by a locomotive and coast to their required location, hump yards are the largest and most effective classification yards, with the largest shunting capacity, often several thousand cars a day. The heart of these yards is the lead track on a small hill over which an engine pushes the cars. As concerns speed regulation, there are two types of hump yards—without or with mechanisation by retarders, in the old non-retarder yards braking was usually done in Europe by railroaders who laid skates onto the tracks. The skate or chock was manually placed on one or both of the rails so that the treadles or rims of the wheel or wheels caused frictional retardation, in the United States this braking was done by riders on the cars. In the modern retarder yards this work is done by mechanized rail brakes called retarders and they are operated either pneumatically or hydraulically. Pneumatic systems are prevalent in the United States, France, Belgium, Russia and China, while hydraulic systems are used in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. In the United States, many classification bowls have more than 40 tracks—up to 72—which are often divided into six to ten tracks in each balloon loop. Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska, United States, the worlds largest classification yard, is a hump yard, notably, in Europe, Russia and China, all major classification yards are hump yards. Europes largest hump yard is that of Maschen near Hamburg, Germany, the second largest is in the port of Antwerp, Belgium. According to the PRRT&HS PRR Chronology, the first hump yard in the United States was opened May 11,1903 as part of the Altoona Yards at Bells Mills. Other sources report the PRR yard at Youngwood, PA which opened in the 1880s to serve the Connellsville coke fields as the first U. S. hump yard. Gravity yards are operated similarly to hump yards but, in contrast to the latter, thus, only few gravity yards were ever built, sometimes requiring massive earthwork. Most gravity yards were built in Germany and Great Britain, a few also in some other European countries, in the USA, there were only very few old gravity yards, one of the few gravity yards in operation today is CSXs Readville Yard south of Boston, Massachusetts
12.
Weighing scale
–
Weighing scales are devices to measure weight or calculate mass. Scales and balances are used in commerce, as many products are sold. Very accurate balances, called analytical balances, are used in fields such as chemistry. Although records dating to the 1700s refer to spring scales for measuring weight, the earliest design for such a device dates to 1770 and credits Richard Salter, an early scale-maker. Postal workers could work quickly with spring scales than balance scales because they could be read instantaneously. By the 1940s various electronic devices were being attached to these designs to make more accurate. A spring scale measures weight by reporting the distance that a spring deflects under a load and this contrasts to a balance, which compares the torque on the arm due to a sample weight to the torque on the arm due to a standard reference weight using a horizontal lever. Spring scales measure force, which is the force of constraint acting on an object. They are usually calibrated so that measured force translates to mass at earths gravity, the object to be weighed can be simply hung from the spring or set on a pivot and bearing platform. In a spring scale, the spring either stretches or compresses, by Hookes law, every spring has a proportionality constant that relates how hard it is pulled to how far it stretches. Rack and pinion mechanisms are used to convert the linear spring motion to a dial reading. With proper manufacturing and setup, however, spring scales can be rated as legal for commerce, to remove the temperature error, a commerce-legal spring scale must either have temperature-compensated springs or be used at a fairly constant temperature. To eliminate the effect of gravity variations, a spring scale must be calibrated where it is used. It is also common in high-capacity applications such as crane scales to use force to sense weight. The test force is applied to a piston or diaphragm and transmitted through hydraulic lines to an indicator based on a Bourdon tube or electronic sensor. A digital bathroom scale is a type of electronic weighing machine, the digital bathroom scale is a smart scale which has many functions like smartphone integration, cloud storage, fitness tracking, etc. In electronic versions of spring scales, the deflection of a beam supporting the weight is measured using a strain gauge. The capacity of such devices is only limited by the resistance of the beam to deflection and these scales are used in the modern bakery, grocery, delicatessen, seafood, meat, produce and other perishable goods departments
13.
Gradient
–
In mathematics, the gradient is a multi-variable generalization of the derivative. While a derivative can be defined on functions of a variable, for functions of several variables. The gradient is a function, as opposed to a derivative. If f is a differentiable, real-valued function of several variables, like the derivative, the gradient represents the slope of the tangent of the graph of the function. More precisely, the gradient points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the function, the components of the gradient in coordinates are the coefficients of the variables in the equation of the tangent space to the graph. The Jacobian is the generalization of the gradient for vector-valued functions of several variables, a further generalization for a function between Banach spaces is the Fréchet derivative. Consider a room in which the temperature is given by a field, T. At each point in the room, the gradient of T at that point will show the direction in which the temperature rises most quickly, the magnitude of the gradient will determine how fast the temperature rises in that direction. Consider a surface whose height above sea level at point is H, the gradient of H at a point is a vector pointing in the direction of the steepest slope or grade at that point. The steepness of the slope at point is given by the magnitude of the gradient vector. The gradient can also be used to measure how a scalar field changes in other directions, rather than just the direction of greatest change, suppose that the steepest slope on a hill is 40%. If a road goes directly up the hill, then the steepest slope on the road will also be 40%, if, instead, the road goes around the hill at an angle, then it will have a shallower slope. This observation can be stated as follows. If the hill height function H is differentiable, then the gradient of H dotted with a unit vector gives the slope of the hill in the direction of the vector. More precisely, when H is differentiable, the dot product of the gradient of H with a unit vector is equal to the directional derivative of H in the direction of that unit vector. The gradient of a function f is denoted ∇f or ∇→f where ∇ denotes the vector differential operator. The notation grad f is commonly used for the gradient. The gradient of f is defined as the vector field whose dot product with any vector v at each point x is the directional derivative of f along v. That is
14.
Dowty retarders
–
Sir George Herbert Dowty was an English inventor and businessman. Dowty was born in Pershore, Worcestershire in 1901 and he was sent to the Royal Grammar School Worcester after losing his right eye at the age of 12 playing around making a firework. He left in 1916 to take up a job as an apprentice for Heenan & Froude at a factory in Worcester and he later moved to Cheltenham to become a draughtsman for the same company. In 1918 Dowty became a draughtsman with the British Aerial Transport Company in London and he then joined the design office of the A. V. Roe & Company at Hamble near Southampton, in 1924 he went to the Gloster Aircraft Company where he worked on undercarriage design. In 1935 he set up his own company in Cheltenham making aircraft equipment, for this purpose he leased a factory and his equipment was also used in the Concorde supersonic airliners. He also invented the Dowty retarder for use in classification yards. The devices are built for a speed, set at the factory. If the rail car is below the set speed, the device offers no resistance, if the car speed is at or greater than the speed setting, an internal valve is activated to provide a resistance to the wheel, thus slowing the car. This keeps cars rolling within a narrow range of speeds. In 1956 he was knighted for his services to the industry and he was given the Freedom of the Borough of Cheltenham and Tewkesbury and was a Deputy Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. He received an Honorary Degree from the University of Bath in 1966 and his first wife was Edith Dowty. In 1948 he married Marguerite Anne Gowans, Dowty Group Dowty Rotol Messier-Dowty Messier-Dowty Dowty Deeds a 1952 Flight article
15.
Canadian National Railway
–
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec that serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CNs slogan is North Americas Railroad, CN is a public company with 24,000 employees. It had a capitalization of 32 billion CAD in 2011. CN was government-owned, having been a Canadian Crown corporation from its founding to its privatization in 1995, bill Gates was, in 2011, the largest single shareholder of CN stock. Its range once reached across the island of Newfoundland until 1988, the railway was referred to as the Canadian National Railways between 1918 and 1960, and as Canadian National/Canadien National from 1960 to the present. On November 17,1995, the government privatized CN. Over the next decade, the company expanded significantly into the United States, purchasing Illinois Central Railroad and Wisconsin Central Transportation, now primarily a freight railway, CN also operated passenger services until 1978, when they were assumed by Via Rail. The Newfoundland mixed trains lasted until 1988, while the Montreal commuter trains are now operated by Montreals AMT, the absorption of the Intercolonial Railway would see CNR adopt that systems slogan The Peoples Railway. The federal governments Department of Railways and Canals took over operation of the GTPR until July 12,1920, the Canadian National Railway was organized on October 10,1922. After several years of arbitration, the GTR was absorbed into CNR on January 30,1923, Canadian National Railways was born out of both wartime and domestic urgency. Railways, until the rise of the automobile and creation of taxpayer-funded all-weather highways, were the only viable long-distance land transportation available in Canada for many years. As such, their operation consumed a great deal of public, in the early 20th century, many governments were taking a more interventionist role in the economy, foreshadowing the influence of economists like John Maynard Keynes. This political trend, combined with broader geo-political events, made nationalization an appealing choice for Canada, the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and allied involvement in the Russian Revolution seemed to validate the continuing process. The need for a rail system was paramount in a time of civil unrest. CN Telegraph originated as the Great North West Telegraph Company in 1880 to connect Ontario and Manitoba, in 1915, facing bankruptcy, GNWTC was acquired by the Canadian Northern Railways telegraph company. When Canadian Northern was nationalized in 1918 and amalgamated into Canadian National Railways in 1921, CN Telegraphs began co-operating with its Canadian Pacific owned rival CPR Telegraphs in the 1930s, sharing telegraph networks and co-founding a teleprinter system in 1957. In 1967 the two services were amalgamated into a joint venture CNCP Telecommunications which evolved into a telecoms company, CN sold its stake of the company to CP in 1984. This led to the creation of a network of CNR radio stations across the country, as anyone in the vicinity of a station could hear its broadcasts the networks audience extended far beyond train passengers to the public at large
16.
Canada
–
Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
17.
Canadian Pacific Railway
–
The Canadian Pacific Railway, also known formerly as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railroad incorporated in 1881. The railroad is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a restructuring in 2001. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, it owns approximately 20,000 kilometres of track all across Canada and into the United States, stretching from Montreal to Vancouver, and as far north as Edmonton. Its rail network also serves Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, the railway was originally built between Eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1881 and 1885, fulfilling a promise extended to British Columbia when it entered Confederation in 1871. It was Canadas first transcontinental railway, but no longer reaches the Atlantic coast, the CPR became one of the largest and most powerful companies in Canada, a position it held as late as 1975. Its primary passenger services were eliminated in 1986, after being assumed by Via Rail Canada in 1978, a beaver was chosen as the railways logo because it is the national symbol of Canada and was seen as representing the hardworking character of the company. The company acquired two American lines in 2009, the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad and the Iowa, Chicago, the trackage of the ICE was at one time part of CP subsidiary Soo Line and predecessor line The Milwaukee Road. It is publicly traded on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CP and its U. S. headquarters are in Minneapolis. The creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway was a task undertaken for a combination of reasons by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald. He was helped by Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, who was the owner of the North Western Coal and his company went through several name changes during the process of the construction of the railway. British Columbia, a sea voyage away from the East Coast, had insisted upon a land transport link to the East as a condition for joining Confederation. The government however proposed to build a railway linking the Pacific province to the Eastern provinces within 10 years of 20 July 1871, Macdonald saw it as essential to the creation of a unified Canadian nation that would stretch across the continent. Moreover, manufacturing interests in Quebec and Ontario wanted access to raw materials, the first obstacle to its construction was political. The logical route went through the American Midwest and the city of Chicago, to ensure this routing, the government offered huge incentives including vast grants of land in the West. Because of this scandal, the Conservative Party was removed from office in 1873, surveying was carried out during the first years of a number of alternative routes in this virgin territory followed by construction of a telegraph along the lines that had been agreed upon. The Thunder Bay section linking Lake Superior to Winnipeg was commenced in 1875, by 1880, around 1,000 kilometres was nearly complete, mainly across the troublesome Canadian Shield terrain, with trains running on only 500 kilometres of track. With Macdonalds return to power on 16 October 1878, an aggressive construction policy was adopted. Macdonald confirmed that Port Moody would be the terminus of the transcontinental railway, in 1879, the federal government floated bonds in London and called for tenders to construct the 206 km section of the railway from Yale, British Columbia, to Savonas Ferry, on Kamloops Lake
18.
Bailey Yard
–
Bailey Yard is the world’s largest railroad classification yard. Personnel there sort, service and repair locomotives and cars headed all across North America, owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad, Bailey Yard is located in North Platte, Nebraska. The yard is named after former Union Pacific president Edd H. Bailey, Bailey Yard is halfway between Denver and Omaha. It covers an expanse of 2,850 acres and is over 8 miles in length and 2 miles wide. The yard has 200 separate tracks totaling 315 miles of track,985 switches,766 turnouts, Union Pacific employs more than 2,600 people in North Platte, most of whom are responsible for the day-to-day operations of Bailey Yard. An average of 139 trains and over 14,000 railroad cars pass through Bailey Yard every day, the eastbound hump is a 34 feet -tall mound and the westbound hump is 20 feet high. These are used to sort four cars a minute one of the 114 bowl tracks,49 tracks for the westbound trains and 65 for eastbound. The bowl tracks are used to form trains headed for destinations across North America, including the East, West and Gulf coasts of the United States, the car repair shop replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels each year. The yard features an in-motion wheel defect detector developed by Union Pacific that uses technology to inspect each wheel. It is the only such detector in the world and this has reduced the time needed to replace trucks from up to 12 days to 8–12 minutes. Locomotives can be serviced in a NASCAR-like pit stop facility called a Run-Thru staffed by four different crafts—an electrician, machinist, fireman oiler, locomotives are serviced in 45 minutes without detaching them from their trains. The cars go through the car department to get fixed and the go to the diesel shop. Because of the amount of products that pass through Bailey Yard. He chose the location because of the availability of water nearby. The town, first known as Hell on Wheels, received its first train in 1866, Dodge then constructed major shop facilities and winter quarters for its crews. In 1867 it began conducting main line operations through the town, the early yard was a flat-switched yard with 20 tracks. Buffalo Bill located Scouts Rest Ranch at North Platte because it allowed him to move his Wild West Show by train or by wagon across the United States relatively quickly. From 1941 to 1946, the North Platte Canteen served baked goods, after 105 years, passenger service was discontinued in 1971
19.
North Platte, Nebraska
–
North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the part of the state, along Interstate 80. The population was 24,733 at the 2010 census, North Platte is a railroad town, Union Pacific Railroads large Bailey Yard is located within the city. Today, North Platte is served only by trains. Tens of thousands of volunteers from North Platte and surrounding towns met the trains passing through North Platte, offering coffee, sandwiches. North Platte is the city of the North Platte Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Lincoln, Logan. North Platte was established in 1868 when the Union Pacific Railroad was extended to that point and it was named from the North Platte River. North Platte is located at 41°8′9″N 100°46′14″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.39 square miles, of which,13.20 square miles is land and 0.19 square miles is water. The normal monthly mean ranges from 25.0 °F in January to 74.3 °F in July. On average, there are 3.5 days that reach 100 °F or higher,37 days that reach 90 °F or higher,33 days that do not climb above freezing, and 13 days with a low of 0 °F or below. The average window for freezing temperatures is September 26 thru May 10, precipitation is greatest in May and June and has ranged from 10.01 in in 1931 to 33.44 in in 1951. As of the census of 2010, there were 24,733 people,10,560 households, the population density was 1,873.7 inhabitants per square mile. There were 11,450 housing units at a density of 867.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 93. 1% White,1. 0% African American,0. 7% Native American,0. 7% Asian,2. 8% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 8. 8% of the population. 34. 8% of all households were made up of individuals and 13. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.95. The median age in the city was 37.1 years. 24. 9% of residents were under the age of 18, 9% were between the ages of 18 and 24, 25% were from 25 to 44,25. 6% were from 45 to 64, and 15. 5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48. 8% male and 51. 2% female, as of the census of 2000, there were 23,878 people,9,944 households, and 6,224 families residing in the city
20.
Union Pacific Railroad
–
The Union Pacific Railroad is a freight hauling railroad that operates 8,500 locomotives over 32,100 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. The Union Pacific Railroad network is the largest in the United States and it is also one of the worlds largest transportation companies. Union Pacific Railroad is the operating company of Union Pacific Corporation. Union Pacific Corporations main competitor is the BNSF Railway, the second largest freight railroad. Together, the two railroads have a duopoly on all freight rail lines in the U. S. The original company was incorporated on July 1,1862, under an act of Congress entitled Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The act was approved by President Abraham Lincoln, and it provided for the construction of railroads from the Missouri River to the Pacific as a war measure for the preservation of the Union. It was constructed westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa to meet the Central Pacific Railroad line, the line was constructed primarily by Irish labor who had learned their craft during the recent Civil War. The two lines were joined together at Promontory Summit, Utah,53 miles west of Ogden on May 10,1869, hence creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America. Under the guidance of its dominant stockholder Dr. Thomas Clark Durant, the namesake of the city of Durant, Iowa, the first rails were laid in Omaha. It built or purchased local lines that gave it access to Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon and it also owned narrow gauge trackage into the heart of the Colorado Rockies and a standard gauge line south from Denver across New Mexico into Texas. UP was entangled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, exposed in 1872 and its independent construction company the Crédit Mobilier had bribed congressmen. The UP itself was not guilty but it did get bad publicity, the financial crisis of 1873 led to financial troubles but not bankruptcy. The company was reorganized as the Union Pacific Railway on January 24,1880, the new company declared bankruptcy during the Panic of 1893. When it emerged in 1897 it reverted to the original name, the corporate headquarters of the Union Pacific Corporation were located in New York City from its initial founding in the 1860s until Drew Lewis became CEO in the mid-1980s. He relocated it to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, later the headquarters was shifted to Dallas, Texas, before relocating to Omaha to join the operating headquarters. From the ICC annual reports, except 1979 is from Moodys, on December 31,1925 UP-OSL-OWRN-LA&SL-StJ&GI operated 9,834 route-miles and 15,265 track-miles. At the end of 1980, Union Pacific operated 9,266 route-miles and 15,647 miles of track, Moodys shows 220,697 million revenue ton-miles in 1993 on the expanded system
21.
Conway Yard
–
Conway Yard is a major rail yard located in the boroughs of Conway and Freedom, Pennsylvania,22 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, along the Ohio River. It was the largest freight yard in the world from 1956 until 1980 and it is currently owned by Norfolk Southern and one of the largest yards in the United States. Conway Yard was initially built by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1884, in 1905, it had a capacity of 8,967 cars and typically processed 2,300 cars per day. The enlarged yard was one of four built in Pennsylvania at that time as part of a major PRR expansion, the others being Altoona Yard, Enola Yard, the PRR began rebuilding the yard in 1953. After an investment of $35 million, the new yard opened in 1956. Its newly expanded capacity was 9,000 cars per day, Conway was rebuilt with both eastbound and westbound hump classification yards, and a total of 99 classification tracks, at a cost of about $35 million, according to a 1957 PRR publication. A1958 publication describes a total of 107 classification tracks, the westbound hump yard was outfitted with an automatic control system called VELAC, which was designed and installed by the Union Switch and Signal Company. It was described as the worlds largest push-button yard, the eastbound hump yard was installed with semi-automatic operation. A terminal for transferring coal from river barges to rail cars was located at the end of the yard. Of the aforementioned PRR yards, Conway is the remaining large operation. NS processes 90,000 to 100,000 cars per month, the site currently occupies 568 acres, with 181 miles of track and a storage capacity of over 11,000 cars. As of 2012, the yard employed 1,400 rail workers, list of rail yards 21st century photos of Conway Yard Photos of Conway Yard from the Conrail era
22.
Pittsburgh
–
Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. The city proper has a population of 304,391. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U. S. The city features 30 skyscrapers, two inclines, a fortification and the Point State Park at the confluence of the rivers. Aside from steel, Pittsburgh has led in manufacturing of aluminum, glass, shipbuilding, petroleum, foods, sports, transportation, computing, autos, and electronics. For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment, Americas 1980s deindustrialization laid off area blue-collar workers and thousands of downtown white-collar workers when the longtime Pittsburgh-based world headquarters moved out. The area has served also as the federal agency headquarters for cyber defense, software engineering, robotics, energy research. The area is home to 68 colleges and universities, including research and development leaders Carnegie Mellon University, the region is a hub for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, sustainable energy, and energy extraction. Pittsburgh was named in 1758 by General John Forbes, in honor of British statesman William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. The current pronunciation, which is unusual in English speaking countries, is almost certainly a result of a printing error in some copies of the City Charter of March 18,1816. The error was repeated commonly enough throughout the rest of the 19th century that the pronunciation was lost. After a public campaign the original spelling was restored by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1911. The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee, the first known European to enter the region was the French explorer/trader Robert de La Salle from Quebec during his 1669 expedition down the Ohio River. European pioneers, primarily Dutch, followed in the early 18th century, Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European fur traders established area posts and settlements. In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched an expedition to the forks to unite Canada with French Louisiana via the rivers, during 1753–54, the British hastily built Fort Prince George before a larger French force drove them off. The French built Fort Duquesne based on LaSalles 1669 claims, the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years War, began with the future Pittsburgh as its center. British General Edward Braddock was dispatched with Major George Washington as his aide to take Fort Duquesne, the British and colonial force were defeated at Braddocks Field. General John Forbes finally took the forks in 1758, Forbes began construction on Fort Pitt, named after William Pitt the Elder while the settlement was named Pittsborough
23.
Norfolk Southern Railway
–
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States. NS is responsible for maintaining 29,000 miles, with the remainder being operated under trackage rights from other parties responsible for maintenance, the common commodity hauled on the railroad is coal from mines in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The railroad also offers the largest intermodal network in eastern North America, NS is a major transporter of domestic and export coal. In Pennsylvania, NS also receives coal through interchange with R. J, corman Railroad/Pennsylvania Lines at Cresson, Pennsylvania, originating in the Clearfield Cluster. Coal transported by NS is thus exported to steel mills and power plants around the world, the company is also a major transporter of auto parts and completed vehicles. It operates intermodal container and TOFC trains, some in conjunction with other railroads, NS was the first railway to employ roadrailers, which are highway truck trailers with interchangeable wheel sets. The Norfolk Southern Railways parent Norfolk Southern Corporation is a Norfolk, Norfolk Southern Corporation was incorporated on July 23,1980 in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols NSC. As of October 1,2014 Norfolk Southern Corporations total public stock value was slightly over $34.5 billion, the system began in 1982 with the creation of the Norfolk Southern Corporation, a holding company for the Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western Railway. The new company was given the name of the Norfolk Southern Railway, a line, acquired by SOU in 1974, that served primarily North Carolina. Headquarters for the new NS were established in Norfolk, Virginia, the company suffered a slight embarrassment when the marble headpiece at the buildings entrance was unveiled, which read Norfolk Southern Railway. A new headpiece replaced the erroneous one several weeks later, NS aimed to compete in the eastern United States with CSX Transportation, formed after the Interstate Commerce Commissions 1980 approval of the merger of the Chessie System and the Seaboard System. Norfolk Southerns predecessor railroads date to the early 19th century, the SRs earliest predecessor line was the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road. Chartered in 1827, the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company became the first to regularly scheduled passenger train service with the inaugural run of the Best Friend of Charleston in 1830. Another early predecessor, the Richmond & Danville Railroad, was formed in 1847, the R&D ultimately fell on hard times and in 1894, it became a major portion of the new Southern Railway. Financier J. P. Morgan selected veteran railroader Samuel Spencer as president, profitable and innovative, Southern became in 1953 the first major U. S. railroad to completely switch to diesel-electric locomotives from steam. It was acquired by the South Side Railroad in 1854, in the second half of the 20th century, the N&W acquired the Virginian Railway, the Wabash Railway, and the Nickel Plate Road, among others. In 1990, the two merged and formed Norfolk Southern Railway. The system grew with the acquisition of half of Conrail
24.
Corwith Yard
–
At the time it was built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1887, it was the worlds largest railway yard. With adjacent parking and buildings it covers nearly a mile of land. Now called the Corwith Intermodal Facility, it now handles much more freight than it did in its 19th-century heyday, for the BNSF Railway, Corwith container cranes load approximately 1900 containers per day. Human Intelligence systems are used to sort & route the containers, track Plans and Map of Corwith Yards
25.
BNSF Railway
–
The BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, second to the Union Pacific Railroad, and is one of seven North American Class I railroads. It has 44,000 employees,32,500 miles of track in 28 states and it has three transcontinental routes that provide rail links between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad, the BNSF and UP have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western U. S. and share trackage rights over thousands of miles of track. According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America, for instance, the railroad hauls enough coal to generate roughly ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad is an owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The creation of BNSF started with the formation of a holding company, on January 24,2005, the railroads name was officially changed to BNSF Railway, using the initials of its original name. The United States Surface Transportation Board placed a 15-month moratorium on all rail mergers, the company is investing an estimated $34 billion in BNSF and acquiring $10 billion in debt. On February 12,2010, shareholders of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation voted in favor of the acquisition, BNSFs history dates back to 1849, when the Aurora Branch Railroad in Illinois and the Pacific Railroad of Missouri were formed. The Aurora Branch eventually grew into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, a portion of the Pacific Railroad became the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was chartered in 1859 and it built one of the first transcontinental railroads in North America, linking Chicago and Southern California, major branches led to Texas, Denver, and San Francisco. The Interstate Commerce Commission denied a proposed merger with the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in the 1980s and it absorbed the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway in 1980. Its main lines included Chicago-Seattle with branches to Texas and Montgomery, Alabama, on June 30,1994, BN and ATSF announced plans to merge, they were the largest and smallest of the Super Seven, the seven largest of the then-twelve U. S. The long-rumored announcement was delayed by a disagreement over the disposition of Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corporation and this announcement began the next wave of mergers, as the Super Seven were merged down to four in the next five years. The Illinois Central Railroad and Kansas City Southern Railway, two of the five small Class Is, announced on July 19 that the former would buy the latter, but this plan was called off on October 25. The Union Pacific Railroad, another major Western system, started a war with BN for control of the SF on October 5. The UP gave up on January 31,1995, paving the way for the BN-ATSF merger, subsequently, the UP acquired the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in 1996, and Eastern systems CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway split Conrail in 1998. UP was satisfied with a segment of trackage rights from Abilene, Kansas to Superior, Nebraska. KCS gained haulage rights to several Midwest locations, including Omaha, East St. Louis, and Memphis, in exchange for BNSF getting similar access to New Orleans
26.
Crewe
–
Crewe /kruː/ is a railway town and civil parish within the borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The area has a population of 72,863, from 1946 until 2002 it was also the home of Rolls-Royce motor car production. The Pyms Lane factory on the west of the town now produces Bentley motor cars exclusively, Crewe is 158 miles north of London and 35 miles south of Manchester. Crewe was thus named after the station, rather than the other way round. The name derives from an Old Welsh word criu, meaning weir, Crewe was founded in the township of Monks Coppenhall which, with the township of Church Coppenhall, formed the ancient parish of Coppenhall. The railway station was named after the township of Crewe in which it was located, eventually, the township of Crewe became a civil parish in its own right also named, rather confusingly, Crewe. This civil parish changed its name to Crewe Green in 1974 to avoid confusion with the adjacent town, the railway station remained part of the civil parish of Crewe, outside the boundary of the municipal borough until 1936. An old, local riddle describes the unusual states of affairs, The place which is Crewe is not Crewe. Until the Grand Junction Railway company chose Crewe as the site for its works and railway station in the late 1830s. Winsford,7 miles to the north, had rejected an earlier proposal, Crewe railway station was built in fields near to Crewe Hall and was completed in 1837. A new town grew up, in the parishes of Monks Coppenhall and Church Coppenhall, alongside the increasingly busy station, GJR chief engineer Joseph Locke helped lay out the town. The town has a park, Queens Park, the land for which was donated by the London and North Western Railway. It has been suggested that their motivation was to prevent the rival Great Western Railway building a station on the site, the railway provided an endowment towards the building and upkeep of Christ Church. Until 1897 its vicar, non-conformist ministers and schoolteachers received concessionary passes, the company provided a doctors surgery with a scheme of health insurance. A gasworks was built and the water supply was adapted to provide drinking water. The railway also opened a market in 1854 and a clothing factory for John Compton who provided the company uniforms. During World War II the strategic presence of the railways and Rolls-Royce engineering works made Crewe a target for air raids. The borough lost 35 civilians to these, the worst raid was on 29 August 1940 when some 50 houses were destroyed, Crewe crater on Mars is named after the town of Crewe
27.
Reading railway station
–
Reading railway station is a major transport hub in Reading, England. On the northern edge of the centre, near the main retail and commercial areas. Reading is the ninth-busiest station in the UK outside London, Reading is one of 19 stations managed by Network Rail. The station is served by three train operating companies, Great Western Railway, CrossCountry and South West Trains, the first Reading station was opened on 30 March 1840 as the temporary western terminus of the original line of the Great Western Railway. The time taken to travel from London to Reading was reduced to one hour and five minutes, the line was extended to its intended terminus at Bristol in 1841. In 1844, the Great Western Hotel, was opened across the Forbury Road for people visiting the town and it is thought to be the oldest surviving railway hotel in the world. New routes soon joined the London to Bristol line, with the line from Reading to Newbury and Hungerford opening in 1847, in 1860, a new station building, in Bath Stone and incorporating a tower and clock, was constructed for the Great Western Railway. In 1898 the single sided station was replaced by a design with up, down. Access to the station from Broad Street was not direct, until Queen Victoria Street was built in 1903 and this provided a route through to Friar Street and Station Road. The station was originally named Reading and became Reading General on 26 September 1949 to distinguish it from the ex-South Eastern Railway station nearby, the General suffix was dropped from British Rail timetables in 1973, but some of the station nameboards still stated Reading General in 1974. From 6 September 1965, services from the former Reading Southern station were diverted into a newly constructed terminal platform in the General station. At the same time a new station car park was built on the site of the former goods yard and signal works to the north of the station. The station facilities in the 1860 station building were converted into The Three Guineas public house, the Queen reopened the station on 4 April 1989. By 2007, the station had become a bottleneck on the railway network. This was caused by limited number of through-platforms, the flat junctions immediately east and west of the station, the Great Western Main Line at Reading has two pairs of tracks – the main lines on the southern side and the relief lines on the northern side. Passenger and freight trains transferring between the Reading to Taunton Line and Reading to Basingstoke Line and the lines had to cross the Main lines. On 10 September 2008 Network Rail unveiled a £400 million regeneration and reconfiguration of the station, the plans included an underpass to allow freight and passenger trains to transit from the to the Relief lines without blocking the Main lines. This was planned to alleviate current delays, due to slow moving freight trains passing through the station
28.
Walsall
–
Walsall is an industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located 8 miles north-west of the City of Birmingham and 6 miles east of the City of Wolverhampton, historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation, and part of the Black Country. Walsall is the centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Walsall. At the 2011 census, the towns built-up area had a population of 67,594, neighbouring settlements in the borough include Darlaston, Brownhills, Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge. The name Walsall is thought to have derived from the words Walh halh, Walsall is first referenced as Walesho in a document dated 1002. However, it is believed that a manor was held here by William FitzAnsculf, by the first part of the 13th century, Walsall was a small market town, with the weekly market being introduced in 1220 and held on Tuesdays. The mayor of Walsall was created as a position in the 14th century. The town was visited by Queen Elizabeth I, when it was known as Walshale and it was also visited by Henrietta Maria in 1643. She stayed in the town for one night at a building named the White Hart in the area of Caldmore, the Industrial Revolution changed Walsall from a village of 2,000 people in the 16th century to a town of over 86,000 in approximately 200 years. The town manufactured a range of products including saddles, chains, buckles. Nearby, limestone quarrying provided the town with much prosperity, in 1824, the Walsall Corporation received an Act of Parliament to improve the town by providing lighting and a gasworks. The gasworks was built in 1826 at a cost of £4,000, in 1825, the corporation built eleven tiled, brick almshouses for poor women. They were known to the area as Molesleys Almshouses, the Walsall Improvement and Market Act was passed in 1848 and amended in 1850. The Act provided facilities for the poor, improving and extending the sewerage system, on 10 October 1847, a gas explosion killed one person and destroyed the west window of St Matthews Church. Walsall finally received a line in 1847,48 years after canals reached the town. In 1855, Walsalls first newspaper, the Walsall Courier and South Staffordshire Gazette, was published, over 2000 men from Walsall were killed in fighting during the First World War. They are commemorated by the cenotaph, which is located on the site of a bomb which was dropped by Zeppelin L21 – killing the towns mayoress. Damage from the Zeppelin can still be seen on what is now a club on the corner of the main road, the town also has a memorial to two local VC recipients, John Henry Carless and Frederick Gibbs
29.
DB Cargo UK
–
DB Cargo UK, formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway, is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England. In November 2007, EWS was sold to Deutsche Bahn, in March 2016 it was rebranded DB Cargo UK. In 1988, British Rails freight operations were split into two divisions Railfreight Distribution and Trainload Freight, RfD took over BRs Freightliner and Speedlink services and general wagonload and trainload services, excluding bulk coal, petroleum, aggregates and metals. BRs bulk trainload services were handled by the Trainload Freight division, in 1991 the Rail Express Systems brand was created, to handle mail and postal services. After the passing of the Railways Act 1993, five rail freight companies were formed from RfD and TLF. which were later renamed Loadhaul, Mainline Freight and Transrail Freight. The remainder of RfD was split into two companies, Freightliner, with the residual RfD company operating trains through the Channel Tunnel. The Mail and Parcels business were sold as Rail Express Systems, the companies were subsequently put up for sale by competitive tender. To bid for the ex-BR businesses being offered for sale, North and South Railways Limited was formed and it was owned by a consortium headed by Wisconsin Central, with additional financing provided by Berkshire Partners, Goldman Sachs and Fay Richwhite. On 9 December 1995, North and South Railways purchased Rail Express Systems for £24 million, with this came the contract for the Royal Mail train service, including the Travelling Post Office trains, and the contract to haul the Royal Train. A fleet of 164 locomotives and 677 postal vans were included along with depots at Bristol Barton Hill, Cambridge, Crewe, then on 24 February 1996, British Rails three trainload freight companies, Loadhaul, Mainline Freight and Transrail Freight were acquired for £225 million. The sale included 914 locomotives and 19,310 wagons, at the time rail had a 6% share of the freight market. Initially, the four continued to trade under their existing names. On 25 April 1996, the EWS brand was unveiled, on 10 July 1996 the holding companys name was changed to English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Holdings Limited. In October 1996, Loadhaul and Mainline Freight were merged with Transrail Freight, and employees transferred to Transrail Freight, which was then renamed to English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Limited. One of the first actions of the company was to seek volunteers for redundancy, as it sought to reduce staff numbers by around 3,000. Including subsidies for the use of the Channel Tunnel, Railfreight Distributions businesses included international containerised freight, movement of cars and automotive components by rail, and freight services for the Ministry of Defence. It was concluded on 12 March 1997, at this point, EWS controlled 90% of the rail freight market. Railfreight Distribution was renamed English Welsh & Scottish Railway International on 1 December 1998, the new company had over 900 locomotives,19,000 freight wagons, and 7,000 employees
30.
Freightliner Group
–
Freightliner Group is a rail freight and logistics company, formed in the United Kingdom in 1995, and now having expanded into Australia, The Netherlands and Poland. Freightliner Limited is the largest intermodal transport operator in the United Kingdom. Freightliner Group is the second largest freight operating company in the UK by revenue and it is a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming. Dudley Freightliner Terminal,10 miles from Birmingham, on the site of the old station was opened in October 1967. This proved to be one of the most profitable such terminals in the country, yet by 1981, Freightliner was planning to close Dudley and transfer its function to Birmingham in order to boost the latters fortunes. However, the Dudley terminal was given a reprieve in 1983, as part of the Privatisation of British Rail the Freightliner business unit had its assets transferred into a new company, Freightliner Limited, in preparation for sale. On 25 May 1996 Freightliner was purchased by a management buyout backed by 3i, in 1999 Freightliner set up its Heavy Haul business. In March 2004 Freightliner launched Logico, providing short-term or one-off spaces on intermodal trains, in 2007 Freightliner commenced operations in Poland. On 13 June 2008 Freightliner Group was purchased by Railinvest Holding Company Limited a subsidiary of Arcapita Bank of Bahrain, in June 2009 Freightliner commenced operations in Australia. In February 2015, Freightliner was sold by Arcapita Bank to Genesee & Wyoming, under the deal, Genesee & Wyoming purchased a 95% shareholding which will increase to 100% by 2020. On 12 November 2015, British Rail Class 47 No,47830, which is operated by Freightliner, was named Beechings Legacy to mark 50 years since the first container train ran under British Rail. These ran from ports including Felixstowe, Southampton and Tilbury to terminals such as Birmingham, Trafford Park in Manchester, Ashton Gate in Bristol, the network has been expanded with additional destinations added. Freightliner also operate an extensive distribution network with 300 road vehicles. Initially run as a division of Freightliner Limited, in 2001 operations were transferred to a new subsidiary, in April 2006 Freightliner Maintenance Limited was established as a separate entity dedicated to the repair and maintenance of traction and rolling stock. In 2006 Freightliner expanded its operations into Poland, a subsidiary company, Freightliner PL Sp. Z o. o. was established to bid for contracts hauling coal traffic, the first contract was for coal transport from Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka SA near Bogdanka to Kozienice Power Station. The service began in September 2007, most of Freightliner PLs services operate on the Gdańsk to Warsaw corridor and in southern Poland. In February 2015, Freightliner PL signed a contract to lease five Newag Gliwice 5MW electric six-axle E6DCF Dragon locomotives from ING Lease
31.
Passenger car (rail)
–
A passenger car is a piece of railway rolling stock that is designed to carry passengers. The term passenger car can also be associated with a car, baggage, dining, railway post office. Up until about the end of the 19th century, most passenger cars were constructed of wood, the first passenger trains did not travel very far, but they were able to haul many more passengers for a longer distance than any wagons pulled by horses. As railways were first constructed in England, so too were the first passenger cars, one of the early coach designs was the Stanhope. It featured a roof and small holes in the floor for drainage when it rained, the only problem with this design is that the passengers were expected to stand for their entire trip. The first passenger cars in the United States resembled stagecoaches and they were short, often less than 10 ft long and had two axles. British railways had a start on American railroads, with the first bed-carriage being built there as early as 1838 for use on the London and Birmingham Railway. Britains early sleepers, when made up for sleeping, extended the foot of the bed into a section at the end of the carriage. The cars were too short to allow more than two or three beds to be positioned end to end. Britains Royal Mail commissioned and built the first Travelling Post Office cars in the late 1840s as well. These cars resembled coaches in their short wheelbase and exterior design, when not in use, the hook would swivel down against the side of the car to prevent it from catching obstacles. As locomotive technology progressed in the century, trains grew in length. Passenger cars, particularly in America, grew along with them, first getting longer with the addition of a second truck, early American sleeping cars were not compartmented, but by the end of the 19th century they were. The compartments in the sleepers were accessed from a side hall running the length of the cars. Many American passenger trains, particularly the long ones, included a car at the end of the train called an observation car. Until about the 1930s, these had a platform at the rear. These evolved into the end car, usually with a rounded end which was still called an observation car. The interiors of observation cars varied, many had special chairs and tables
32.
Train station
–
A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight. It generally consists of at least one platform and a station building providing such ancillary services as ticket sales. If a station is on a line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as stops or, in parts of the world. Stations may be at level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other modes such as buses. In British usage, the station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified. In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station, Railway station and railroad station are less frequent. Outside North America, a depot is place where buses, trains, or other vehicles are housed and maintained and from which they are dispatched for service. The two-storey Mount Clare station in Baltimore, Maryland, which survives as a museum, first saw service as the terminus of the horse-drawn Baltimore. The oldest terminal station in the world was Crown Street railway station in Liverpool, built in 1830, as the first train on the Liverpool-Manchester line left Liverpool, the station is slightly older than the Manchester terminal at Liverpool Road. The station was the first to incorporate a train shed, the station was demolished in 1836 as the Liverpool terminal station moved to Lime Street railway station. Crown Street station was converted to a goods station terminal, the first stations had little in the way of buildings or amenities. The first stations in the modern sense were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, manchesters Liverpool Road Station, the second oldest terminal station in the world, is preserved as part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. It resembles a row of Georgian houses, dual-purpose stations can sometimes still be found today, though in many cases goods facilities are restricted to major stations. In rural and remote communities across Canada and the United States, such stations were known as flag stops or flag stations. Many stations date from the 19th century and reflect the architecture of the time. Countries where railways arrived later may still have such architecture, as later stations often imitated 19th-century styles, various forms of architecture have been used in the construction of stations, from those boasting grand, intricate, Baroque- or Gothic-style edifices, to plainer utilitarian or modernist styles
33.
Sunnyside Yard
–
Sunnyside Yard is a large coach yard, a railroad yard for passenger cars, in Sunnyside, Queens in New York City. The yard is owned by Amtrak and is used by New Jersey Transit. The shared tracks of the Long Island Rail Road Main Line, Northeast of the yard a balloon track is used for U-turning Amtrak and NJ Transit trains which terminate at Penn Station. The Pennsylvania Railroad completed construction of the yard in 1910, at that time Sunnyside was the largest coach yard in the world, occupying 192 acres and containing 25.7 mi of track. The yard served as the train storage and service point for PRR trains serving New York City. It is connected to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan by the East River Tunnels, the Sunnyside North Yard initially had 45 tracks with a capacity of 526 cars. The South Yard had 45 tracks with a 552 car capacity, plans for the East Side Access project to Grand Central Terminal call for some LIRR trains diverging from its main line and traveling through a tunnel under the yard. It would also create a new station at Queens Boulevard, named Sunnyside, in May 2011, a $294.7 million federal grant was awarded to address congestion at Harold Interlocking, the USAs busiest rail junction, which is part of the yard
34.
New York City
–
The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
35.
West Side Yard
–
The West Side Yard is a rail yard owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. Used to store commuter rail operated by the Long Island Rail Road. The yard includes storage tracks, a six-track indoor shop for maintenance, a 12-car long platform for car cleaning, and lockers. It also sits above the 34th Street – Hudson Yards subway station, before the yard opened in 1987, trains arriving at Penn Station during the morning rush hour had to deadhead back to Long Island for midday storage. The West Side Yard also increased the LIRRs peak period capacity at Penn Station, the 26. 17-acre site is bounded by between West 30th Street, West 33rd Street, 10th Avenue, and 12th Avenue. New York Central and later Penn Central expanded the rail yards, the rail yard was acquired by the State of New York. The northern portion was used for construction of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the yard was built because limited storage capacity at Penn Station forced LIRR trains to make non-passenger trips to storage yards on Long Island. The yard opened in 1987, immediately increasing train capacity through Penn Station, the West Side Yard is named after John D. Caemmerer, a New York State Senator from East Williston who helped obtain $195.7 million for its construction. During construction, a tunnel was built that allows Amtrak trains from Penn Station to travel to Upstate New York via the West Side Line. Amtrak trains began using this tunnel on April 7,1991, before this, the West Side Yard was designed with space left between the tracks for columns to support development in air rights above the tracks. Madison Square Garden considered a move to the site in the mid-1980s. In the 1990s the air rights were considered as a location for a New York Yankees stadium. The eastern portion of the West Side Yard was rezoned for residential and commercial use in January 2005 as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project. Following the defeat of the proposal to construct the West Side Stadium, the Gateway Project is a proposal to build a high-speed rail corridor to alleviate the bottleneck along the Northeast Corridor between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City. In June 2013 the US Department of Transportation announced that $183 million had been dedicated to the box as part of Hurricane Sandy recovery funding. Construction began in September 2013 and was expected to take two years, the underground concrete casing is 800 ft long,50 ft wide, and approximately 35 ft tall. Amtrak awarded Tutor Perini a $133 million contract to build a section of box tunnel
36.
Manchester
–
Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 514,414 as of 2013. It lies within the United Kingdoms second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.55 million, Manchester is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is Manchester City Council and it was historically a part of Lancashire, although areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated during the 20th century. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a township but began to expand at an astonishing rate around the turn of the 19th century. Manchesters unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and its fortunes declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation. The city centre was devastated in a bombing in 1996, but it led to extensive investment, in 2014, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Manchester as a beta world city, the highest-ranked British city apart from London. Manchester is the third-most visited city in the UK and it is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections. Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the worlds first inter-city passenger railway station and in the city scientists first split the atom, the name Manchester originates from the Latin name Mamucium or its variant Mancunium and the citizens are still referred to as Mancunians. These are generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name, both meanings are preserved in languages derived from Common Brittonic, mam meaning breast in Irish and mother in Welsh. The suffix -chester is a survival of Old English ceaster and their territory extended across the fertile lowland of what is now Salford and Stretford. Central Manchester has been settled since this time. A stabilised fragment of foundations of the version of the Roman fort is visible in Castlefield. After the Roman withdrawal and Saxon conquest, the focus of settlement shifted to the confluence of the Irwell, much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent Harrying of the North. Thomas de la Warre, lord of the manor, founded and constructed a church for the parish in 1421. The church is now Manchester Cathedral, the premises of the college house Chethams School of Music. The library, which opened in 1653 and is open to the public today, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. Manchester is mentioned as having a market in 1282, around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx of Flemish weavers, sometimes credited as the foundation of the regions textile industry
37.
Goods station
–
This often takes the form of a container terminal and may also be known as a container station. Goods stations were more widespread in the days when the railways were common carriers and were converted from former passenger station whose traffic had moved elsewhere. The worlds first dedicated goods terminal was the 1830 Park Lane Goods Station at the South End Liverpool Docks, built in 1830 the terminal was reached by a 1. 24-mile tunnel from Edge Hill in the east of the city. The station was a part of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, where individual goods wagons are dispatched to specific goods stations, they are usually delivered to special shunting stations or marshalling yards where they are sorted and then collected. Sometimes there are combined shunting and goods stations, a goods station is usually equipped with a large number of storage and loading sidings in order to fulfil its task. On the loading sidings there may be fixed facilities, such as cranes or conveyor belts, or temporary equipment, stations where the primary purpose of the station is the handling of containers are also known as container terminals. They are equipped with cranes and fork-lift vehicles for loading containers from lorries or ships onto the railway vehicles. If only a section of a station is used for the loading and unloading of goods, it may be referred to as the loading area or loading dock and has its own access. Often there are no facilities for loading and the firm has to organise its own loading equipment such as conveyor belts or lorry cranes. Such loading areas were mainly to be found on branch lines, narrow gauge railways, in many European countries they are also equipped with a hump yard. In combined goods and hub stations with a yard, the latter was closed if the station lost its role as a railway hub. As a result, most of the remaining goods stations today are just used as container or transshipment stations, in French, gare aux marchandises or gare de fret. Freight yard Goods shed Goods train Railway station, which information on passenger stations. Container terminal Blum, Otto, Personen- und Güterbahnhöfe, kurt Leibrand, Handbuch für Bauingenieurwesen, Berlin/Göttingen/Heidelberg, Springer-Verlag. Bände 1 und 2, East Berlin, Transpress VEB Verlag für Verkehrswesen, europe-wide goods station search Goods stations search - Germany Container services
38.
Rail transport operations
–
A railway has two major components, the rolling stock and the infrastructure. The operation of the railway is through a system of control, originally by mechanical means, signalling systems used to control the movement of traffic may be either of fixed block or moving block variety. Fixed block signalling Most blocks are fixed blocks, i. e. they delineate a section of track between two defined points, on timetable, train order, and token-based systems, blocks usually start and end at selected stations. On signalling-based systems, blocks start and end at signals. Alternatively, cab signalling may be in use, the lengths of blocks are designed to allow trains to operate as frequently as necessary. A lightly used line might have blocks many kilometres long. Moving block signalling A disadvantage of fixed blocks is that the trains are permitted to run, the longer the stopping distance. With moving block, computers are used to calculate a safe zone, behind each moving train, the system depends on precise knowledge of where each train is and how fast it is moving. With moving block, lineside signals are not provided, and instructions are passed direct to the trains and it has the advantage of increasing track capacity by allowing trains to run much closer together. Most rail systems serve a number of functions on the track, carrying local, long distance and commuter passenger trains. The emphasis on each varies by country, some urban rail transit, rapid transit and light rail systems are isolated from the national system in the cities they serve. Some freight lines serving mines are also isolated, and these are owned by the mine company. An industrial railway is a rail system used inside factories or mines. Steep grade railways are isolated, with special safety systems. The permanent way trails through the physical geography, the tracks geometry is limited by the physical geography. Trains are pushed/pulled by one or more locomotive units, two or more locomotives coupled in multiple traction are frequently used in freight trains. Railroad cars or rolling stock consist of cars, freight cars, maintenance cars. Modern passenger trains sometimes are pushed/pulled by a tail and head unit, many passenger trains consist of multiple units with motors mounted beneath the passenger cars
39.
Siding (rail)
–
A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line or branch line or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end, sidings often have lighter rails, meant for lower speed or less heavy traffic, and few, if any, signals. Sidings connected at both ends to a line are commonly known as loops, otherwise they are known as single-ended sidings or dead end sidings. Sidings may be used for marshalling, stabling, storing, loading and unloading vehicles, common sidings store stationary rolling stock, especially for loading and unloading. Industrial sidings go to factories, mines, quarries, wharves, warehouses, such sidings can sometimes be found at stations for public use, in American usage these are referred to as team tracks. Sidings may also hold maintenance of way equipment or other equipment, allowing trains to pass, some sidings have very occasional use, having been built, for example, to service an industry, a railway yard or a stub of a disused railway that has since closed. It is not uncommon for a siding to fall into disrepair. A particular form of siding is the siding or passing loop. This is a section of parallel to a through line. Sidings allow trains travelling in opposite directions to pass, and for fast, sidings are very important for operating efficiency on single track lines, and add to the capacity of other lines. A siding may have lighter rail than the main track, the rail used may not be continuous welded rail but rather joined by angle bars. The railway owner may place less emphasis on the quality of the ties and the ballast used on the siding as compared to that on its main track. A siding may not receive or may not require, the degree of scrutiny and maintenance that the more heavily travelled main track may receive. ”Interestingly. This same naming convention for sidings is followed in the American rules for railroad operation, the General Code of Operating Rules Seventh Edition effective April 1,2015 defines a siding as “A track connected to the main track and used for meeting or passing trains. Location of sidings are shown in the timetable. ”The definition is interesting in that it appears to attach a single purpose to a siding, like their Canadian counterparts, there also is no assigned number of main track switch connections in this definition of a siding. The employee time table for these Canadian railroads also uses the single word “Siding” to describe this section of track, a designated siding in the railroad’s employee timetable is shown with a siding capacity which is its usable length as measured in feet. Typically the track centre for a siding or any track adjacent to the track is a standard distance to allow the safe passage of trains including trains that may be handling dimensional shipments. At the two ends of the siding, that distance is compromised as the siding joins the main track, as such the railway will display an appropriate stopping point on both the main track and the siding track to ensure the safe passage of both trains
40.
Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad
–
The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad was founded in 1837 as a shortline railroad by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company to bring traffic to its Lehigh Canal. It is today a company that leases several important rail corridors in eastern Pennsylvanias anthracite coal region. Over the next five decades, the company spearheaded a variety of tough terrain mountain railroading projects, the Lehigh and Susquehanna developed technologies for various tough mountainous obstacles along their route. In a second, later phase of construction, the built an steep double-tracked route cutting the difficult grade into the mountainside from the north end of the Solomon Gap. Before the flood, planned construction was held off while the lines trackage from Easton on the Delaware to Mauch Chunk below the Lehigh River Gorge was assayed. Centered in the right bank town of Mauch Chunk the L&S finally moved with alacrity to connect both its halves. The trackage established by the railroad was double-tracked in the gradient from the Mountain Top Yardto Laurel Run. 1st St in Wilkes-Barre —which connected other railroads and to the Tayor yard and Scranton, Pennsylvania, lH&S since has been a holding company, but LC&N/LH&S maintained ownership of the trackage rights until the Conrail consolidations in the 1970s, and the operator throughout was the CNJ
41.
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company
–
Cautionary note, The name forms Lehigh Coal and Navigation vs. Lehigh Coal & Navigation both occur in the legal and historical records of both eras. Convention on Wikipedia is LC&N for company affairs before the 1967 collapse of railroad revenues took the company into bankruptcy. The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was an extremely impactful and important mining and it had two predecessors both incorporated and which began operations in mid-1818. It is widely cited in academia as a first case example of integration in manufacturing in the U. S. combining source industries, transport. Completing the vertical integration, the ropes were then marketed to other mining operations, cable railways. It was founded by industrialists Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, who sought to improve delivery of coal to markets, and a thickly accented German immigrant miner named Hauto. In 1792, hunter Philip Ginter discovered coal on Sharpe Mountain—a peak on Pisgah Ridge near ‹See Tfd›Summit Hill close to the border between Schuylkill and Carbon Counties, the mining camps were over 9 miles from the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk. Eventually, the owners sold some coal to Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, White and Hazard were delighted by the quality of the fuel, and subsequently bought the LCMCs final two barges to survive the trip down the Lehigh. The desired opportunity to ruin themselves, as one member of the Legislature put it, was granted by an act passed March 20,1818. The State kept its weather eye open in this matter, however, in 1817, they leased the Lehigh Coal Mine companys properties and took over operations, incorporating on October 21,1818, as the Lehigh Coal Company along with partner Hauto. They petitioned the legislature and propose acquiring rights to make improvements of the river, in 1820, White and Hazard bought out Hauto and dissolved the LCC on April 21,1820. Accordingly, three times the funds were raised to improve the river as were raised to put the mining U delivery of coal onto a regular paying basis. To move the coal to market, they entered negotiations to acquire rights to tame the turbulent. By 1817–18, they had organized the separate Lehigh Navigation Company and had written stock flyers announcing plans to deliver loads of coal regularly to Philadelphia by 1824. The LCMC had trouble delivering Anthracite to Philadelphia at costs cheaper than imported Bituminous Coal from Britain or Virginia, the desired opportunity to ruin themselves, as one member of the Legislature put it, was granted by an act passed March 20,1818. In this contingency, Josiah White, who was a man of great resourcefulness and mechanical ingenuity, in this manner the difficulty was overcome. The canal head end needed a location where barges could be built and timber, both towns are built into the flanks, the traverses, of the mountain, with flats along the river banks. The coal arrived at the end from the mines at Summit Hill or down along the steep mule trail from near the headwaters of Panther Creek
42.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
.jpg)
