Facts about the railway Interesting facts about trains. Modern high-speed train "Sapsan"

To create such a large-scale project as railways, a lot of effort, time and Money. Sometimes, great design geniuses reached crazy decisions and created ridiculous situations. Curious cases have become frequent in this reform activity. And also with the development of high-speed transport, the topic of trains and long trips began to be mentioned very often in art - music, films, theatrical productions; and even in politics. Here are the most interesting facts and mentions about railways:

1) Who lives at the bottom of the ocean?

In 1896 between English cities Brighton and Rottingdean start to run unusual vehicle called Daddy Long Legs - a cross between a tram and a ferry. Laying a railway overland along this route required a lot of engineering structures, and engineer Magnus Volk proposed laying the rails directly along the bottom of the sea - the total length of the route was 4.5 km. The platform with passengers rose above the rails on four supports 7 meters long and had a flag, a lifeboat and other marine attributes, since it was formally considered a ship. The service was canceled in 1901 when new breakwaters were decided to be built near Brighton and relocation of the route was considered too costly.

2) When and where did the uncontrolled train travel more than 100 km, accelerating to a speed of 76 km/h?

On May 15, 2001, in Ohio, USA, a railroad crew was moving a 47-car train from one track to another. Due to a technical error, an uncontrolled train called CSX 8888 picked up speed and set off for independent travel, during which it accelerated to a speed of 76 km/h. Having traveled more than 100 km, the train was stopped by the driver of a diesel locomotive that had caught up with it, who coupled up with the last car and applied rheostatic braking.

3) What mechanism received its name from the name of the inventor of the prototype bicycle?

The prototype of the bicycle was designed and patented by the German baron Karl von Dres in 1818. This mechanism had a wooden frame, metal wheels and a steering wheel, but there were no pedals - in order for it to move, you had to push off the ground with your feet. The name of the inventor was not fixed in the name of the bicycle, but it gave the name to the trolley - a device for moving on rails with mechanical traction.

4) How did Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign influence the lyrics of the Time Machine songs?

During Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign, many works of art were censored. For example, Andrei Makarevich changed the lyrics in the song “Conversation on the Train”: after the line “Wagon disputes are the last thing,” instead of “when there is nothing left to drink,” he began to sing “and you can’t cook porridge from them.”

5) What was the main reason for the change to the time zone system in the 19th century?

Until the 19th century, there was no division into time zones; time was determined everywhere by the Sun. There was no need for time zones since there was no rapid transit. Unification was driven by the development of railways in England, because time differences in each city made it very difficult to create a normal timetable. It was the railway companies that ensured that the entire country had one time zone, Greenwich Mean Time. And then gradually the time zone system began to spread throughout the world.

6) Who became the victim of a murderer whose brother had previously saved the life of the murdered man’s son?

US President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in a theater by John Booth in 1865. Shortly before this, by coincidence, the latter’s brother, Edwin Booth, saved the life of the president’s son, Robert Lincoln, on a railway platform.

7) Where did the train accident occur, caused by the language barrier?

In 2001, a train accident occurred in Belgium in which 8 people, including both drivers, were killed as a result of a head-on collision between trains. Among other accidents, this one is unique in that its main cause was the language barrier. When the driver of the first train left the station despite the red light, the dispatcher called the next station to warn him about it. However, the dispatchers did not understand each other, as one spoke French and the other Dutch. Both of these languages ​​are official in Belgium, and according to the rules of the railway company, staff must know at least one of them.

8) What accident did the Americans stage in 1896 to entertain the public?

In 1896, one of the American railway companies staged a show - a deliberate collision of two trains at full speed. 40,000 tickets were sold for the “performance”, and a temporary town was built for the spectators who bought tickets. However, engineers miscalculated the force of the explosion and the crowd was not moved to a safe enough distance, resulting in three deaths and several others being injured.

9) What were military armored tires?

It is known that in the wars of the 19th century, the First and Second World Wars, many countries used armored trains. However, in addition to this, they tried to fight with the help of individual combat units - armored tires. They were almost like tanks, but limited in movement only by rails.

10) Series Y?

From 1910 to 1920, freight locomotives of the Y series were mass-produced in Russia.

11) Why did the direct railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg have a curvilinear bend in one place?

The Oktyabrskaya Railway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg is now a set of straight lines, although there used to be a small curvilinear bend between Okulovka and Malaya Vishera. There is a legend that when designing the road, Emperor Nicholas I personally drew a straight line between the two capitals, and the bend arose due to the fact that the pencil went around the finger attached to the ruler.

In fact, there was a difference in elevation in that place, which made it difficult for trains driven by low-power locomotives to move. In order not to hitch an additional locomotive, a detour was created.

12) Who and where managed to survive without becoming disabled after his brain was pierced by an iron crowbar?

In 1848, American railroad worker Phineas Gage suffered a work injury when a metal rod pierced the frontal lobe of his brain, entering through his left cheek and exiting near the crown of his head. Less than an hour later, Gage came to his senses, and then went to the hospital and on the way calmly and calmly talked about the hole in his head. The wound developed an infection, but the worker recovered and lived for another 12 years. His memory, speech, and perception were not impaired, only his character changed - he became more irritable and lost his inclination to work.

13) What Soviet-era myth about the film “The Arrival of a Train” is still alive?

Contrary to popular belief (which even found its way into a Soviet textbook on the history of foreign cinema), the film “The Arrival of a Train” was not shown at the famous first paid film show in Paris in the basement of the “Grand Café” on the Boulevard des Capucines.

14) What was the name of the city where Anna Karenina threw herself under the train?

In the novel by Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina threw herself under a train at the Obiralovka station near Moscow. During Soviet times, this village became a city and was renamed Zheleznodorozhny.

15) Who invented Morse code?

Morse code in its familiar form was not invented by Morse, but by the German engineer Gehrke. The original Morse code was cumbersome, although it was used on some American railroads well into the 1960s.

16) Who has more?

An interesting fact is that the railway gauge in Russia is 8 centimeters larger than in Europe. There is an epic that when Russian engineers came to the tsar and asked how wide the track should be, the same as in Europe or larger, he replied: fuck...th more. So they made the track exactly that much wider. The European railway gauge was adopted long before the invention of the steam locomotive.

17) Whose standard?

The railway track exactly corresponds to the distance between the wheels of the ancient Roman chariots with which the Romans carried out their campaigns of conquest across the territories of modern England and France. The peoples of Europe made their chariots according to Roman models, and this standard was taken into account during the construction of railways.

18) Mail trains under escort

In the early days of the Nikolaev Railway's existence, mail was especially vigilantly guarded along the entire route. For this purpose, mail trains were sent under the escort of mounted gendarmes, who galloped at full speed along the railway.

19) Rescue benches

Third-class carriages on the first Russian railways were installed in the front part of the train, were equipped with hard benches, but... did not have a roof, and therefore passengers more often traveled under the benches, where they escaped from the sparks flying out of the locomotive chimney in sheaves and from the cold.

20) Paradoxical love

The most paradoxical is the fact that despite the small length of Russian railways (only 7 percent of the total number of railways in the world), the Russian Federation accounts for about 35 percent of the world volume of railway freight traffic. These figures are explained by the unusual popularity of railways among Russian businessmen, and this type of transport is preferred by both owners of large enterprises and individual entrepreneurs who need to transport small consignments of cargo.
The reason for such love of the Russian people, and indeed the entire former USSR, for railways is easy to explain if we recall, at least, the fact that this type transport is considered the safest. Even if the speed of delivery leaves much to be desired, you can always be sure that the cargo will arrive at its destination safe and sound. After all, according to statistics, accidents on the railway happen tens of times less often than on highways, and in every news release, reports of another plane crash have become a common occurrence. High level security is especially important when transporting valuable and fragile products, and such products today constitute a significant part of the total flow of goods. While planes are falling, and roads, as we know, continue to be one of the main problems of the CIS, trains will occupy a leading position in the cargo transportation market. It is no secret that in remote corners of our countries many roads become simply impassable in the spring and autumn, so delivery by train remains the only possible option.
An important factor in favor of choosing rail cargo transportation is its relatively low cost. You simply cannot find a more profitable transport for transporting timber and building materials. There are also no restrictions on the types of cargo - bulk, liquid, volatile and food - transportation of flour and cement, coal and alcohol is possible. All the cargo owner needs to do is select a suitable container (wagon, gondola car, platform, tank, refrigerator).
But despite all the economic attractiveness and reliability, rail freight transportation has a number of disadvantages.
Firstly, in small towns there are simply no railway stations, so you still have to use road transport to deliver cargo to its destination. Secondly, there are a number of difficulties associated with different requirements for transportation technology in different countries. Therefore, international cargo transportation requires knowledge of many nuances and the ability to establish friendly foreign economic relations.
Today, transport companies, in order to provide maximum comfort to the customer and the recipient of the cargo, develop a logistics scheme for each individual cargo, coordinate the features and conditions of transportation based on the characteristics of the product, and provide clear information about the route of the train and the time of its arrival at the station.

21) The first mechanical (not manual or horse-powered) elevator driven by a steam engine, called the “vertical railway,” was installed in the USA in 1850. By the 1880s, large hotels and wealthy buildings in the United States and Europe were equipped with this type of elevator.

22) The “Underground Railroad” in the United States in the 1850s was the name given to a secret organization of abolitionists ( social movement, seeking the abolition of slavery), transporting runaway blacks from the South to the North.

• In 1804, Richard Trevithick, a native of England, invented the first train with locomotive traction. There was a passenger carriage there too. But he brought nothing but smiles to the faces of the audience. They simply didn’t dare to sit in it.
• The epic of passenger mainline trains began on September 15, 1830, when a train departed from Liverpool to Manchester, accommodating not only emboldened passengers, but also the world's first mail carriage.
• For three whole days, the first train in Russia ran free of charge, connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg. The “terrible thing” frightened potential passengers so much that they tried to avoid it.
• In 1830, in England they decided to organize a stunning competition between five locomotives. Unfortunately, one of the participants was not honest and hid live horses under the metal sheathing. You don't have to worry. He was suspended from participating in the competition. Not a single horse was harmed.
• The first third class passengers on Russian trains had to travel under benches. The thing is that the cars at the front of the train traveled without a roof, and passengers had no choice but to hide “under” their seats in bad weather.
• An unprecedented incident happened once in Ohio on the railroad. The train collided with the ship. This happened because the lake closest to the railway tracks overflowed its banks and “sank” the tracks one meter under water. The train driver turned out to be a brave guy and decided not to stop. Unfortunately, such courage led to a collision between the train and the steamship.
• Do you like smooth roads? Feel free to travel to Australia. 500 kilometers across a desert plain and not a single turn. Of course, such a road has settled on the pages of the Guinness Book of Records.
• But Russia has distinguished itself with the longest railway line in the world. 9.3 thousand kilometers - this is the length of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
• “Half” - this is the name of the Trans-Siberian Railway station. From there it is an equal distance to both distant Vladivostok and equally distant Moscow.
• When going on an excursion on the famous Patagonia Express train, be prepared to be robbed. This offer is very attractive to tourists. After all, you can not only admire the scenery, but also feel like the victims of a carefully planned crime.
• If you're in Japan, be sure to stop by Shibuya Station. The monument to a dog who met his owner for 10 years when he left by train is a local landmark and a touching story.

  

• 100 years ago, kissing was banned at train stations in France to avoid delays when sending trains. By the way, the law is still in effect today.
• 6.5 kilometers and 440 cars - this is the length of the longest freight train, which, by the way, was made in Russia and followed the Ekibastuz-Ural route.
• An oxygen bag is a necessary attribute for every passenger boarding a train in western Peru. Still would! You will travel at an altitude of more than 3 kilometers - along the highest mountain railway.
• Newcomers are always lucky - it is this sign that makes the most adventurous residents of Monte Carlo go out to the newly arrived trains and meet the arrivals. Not only will they greet you, but they will also offer you money to play (after all, you will definitely be lucky as a beginner), the owner of the money will take the winnings, but you will definitely receive your percentage.
• The most romantic cities in Europe - Paris and Venice - are connected by a “train of love”. TV, shower, double bunk and VIP service - what else do you need for romance?!

  

• “Russia”, “Baikal”, “Red Arrow” - the trains also have names and titles. The most distinguished route was “Rostov-Odessa”. Passengers nicknamed him “Papa-Mama.”
• The Japanese always care about the comfort of their trains. They created a composition on a magnetic cushion. At a speed of 517 km/h, you will be taken to any point on your route.
• A rocket-powered platform in New Mexico allowed the train to reach its highest speed to date - 9851 km/h!
• Russian railways promise to put into operation double-decker railways in the future. passenger carriages, where everything will be done for maximum comfort of people - shower, toilet, air conditioning, and they will cost much less.

As you can see, there are a lot of funny cases and funny and fascinating facts about trains and railways. Travel! Watch! Learn new things! May railroad crossings always be interesting and educational for you!

Railways and aviation have long been competing with each other to attract passengers with inexpensive, fast and convenient transportation. The average person uses the services railway transport more than 9 times a year.

We present interesting facts about railways.

The longest highway in the world - 9300 km - is the Trans-Siberian railway.

After the first railway appeared in Russia, travel was free for some time. Most likely, this was done so that residents could get used to this type of transport. The phrases “this is such a scary thing” were heard from everywhere.

A hundred years ago, a law appeared in France that prohibited kissing at train stations. And all because, due to this “criminal act,” the trains left with a significant time delay. The law is still held in high esteem.

People who inspect “iron horses” must have an ear for music in order to take timely action if a breakdown occurs. They determine this by ear - the way the wheel knocks must be of a certain frequency. Railway workers are distinguished from representatives of other professions by a special uniform; everyone has seen these people on railway stations. Today you can freely buy a similar uniform for everyone, as in other professions https://specovka.by/obuv-rabochaya-specialnaya

In the city of love, in Paris, there is a similar “love train” to match it. Its route is not that long, Paris - Venice and back. But suddenly, at such a distance, people in the compartment want to indulge in love, they will have all the conditions: a double bunk, a shower and “room service”.

There is a train that moves not on rails, but on a magnetic levitation. It was created by the Japanese, and the speed it can reach reaches 517 km/h.

The first third class trains in Russia were equipped with ordinary wooden benches. But that's not so bad. The fact that these cars had no roof is a real problem.

Therefore, people who decided to “ride with the breeze” hid under these lavas from the rain and snow.

The railways also visited the Guinness Book of Records. The Australian railway broke all records by not having a single turn for 500 km.

Today, the “iron world” does not stand still. Technologies are moving forward, new, “fast-moving” trains are appearing - electric trains, ready to take us to as soon as possible to the place we need. The only downside is the price we have to pay for it.

By the way, the speed that modern high-speed trains can reach has already exceeded 580 km/h.

Such a familiar thing to us - the railway! One of the most reliable and affordable and loved by many modes of transport. I bought a train ticket and came to the station. Nowadays no one remembers that when the railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow opened, travel was made free for the first three days precisely because everyone was afraid of this “terrible thing.”

On average, each of us becomes a railway passenger 9 times a year. The average number of passengers of JSC Russian Railways per year is 1 billion 300 million.

The most remarkable railway is the Trans-Siberian Railway. It is the longest in the world. From Moscow to Nakhodka - 9438 km and 97 large stations. The Rossiya branded train runs along this route and travels for 8 days, 4 hours and 25 minutes.

The very middle of the Trans-Siberian Railway is called Polovina station. It is the same distance from Moscow and Vladivostok.

The coldest section of the Trans-Siberian Railway is located between the Mogocha and Skovorodino stations. The temperature here reaches -62 degrees. Although geographically this is not the northernmost point of the highway.

And the most high point, where the Trans-Siberian rails are laid, lies at an altitude of 1040 m, between the Turgutui and Yablonovaya stations. This is 6110 km, Yablonovy Pass.

The longest freight train was 6.5 km long, consisted of 440 cars and regularly transported 42,000 tons of coal from Ekibastuz to the Urals back in Soviet times. On the other side of the world, in South Africa, another record was recorded in 1989: a 7.3 km long train consisting of 660 cars. True, the experiment was not repeated. The track couldn't stand it.

The first railway in Russia was a freight railway, 2 km long. It was built in the Urals, at the Kolyvanovsky plant, and it was horse-drawn. The first passenger road was the well-known Tsarskoye Selo.

The speed of the first passenger trains in the 19th century was 33 km/h. And railway workers at that time were a kind of elite: they were treated like, for example, aviators at the beginning of the 20th century, or astronauts in the 60s. Modern trains can reach speeds of up to 580 km/h.

The requirements for hiring trackmen have not changed during this time: they must have a good ear for music, since they can determine the malfunction of a wheel by the change in tone when it is tapped.

According to statistics, the railway is 45 times safer than a car. For those who are still worried, experts advise choosing carriages in the middle of the train, and in seated carriages - buying a train ticket for seats against the traffic.

Thrill-seekers are invited to Argentina. The legendary Patagonia Express train, specially restored for tourists, runs there. Except vivid impressions from the local landscapes, you can unexpectedly find yourself taking part in an action called “Train Robbery” :)

IN South America a lot of surprises. For example, German engineers who examined the Isthmus of Panama for the construction of the Trans-American Railway said that it was unprofitable to make rails from local iron. Gold is a more affordable metal here...

Today we want to tell you some interesting facts about railways. Perhaps some of you will think: “Trains are so banal and predictable, what about planes with their Bermuda Triangle or ocean ships shrouded in a halo of romance.” But believe me, the history of development railway communication full of all sorts of interesting facts: insignificant and of great importance, curious and sad. Together with our readers, we have already found out in which country it operates, where and when it was created - this information, in principle, is generally known. In this article we would like to bring to your attention several little-known and at the same time extremely interesting facts about railways.

Where did seasickness come from among train passengers?

Everyone knows that one of the many advantages of railway transport is that almost no one gets sick in it. But it turns out that the Japanese designers, with their invention, managed to cause seasickness in passengers. In 1973, a train with cars tilting to the sides was designed and put into operation in Japan. The idea was good, because thanks to this design the train could fit into the turns of the track without reducing speed. The developers did not take into account one nuance: most of the passengers of the new train, having reached the final station, got out of the cars, to put it mildly, green from being very seasick.

“Tilting” trains were an invention that was ahead of its time: the development of technology in those years did not make it possible to refine the design and eliminate such a significant drawback. But in our age of digital technology, train drivers have the opportunity to control the tilt of train cars literally up to one degree, and today passenger trains that fit into bends without losing speed run in more than 15 countries. When cars tilt in “new generation” trains, passengers not only do not experience discomfort, but often do not even notice anything

On a train with an oxygen cushion

Trains are so in demand in the transport infrastructure that railway tracks for them are laid wherever possible. So in China there is the famous Qinghai-Tibet Railway - the highest mountain railway in the world. The highest point of the road is located more than 5000 meters above sea level. Naturally, such conditions require special trains. All carriages for trains running on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway are completely sealed, next to each passenger seat there is a connector to which, if necessary, you can connect an oxygen tube, and an oxygen supply control panel. At rare intermediate stations, passenger cars do not even open, because, simply put, there is nothing to breathe outside of them.

Train without a driver

Thirteen years ago in the USA, a repair crew was busy moving a train of 47 cars from one track to another, and made a technical error, as a result of which the train started moving and... rolled away. And he didn’t just roll away, but rushed uncontrollably along the rails at a speed of 76 km/h. It is unknown how this story would have ended if not for the intervention of the brave driver: having caught up with the “fugitive” on the diesel locomotive, he managed to couple up with the last carriage and slow down the entire train. By the time the out of control train stopped, it had traveled more than 100 km.

The introduction of time zones is an initiative of English railway companies

The time zones familiar to us simply did not exist until the beginning of the 19th century - there was no need for them, since the time in each city was determined by the sun. Everything changed with the advent of railway transport: the lack of a “single” time in all cities became not only a serious obstacle to scheduling trains, but also possible reason accidents on railway roads.

December 1, 1847 for all railway stations In Great Britain, the transition to a single time took place, that is, the country established one time zone, Greenwich Mean Time. America and Canada also owe the introduction of standard time and time zones to their railway companies.

Didn't think about the main thing

In Switzerland, a train tour was organized for the local elite: politicians, honored guests, etc. The railway workers went to great lengths and, for the greatest comfort of passengers, formed the train exclusively from dining cars... forgetting that they were not designed to have toilets. The result is obvious: at the destination, the guests of honor, forgetting about importance and etiquette, practically jumped out of the train, and, pushing aside those who met them on the platform, rushed in a certain direction.