Train facts and facts about trains, from the Random Facts shelf.
17 facts on this shelf
A railroad tanker car carrying propane traveled over 3,000 feet when it exploded during a train wreck in Illinois, sheering off a steel tower in it's path. It's the longest flight on record for a propane explosion.
Japan's Shinkansen "bullet train" opened in 1964, just before the Tokyo Olympics. It was the world's first high-speed rail line.
The London Underground opened in 1863 and was the world's first underground railway. Its first trains were pulled by steam engines.
Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway line in the world. It runs about 9,289 kilometers from Moscow to Vladivostok.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830, was the first intercity railway to run passenger trains entirely by steam.
In 1804, Richard Trevithick's steam locomotive pulled a train along a railway in Wales, the first time a steam locomotive ran on rails.
Tokyo's Shinjuku Station is the world's busiest train station, used by about 3.5 million people a day.
Tokyo train stations have employed "oshiya," or "pushers," whose job is to gently cram passengers onto packed rush-hour trains.
K-pop trainees often train for years before they debut.
Charles Dickens survived the Staplehurst rail crash in 1865 and helped care for injured passengers.
J.K. Rowling came up with the idea for Harry Potter in 1990 while on a delayed train from Manchester to London.
In 1922, a suitcase with Hemingway's early manuscripts was stolen from his wife Hadley at a Paris train station.
Japanese gardeners train a single chrysanthemum plant to grow hundreds of blooms in a style called ozukuri.
The Channel Tunnel is actually three tunnels: two for trains and one service tunnel.
Eurostar trains travel from London to Paris in about two and a quarter hours.
Le Shuttle carries cars through the Channel Tunnel on trains in about 35 minutes.
Apollo astronauts trained near Bend because the volcanic landscape resembles the Moon.