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In rail transport, a train is a vehicle or (more frequently) a string of vehicles capable of being moved along a continuous line of rails or other guideway for the purpose of conveying freight or passengers between points on a predetermined route. The train may be hauled or propelled by one or more vehicles designed exclusively for that purpose (locomotives) or may be driven by a number of motors incorporated in all or several of the vehicles (multiple units).

As of 2018^[update], there are approximately 1,052,000 kilometres (654,000 mi) of railway track in use worldwide. (World Bank (via Archive.org))

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Selected article of the week

The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&M) took place on 15 September 1830. Work on the L&M had begun in the 1820s, to connect the major industrial city of Manchester with the nearest deep water port at the Port of Liverpool, 35 miles (56 km) away. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, the Prime Minister, rode on one of the eight inaugural trains, as did many other dignitaries and notable figures of the day. Huge crowds lined the track at Liverpool to watch the trains depart for Manchester. The trains left Liverpool on time and without any technical problems. The Duke of Wellington's special train ran on one track, and the other seven trains ran on an adjacent and parallel track, sometimes ahead and sometimes behind the Duke's train. At Parkside railway station, near the midpoint of the line, the locomotives made a scheduled stop to take on water. Although the railway staff had advised passengers to remain on the trains while this took place, around 50 of the dignitaries on board alighted when the Duke of Wellington's special train stopped. One of those who got off was William Huskisson, former cabinet minister and Member of Parliament for Liverpool. Huskisson approached the Duke's railway carriage and shook his hand. Distracted by the Duke, he did not notice an approaching locomotive on the adjacent track, Rocket. On realising it was approaching he panicked and fell onto the tracks in front of the train, suffering serious leg injuries and dying later that night. By the time the trains reached the outskirts of Manchester the crowd gathered there had become hostile and was spilling onto the tracks. With local authorities unable to clear the tracks, the trains were obliged to drive at low speed into the crowd, using their own momentum to push people out of the way. Eventually they arrived at Liverpool Road railway station in Manchester to be met by a hostile crowd, who waved banners and flags against the Duke and pelted him with vegetables. Wellington refused to get off the train, and ordered that the trains return to Liverpool. The death and funeral of William Huskisson caused the opening of the railway to be widely reported. The L&M became extremely successful, and within a month of its opening plans were put forward to connect Liverpool and Manchester with the other major cities of England. Within ten years, 1,775 miles (2,857 km) of railways had been built in Britain, and within 20 years of the L&M's opening over 6,200 miles (10,000 km) were in place. The L&M remains in operation, and its opening is now considered the start of the age of mechanised transport; in the words of industrialist and former British Rail chairman Peter Parker, "the world is a branch line of the pioneering Liverpool–Manchester run".

Recently selected: Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company - Ekeberg Line - Bramhope Tunnel

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An advertising poster created before 1900 shows the scenic view of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy from the rack railway ascending Monte Mottarone above Stresa.

Recently selected: 1892 head-on collision in Canada - Gautrain - German track workers

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Did you know...

...that the opening ceremonies of the Galway to Clifden railway were very sparsely attended because the event date was a strict church holiday and was reserved for attending church services?
...that following heavy damage to the Galveston Island Trolley track and cars from Hurricane Ike in 2008, substitute service with replica buses was operated until service resumed in October 2021?
...that although the former Santa Fe Railway's Galesburg station was demolished after regular passenger service to the station ended in 1996, the site is still used if derailments cause trains to use the Chillicothe Subdivision instead of the Mendota Subdivision?
...that the Fuzhou–Xiamen railway, which opened in 2010, was so heavily used that it reached capacity in 2015, spurring construction on the parallel Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed railway for CRH passenger train services?

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Selected anniversaries

December 19

1806 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II, designer of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Thomas Viaduct (pictured), is born (d. 1878).
1827 – The South Carolina Canal and Rail Road is chartered.
1908 – Korekimi Nakamura begins his term as the second president of South Manchuria Railway.
1941 – Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Columbian passenger train route is extended from Jersey City-Washington to Jersey City-Chicago.

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Train News

Santa Fe No. 2926 at Albuquerque, New Mexico
July 24, 2021 – Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe No. 2926, a 4-8-4 steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1944, moves under its own power for the first time since Christmas Eve of 1953, after nearly twenty-two years of being rebuilt by volunteers. The locomotive will be put into mainline excursion service. (NMSL&RHS, Trains Magazine on Facebook)
Big Boy No. 4012 at Steamtown National Historic Site
May 5, 2021 – Steamtown National Historic Site completes thorough cosmetic overhaul on Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy No. 4012, which is moved back on static display before National Train Day. (NEPA Scene)
The derailed Taroko Express trainset, as seen from outside the entrance to the tunnel
April 2, 2021 – 2021 Hualien train derailment – A Taroko Express train operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) derails at the north entrance of Qingshui Tunnel in Heren Section, Xiulin Township, Hualien County, Taiwan, killing 49 people and injuring at least 200 others. North of Hualien City a construction truck had fallen down a slope onto the tracks. The eight-carriage train derailed after colliding with the truck, and then came to a rest in the tunnel, with severe damage and many casualties. (Bloomberg, CNN, CNA, New York Times, Financial Times)

The preserved C&O 1309 at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in October 2009

December 31, 2020 – Following a complete restoration, Chesapeake and Ohio 1309, a 2-6-6-2 Mallet locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1949, the last steam locomotive built by Baldwin for the North American market, is operated under its own power for test runs. When returned to service on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, it will be the largest steam locomotive in regular scheduled service in the United States and take 2-8-0 No. 734’s place as the largest active steam locomotive in the state of Maryland. (Trains.com Newswire)

An Avelia Liberty train on a test run in Delaware in May 2020

September 28, 2020 – Amtrak operates a test run using one of the 28 new Avelia Liberty trains manufactured by Alstom along the full length of the Northeast Corridor to Boston South Station. Previous test runs had occurred from Washington, D.C., only as far north as New Jersey and Delaware. Barring any problems, the trains are expected to enter regular service on the route in 2021. (Universal Hub)

Berryessa/North San José station on the first day of service

June 13, 2020 – The Bay Area Rapid Transit Silicon Valley BART extension opened its stations in Milpitas and North San Jose. (San Jose Spotlight, SF Gate)

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General images

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

Image 1Pacific National diesel locomotives in Australia showing three body types, cab unit (front), hood unit (middle) and box cab (rear) (from Locomotive)
Image 2Various types of railroad cars in a classification yard in the United States (from Train)
Image 3Baltimore & Ohio electric engine, 1895 (from Locomotive)
Image 4A Union Pacific freight train; high clearances enable double-stacked containers to be carried in well cars. (from Train)
Image 5Inside a modern-day car from Finland (from Railroad car)
Image 6Southern Railway (UK) 20002 was equipped with both pantograph and contact shoes. (from Locomotive)
Image 7China operates an extensive high speed rail network. (from Train)
Image 8Typical American extended vision caboose (from Railroad car)
Image 9A preserved armored train (from Train)
Image 10World's first useful diesel locomotive (a diesel–electric locomotive) for long distances SŽD Eel2, 1924 in Kyiv (from Locomotive)
Image 11Most derailments, such as this one in Switzerland, are minor and do not cause injuries or damage. (from Train)
Image 12Second-class compartment of a China Railways CRH1A-A train (from Train)
Image 13The "hump" of a hump yard. Railcars travel past retarders, which control their speed, and are directed onto tracks to be assembled into new trains. The control tower operates the retarders. (from Rail yard)
Image 14A British Rail Class 150 in the United Kingdom (from Railroad car)
Image 15British Rail Mark 3 coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s (from Railroad car)
Image 16A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London (from Railroad car)
Image 17A narrow-gauge battery–electric locomotive used for mining (from Locomotive)
Image 18A gas turbine locomotive operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (from Train)
Image 19The 1887 Daimler draisine (from Locomotive)
Image 20Workington stabling point in 1981, with locomotives from Classes 25, 40 and 47 parked between duties. (from Rail yard)
Image 21This cab car includes a horn (top), a bell (top right), headlights (above the door), classification lights (red lights on side), and ditch lights (white lights on side). (from Train)
Image 22Soviet RT-23 Molodets ICBM launch train, in the St Petersburg museum (from Railroad car)
Image 23The New Orleans Streetcar System is one of the oldest in the world. (from Train)
Image 24Bombardier ALP-45DP at the Innotrans convention in Berlin (from Locomotive)
Image 25Electric train on Djursholmsbanan in Stockholm in the 1890s. (from Train)
Image 26A number of maintenance vehicles at work on Metro-North Railroad (from Train)
Image 27Yard for Amtrak equipment, located next to the Los Angeles River. The two tracks on the left are the mainline. (from Rail yard)
Image 28A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901 (from Locomotive)
Image 29Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe (from Train)
Image 30A London Underground battery–electric locomotive at West Ham station used for hauling engineers' trains (from Locomotive)
Image 31A large Amtrak and Metra coach yard just south of Chicago Union Station. About 25 percent of all rail traffic in the United States travels through the Chicago area. (from Rail yard)
Image 32US-style railroad truck (bogie) with journal bearings (from Train)
Image 33Škoda Artic light rail train near the cathedral in Tampere, Finland (from Train)
Image 34A China Railways HXD1D electric locomotive in China (from Locomotive)
Image 35The EMD FT set the stage for diesel locomotives to take over from steam. (from Train)
Image 36Armored train Hurban located in Zvolen, Slovakia (from Railroad car)
Image 37Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, by Claude Monet, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago (from Train)
Image 38A coach yard in Shanghai, China (from Rail yard)
Image 39Variety of rolling stock in rail yard (from Rolling stock)
Image 40A wooden toy train set from Swedish manufacturer Brio (from Train)
Image 41The Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen pioneered high speed rail service. (from Train)
Image 42This map of Cedar Hill Yard in Connecticut shows a variety of different facilities, including receiving yards, departure yards, classification yards, and a repair yard. (from Rail yard)
Image 43Trains carrying hazardous materials display information identifying their cargo and hazards. This tank car carrying chlorine displays, among other markings, a U.S. DOT placard showing a UN number that identifies the hazardous substance. (from Train)
Image 44Stockton and Darlington special inaugural train 1825: six wagons of coal, directors coach, then people in wagons. (from Train)
Image 45Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin (from Railroad car)
Image 46The Union Pacific Big Boy locomotives represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology and power. (from Train)
Image 47A Victorian Railways R class steam locomotive in Australia (from Locomotive)
Image 48Werner von Siemens experimental DC electric train, 1879 (from Locomotive)
Image 49A Tokyo Monorail train (from Train)
Image 50A freight car (boxcar type) for the South Australian Railways, 1926 (from Railroad car)
Image 51An interior of a Circle line S7 Stock in London (from Railroad car)
Image 52A narrow gauge train in Austria (from Train)