Grade (slope)The grade (also called slope, incline, gradient, mainfall, pitch or rise) of a physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. It is a special case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontality. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of "tilt". Often slope is calculated as a ratio of "rise" to "run", or as a fraction ("rise over run") in which run is the horizontal distance (not the distance along the slope) and rise is the vertical distance.
WagonwayWagonways (also spelt Waggonways), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway, dramway, were used. The advantage of wagonways was that far bigger loads could be transported with the same power. The earliest evidence is of the long Diolkos paved trackway, which transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC.
Sleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper (often wagon-lit) is a railway passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American and English railways in the 1830s; they could be configured for coach seating during the day. Possibly the earliest example of a sleeping car (or bed carriage, as it was then called) was on the London & Birmingham and Grand Junction Railways between London and Lancashire, England.
Intercity ExpressIntercity Express (commonly known as ICE (iːtseːˈʔeː)) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It is the flagship of the German state railway, Deutsche Bahn. ICE fares are fixed for station-to-station connections, on the grounds that the trains have a higher level of comfort. Travelling at speeds up to , they are aimed at business travellers and long-distance commuters and marketed by Deutsche Bahn as an alternative to flights.
DieselisationDieselisation (US: dieselization) is the process of equipping vehicles with a diesel engine or diesel engines. It can involve replacing an internal combustion engine powered by petrol (US: gasoline) fuel with an engine powered by diesel fuel, as occurred on a large scale with trucks, buses, farm tractors, and building construction machinery after World War II. Alternatively it can involve replacing the entire plant or vehicle with one that is diesel-powered; the term commonly describes the generational replacement between the 1930s to 1970s of railway steam locomotives with diesel locomotives, and associated facilities.
Classification yardA classification yard (American English, as well as the Canadian National Railway), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, and Australian English, as well as the Canadian Pacific Railway) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railway cars onto 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.
PassengerA passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, buses, passenger trains, airliners, ships, ferryboats, and other methods of transportation. Crew members (if any), as well as the driver or pilot of the vehicle, are usually not considered to be passengers.
Train hornA train horn is an air horn used as an audible warning device on diesel and electric-powered trains. Its primary purpose is to alert persons and animals to an oncoming train, especially when approaching a level crossing. They are often extremely loud, allowing them to be heard from great distances. They are also used for acknowledging signals given by railroad employees, such as during switching operations. For steam locomotives, the equivalent device is a train whistle.
Troop sleeperIn United States railroad terminology, a troop sleeper was a railroad passenger car which had been constructed to serve as something of a mobile barracks (essentially, a sleeping car) for transporting troops over distances sufficient to require overnight accommodations. This method allowed part of the trip to be made overnight, reducing the amount of transit time required and increasing travel efficiency. Between December 1941 and June 1945 U.S. railroads carried almost 44 million armed services personnel.
Cable railwayA cable railway is a railway that uses a cable, rope or chain to haul trains. It is a specific type of cable transportation. The most common use for a cable railway is to move vehicles on a steeply graded line that is too steep for conventional locomotives to operate on – this form of cable railway is often called an incline or inclined plane. One common form of incline is the funicular – an isolated passenger railway where the cars are permanently attached to the cable.
