A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the use of these self-propelled vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains, but rare for freight.
Rail transport is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails.
A tram is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Many recently built tramways use the contemporary term light rail.
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the technology is overhead line. It is known variously as overhead catenary, overhead contact line (OCL), overhead contact system (OCS), overhead equipment (OHE), overhead line equipment, overhead lines (OHL), overhead wiring (OHW), traction wire, and trolley wire.
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost fully segregated from the outside environment. Third-rail systems are usually supplied from direct current electricity.
Railway electrification is the use of electric power for the propulsion of rail transport. Electric railways use either electric locomotives, electric multiple units or both. Electricity is typically generated in large and relatively efficient generating stations, transmitted to the railway network and distributed to the trains. Some electric railways have their own dedicated generating stations and transmission lines, but most purchase power from an electric utility. The railway usually provides its own distribution lines, switches, and transformers.
Melbourne tram route 109 is operated by Yarra Trams on the Melbourne tram network from Box Hill to Port Melbourne. The 19.3 kilometre route is operated out of Kew depot with A and C class trams.
A pantograph is an apparatus mounted on the roof of an electric train, tram or electric bus to collect power through contact with an overhead line. The term stems from the resemblance of some styles to the mechanical pantographs used for copying handwriting and drawings.
Sestroretsk is a municipal town in Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, the Sestra River and the Sestroretskiy Lake 34 kilometers (21 mi) northwest of St. Petersburg. Population: 37,248 (2010 Census); 40,287 (2002 Census); 35,498 (1989 Census); 30,500 (1975).
Trams in Saint Petersburg are a major mode of public transit in the city of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Saint Petersburg once had the second-largest tram network in the world, consisting of about 340 kilometres (210 mi) of unduplicated track in the late 1980s. However, since 1995 the tramway network has declined sharply in size as major portions of track were removed, particularly in the city centre. Saint Petersburg lost its record to Melbourne, Australia. While it still had 285 kilometres (177 mi) of length in 2002, by early 2007 the tram network's had declined to just over 220 kilometres (140 mi), and by the 2010s operated on just 205.5 kilometres (127.7 mi) of network.
Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky, or Fedir Apollonovych Pirotskyy was a Russian engineer of Ukrainian ancestry, inventor of the world's first railway electrification system and electric tram While the commercialization of his inventions in the Russian Empire was relatively slow, Pirotsky is known to have met with Carl Heinrich von Siemens and influenced Siemens' eventual introduction of the first regular electric tram line.
The history of trams, streetcars, or trolleys began in the early nineteenth century. It can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used.
A current collector is a device used in trolleybuses, trams, electric locomotives and EMUs to carry electric power (current) from overhead lines, electric third rails, or ground-level power supplies to the electrical equipment of the vehicles. Those for overhead wires are roof-mounted devices, those for rails are mounted on the bogies.
Sestroretsk railway station was a railway station in Sestroretsk, Russia handling transportation to northern destinations including Beloostrov and Sestroretsk.
The Sestroretsk spur line was laid by request of the Russian Ministry of Defence for communication of the Sestroretsk armory with the strategic Riihimäki-Saint Petersburg railway in 1871. The line was opened on 2 November 1871, when the first train proceeded on the route from Beloostrov to Sestroretsk.
The Weston-super-Mare Tramways were the electric street tramways of the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England. It operated a fleet of up to 16 standard gauge single- and double-deck tramcars on routes totalling 2.92 miles (4.70 km) to Birnbeck Pier, The Sanatorium and Locking Road. It opened in 1902 and was replaced by bus services in 1937.
Torquay Tramways operated electric street trams in Torquay, Devon, England, from 1907. They were initially powered by the unusual Dolter stud-contact electrification, but in 1911 was converted to more conventional overhead-line supply. The line was extended into neighbouring Paignton in 1911 but the whole network was closed in 1934.
The Bessbrook and Newry Tramway operated a 3 ft narrow gauge, hydro-electrically powered tramway transporting passengers and freight between Bessbrook and Newry in Northern Ireland between 1885 and 1948.
