Image: Wiki Commons by Timothy Stevens
About This Quiz
The first steam engine dates back to 1804. For more than 200 years, we've had the power to haul things across the country with massive trains. And while everyone has a car these days or can take a flight to get to a destination — or even telecommute where they need to go — the impact trains have had on the world can't be overlooked. The world wouldn't be where it is without trains. Our forefathers' ability to travel across the country to set up new settlements and establish trade across great distances helped us advance significantly. We owe a pretty big debt to trains.
Today we tend to use them mostly in our day-to-day lives to commute to work in big cities. Taking a subway or commuter train is a daily routine for thousands of people. Not to mention the fact that they're still crucial for shipping goods. Most people never give trains a second thought, though, and they're missing out. Trains are fascinating machines with a rich and vital history. They deserve some credit, and if you think you know a bit about the world of trains, now's a great time to show off your stuff by taking the quiz!
He invented the sleeper car.
George Pullman came up with the idea of a sleeper car after spending an uncomfortable night on a regular train. He created two, but they sold very poorly since no one wanted to waste money on the idea. That was until Mary Todd Lincoln rode in one after Abraham Lincoln's assassination, and his train became national news.
He built the first train yard.
He completed the first cross-country train run.
He started Amrak.
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Green lights
Emeralds is a slang term for the green signal lights along the side of the tracks that indicate everything is good to go ahead . The opposite of this, as with traffic signals, are red lights, which can also be called rubies.
Brakes
Dining cars
Tracks in the woods
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Running overloaded
Running at half speed
Running backwards
Running multiple locomotives all facing forward
Elephant style is what you cal it when a line of locomotives are all facing the same way. This mimics the way elephants will move in a herd, all nose to tail in a straight line towards their destination.
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The handle on a locomotive door
A railroad car repair person or inspector
Car knockers are the people who repair or inspect railroad cars. The name is a literal thing as a car knocker would check parts of the train by knocking on them to see if they sounded secure. Things are presumably more high tech these days.
A grated floor in a train
An old copper engine in a train
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Tankers of flammable liquids
Tanker trucks can carry all kinds of liquids and gases, but if they're carrying a potentially explosive load of some kind, they're known by the nickname of rolling bombs. It's a little grim but appropriate for the situation.
Military trains
Old TNT train cars
Mining trains
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Peace Strip
Dead Zone
Quiet Zone
Normally a train sounds its horn as it approaches a crossing, but in a Quiet Zone, it does not. This is a designation in a populated area, usually residential, so people aren't disturbed by train traffic. Extra safety precautions have to be taken in these areas.
Bridge Gap
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A dibb
A dribble
A dinkey
We tend to give small things rather cutesy nicknames, so maybe it's no surprise that a tiny locomotive is sometimes known as a dinkey. This is used most often for one on a narrow gauge or industrial track.
A donut
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87,000 tons
91,0000 tons
98,000 tons
104,000 tons
The heaviest train on record was traveling through Australia and weighed over 100,000 tons. It was also 4.5 miles long. It was made up of 682 cars loaded with iron ore and traveled for 170 miles.
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Brutus
The Blue Line
Tom Thumb
Peter Cooper created America's first steam engine, having a vested interest in selling the land that the tracks would be on. His engine was called Tom Thumb (a replica is shown here) and it lost in a race against a horse its first time out.
Paul Bunyan
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Empty
Dark territory
When there are no signals in a section of track, you're officially in dark territory. This is usually only for a short distance, or it could be the result of some kind of a technical problem that's preventing the signals from working properly.
Bind spot
Uncharted
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An extra-fast train
A train running on overdrive that may overheat
A long-distance train given track priority
A hotshot train is one that is fast-moving and being given priority on a track. Generally speaking, it has been on a long journey, and other trains will be routed out of its way so that it can continue as quickly as possible to its destination.
A train carrying a VIP
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0
Japan has been running high speed rails, better known in the West as bullet trains, for more than 50 years. In that entire time, there have been no reported passenger injuries or fatalities. Bullet trains have carried more than 5.3 billion passengers in that time.
One
1,000
5,000
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1804
It was way back in 1804 that Richard Trevithick launched his steam engine for the very first time. The first practical steam engine in the world, it travelled at a paltry 10 miles per hour. But it had to start somewhere!
1820
1831
1844
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Two-step
Run-round
The run-round (also known as the runaround) is the practice of taking the locomotive to the opposite end of the train and reattaching it so that it can run in the opposite direction. You'd do this when the train reaches the end of the line or its final destination and needs to make the return trip.
Back and forth
Full circle
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A train in the rain
A train hauling Tropicana juice
It may not be the most clever name in the world, but a Juice Train is what you call a rain hauling Tropicana juice. Tropicana ships a lot of juice in cars bearing their logo, so it's easy to tell when one is going by.
A train leaking fuel
A train with three or more engines
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He invented the train.
He created the first electrical engine.
He created the concept of horsepower.
James Watt was a Scottish inventor who improved upon — but did not invent — the steam engine. What he did create was the concept of horsepower after determining how much power a single horse in a mill could produce. Modern science says his numbers were off, but it was a good idea at the time. The SI unit of power known as the watt is named for him.
He was the first train engineer in history.
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Releasing a car
Stoking the fires on an old coal engine
Derailing it
Using the emergency brake
When you cause the emergency brake to activate, you're dynamiting the train. This can be on purpose or by accident. In either case, it's a pretty serious situation that could cause some damage.
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They run on grain alcohol.
They create more power than they use.
Sweden is nothing if not energy efficient. The trains that run up and down the coast actually generate five times as much power as they use. The result of the excess power is that the trains are able to power nearby towns and also the return trip for the next train.
They are unmanned.
They run only at night.
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250 mph
300 mph
375 mph
Bullet trains typically travel at speeds of 150 mph to 200 mph. The record for a train is 375 miles per hour and was achieved with an SCMaglev train in 2015, but typically 200mph would never be exceeded when passengers are on board.
450 mph
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1888
1899
1916
1916 was a big year for railroads. In 1827, there were only 23 miles of railroad tracks in all of the United States. Less than 100 years later, the railway industry had peaked and there were over 250,000 miles of track around the country.
1933
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Finished the first cross-country rail line
Ran the first coal-powered engine in America
Went on strike
Established time zones
October 11, 1883, was the date of the General Time Convention. Railway representatives from across the country established the time zones we use today to keep scheduling streamlined. Before them, times could be different, even from one side of a city to another.
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Lawyer
Baptist minister
Thomas Cook was a Baptist minister in 1841 when he organized a massive trip for over 500 parishioners to visit London. It was such a success, he started organizing other trips, first in the U.K. and then in the U.S. Thomas Cook and Son, his travel agency, was the first in the world when it opened in 1873.
Butcher
Journalist
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Calgary to Acapulco
Toronto to Santa Fe
Toronto to Vancouver
The longest train ride you can take in North America stretches from Toronto to Vancouver in Canada, a distance of 2,775 miles. A round-trip ticket will cost you about $750 USD if you're interested in the journey.
New York to Los Angeles
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The rule against speeding
The rule against drugs and alcohol
Rule G prohibits any railroad employee from being under the influences of drugs or alcohol while on the job. An employee who is under reasonable suspicion has to submit to a drug or breathalyzer test or risk losing their job.
The rule governing hours that trains can run inside city limits
The rule about weight limits on trains
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Twisty
Curly fry
Scorpion tail
Snake head
The stress of a massive train passing over metal rail that is no longer secure will curl the metal like a ribbon. Once it's curled up, it's known as a snake head and needs to be fixed right away.
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Shoofly
If there is some construction or other type of temporary inconvenience on the line, but trains need to keep running, a shoofly will be set up as a temporary detour around whatever it is. Whether it has any relation to shoofly pie is debatable.
Ribbit
Slipper
Bridge
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It was the world's first electromagnetic train.
It has been running for over 100 years without missing a day.
It's free to ride.
It was the Hogwarts Express in "Harry Potter."
The West Highland Line in Scotland passes through so much picturesque countryside that it was used as the Hogwarts Express in the "Harry Potter" movies. It still runs to this day, if you ever want to take the authentic journey.
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Alcatraz
Iron Man
Death Star
The Illinois Central Railroad logo is a back circle with a small white "i" inside. It earned the nickname of Death Star for the very limited resemblance it has to that iconic space station from the "Star Wars" movies.
Bread Box
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An unpainted locomotive
A locomotive is called a ghost if it doesn't have a paint job yet. Usually, you'd only see one like this if it's being transported somewhere to get a logo painted on it. In rare cases, it might also be used if there's something wrong with the regular locomotives, so a ghost has to be brought into emergency service.
An abandoned locomotive
A rusted out locomotive
A decommissioned locomotive
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The world's first train robbery
Workers laid 10 miles of track.
On that date, Irish and Chinese workers laid a staggering 10 miles of track in just one day. That amounted to 4.4 million pounds of material, a feat which was never duplicated.
Two trains collided for the first time.
The railroad was finally finished.
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Shroud
Darth Vader
Modern signal lens hoods are informally known as Darth Vaders. The name's pretty easy to figure out when you see them since they're black hoods draped over the signal lens, not unlike Darth Vader's helmet.
Dracula
Big Mac
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Vietnam
At 10, 566 miles or about 17,000 km, the longest train ride in the world can take you from the coastal town of Porto, Portugal, all the way to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Including layovers, some of which are more than half a day, the journey takes 327 hours. It'll cost a few thousand dollars as well. Shown here is the Campanhã railway station in Porto.
Egypt
Moscow
Ireland
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A small explosive
Like their military namesakes, torpedos were explosives. They were affixed to tracks with metal straps and when a train ran over them, they would create a loud bang. These were used as warning devices to alert trains that there would be potential danger ahead.
A locomotive engine
A dining car
A slang term for mistakes made by trainee engineers.
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The train will be late
Best wishes
Eight and sand is like saying best wishes or good luck to someone on a journey. Notch 8 is the fastest setting on a train, and sand prevented wheel slipping, so you're wishing them a fast journey with no slip ups.
End of the line
There's a problem with the train
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A train that no longer runs
A short train
A train for politicians
A ghost train
In Britain, a train line cannot be shut down without a lengthy consultation process, including input from the public. To avoid that, some train lines are run as ghost trains, or parliamentary trains, to officially keep them open. That means trains run at the most inconvenient times from unused corners of stations, often with no return trips and never advertised. Passengers could take them, but they probably wouldn't want to.
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