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Mount Somers Branch
The Mount Somers Branch, sometimes known as the Springburn Branch, was a branch line railway in the region of Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury, New Zealand. The line was built in stages from 1878, reaching Mount Somers in 1885. A further section to Springburn was added in 1889; this closed in 1957, followed by the rest of the line in 1968. A portion has been preserved as the Plains Vintage Railway. Construction Unlike many other rural branch lines in New Zealand, this line was not built for the sole purpose of opening up land for agriculture, as there were significant deposits of lignite coal and limestone in the hills behind the town of Mount Somers. Construction commenced in May 1878, with the line leaving the Main South Line at Tinwald, New Zealand, Tinwald, the southernmost suburb of Ashburton, New Zealand, Ashburton. With the onset of the Long Depression looming, the construction work on the line provided valuable employment, and as it was built, it was progressivel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passenger Rail Terminology
Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleration. It uses passenger railcars operating singly or in multiple unit trains on fixed rails. It operates on separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded (i.e. is fully grade-separated from other traffic). It uses sophisticated signaling systems, and high platform loading. Originally, the term ''rapid transit'' was used in the 1800s to describe new forms of quick urban public transportation that had a right-of-way separated from street traffic. This set rapid transit apart from horsecars, trams, streetcars, omnibuses, and other forms of public transport. A variant of the term, ''mass rapid transit (MRT)'', is also used for metro systems in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Though the term was almost alway ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anama, New Zealand
Anama is a sparsely populated locality in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is on the Hinds River, with the Ashburton River / Hakatere not far to the north in nearby Mount Somers. Other nearby settlements include Valetta to the east, Mayfield to the south, and Montalto to the west. Anama School celebrated its centenary in March 2002. Anama, an Aboriginal word, owes its naming to W.S. Peter, through being the name of Anama Station, a pastoral property in South Australia owned by Peter's brother in law. Anama was briefly a railway terminus. On 3 October 1882, a 30.9 km long branch line opened to Anama from a junction with the Main South Line at Tinwald, just south of Ashburton. This line, later known as the Mount Somers Branch, was extended to Cavendish on 1 March 1884. Passengers were primarily served by mixed trains, and due to the declining patronage caused by increased usage of the motor car, passengers were no longer carried after 9 Jan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of soil or soil type; i.e., a soil containing more than 85 percent sand-sized particles by mass. The composition of sand varies, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal settings is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO2), usually in the form of quartz. Calcium carbonate is the second most common type of sand, for example, aragonite, which has mostly been created, over the past 500million years, by various forms of life, like coral and shellfish. For example, it is the primary form of sand apparent in areas where reefs have dominated the ecosystem for millions of years like the Caribbean. Somewhat more rarely, sand may be composed of calciu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silica
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and most abundant families of materials, existing as a compound of several minerals and as a synthetic product. Notable examples include fused quartz, fumed silica, silica gel, opal and aerogels. It is used in structural materials, microelectronics (as an Insulator (electricity), electrical insulator), and as components in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Structure In the majority of silicates, the silicon atom shows tetrahedral coordination geometry, tetrahedral coordination, with four oxygen atoms surrounding a central Si atomsee 3-D Unit Cell. Thus, SiO2 forms 3-dimensional network solids in which each silicon atom is covalently bonded in a tetrahedral manner to 4 oxygen atoms. In contrast, CO2 is a linear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mixed Train
A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service was slower, because mixed trains usually involved the shunting (switching) of rolling stock at stops along the way. However, some earlier passenger expresses, which also hauled time-sensitive freight in covered goods wagons (boxcars), would now be termed mixed trains. Generally, toward the end of the mixed train era, shunting at intermediate stops had significantly diminished. Most railway passenger and freight services are now administered separately. Exclusions Not intended by this article is the definition of mixed train to describe: * mixed freight. * wagonload service (single wagons for various customers, assembled into trains), as opposed to trainload service (point to point, complete train for one customer). * a passenger trai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valetta, New Zealand
Valetta is a lightly populated locality in the mid-Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located in an agricultural area on the southern side of the Ashburton River / Hakatere. Another river, the Hinds River, is to Valetta's southwest. Nearby settlements include Mount Somers to the northwest, Anama to the west, Mayfield to the southwest, and Punawai to the southeast. Its name is a misspelling of Valletta, the capital of Malta. Valetta was formerly served by the Mount Somers Branch, a branch line railway that diverged from the Main South Line at Tinwald, New Zealand, just south of Ashburton. On 3 October 1882, the Westerfield to Anama section of the line opened with a station in Valetta. Passengers ceased to be served by the railway on 9 January 1933 due to declining patronage as a result of increased private ownership of motor vehicles, but freight traffic stayed steady until after World War II. It then declined to the point where the line was no longer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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