Mental Floss

TRAINS

Walter Matthau in a scene from 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three' (1974).

Make a list of the greatest movies ever set in New York City, and it should include ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.’ Discover more facts about the 1974 crime drama here, including how producers got the MTA to let them use real subway trains.

Matthew Jackson








MBTafan2011, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

Fifty years ago, Congress consolidated all of America's passenger train service into one entity: Amtrak. Here are a few facts about the nationwide rail network.

Karin Crompton
















iStock

A vasectomy kit, a harpoon gun, false teeth, and six full-sized mannequins are just a few of the many strange things that passengers have left behind.

Linda Rodriguez McRobbie