Today in rr history: January

1: 1891 – The Manitou and Pike’s Peak Railway opens. It is North America’s highest railroad at a height of 14,109 feet.

1947 – The GM&O acquires the Alton.

1982 – Norfolk and Western and Southern merger to form Norfolk Southern Corporation.

2: 1873 – Construction begins on the world’s first cable railroad on Clay Street in San Francisco.

3: 1891 – The Duluth Missabe and Northern Railroad is incorporated.

1947 – GM’s Train of Tomorrow begins national tour in Chicago.

5: 1919 – Canadian national Railways incorporated.

1947 – C&O acquires Pere Marquette.

1950 – Supreme Court rules that segregation on Southern Ry. dining cars is illegal.

1979 – A Long Island Railroad train is the first to be operated exclusively by women.

6: 1833 – Andrew Jackson becomes first sitting U.S. president to travel by rail on the B&O between Ellicott’s Mills and Baltimore, MD.

7: 1870 – Thomas S. Hall receives a patent for the first automatic electric block signal.

1905 – The first steel Railway Post Office car enters service on the NY, Salamanca and Chicago.

8: 1900 – The White Pass and Yukon opens service from Skagway to Whitehorse, Alaska. Today the line is the busiest tourist railroad in the country. NW2 6-28594_7482

1905 – The Pennsylvania announces 18-hour service from New York to Chicago. The train debuts on June 11 as the fastest train in the world. PRR coach 6-15558_2674

1953 – The first propane gas turbine enters service on the Union Pacific.

10: 1973 – Amtrak receives its first new diesel locomotives from EMD – SDP40Fs. The locomotives are prone to derailment and see limited service.

11: 1927 - The International Newsreel Company hires the Pennsylvania Railroad to race footage of Charles Lindberg’s Presidential Reception in Washington to New York. The Lindberg Special sets a new speed record on the Northeast Corridor and, thanks to footage developed en route in the baggage car, its films beat the competitions plane-delivered footage to theatres by more than an hour. PRR 460 6-11224

12: 1899 – Butch Cassidy and his gang rob a Union Pacific train of $60,000 in Wilcox Station, WY.

1905 - The Pennsylvania Special, behind locomotive No. 7002 sets an unsubstantiated speed record of 127.1 mph. If correct, the official record has never been broken. 7002 RCK photo

13: 1928 – Elmer Ambrose Sperry tests the first rail detector car at Beacon, NY. The car checks for internal flaws in rails that can cause cracks and derailments.

1957 – Central of New Jersey retires the first diesel-electric locomotive, No. 1000. The locomotive is preserved at the B&O Railroad Museum. CNJ boxcab 6-22140_4587

14: 1929 – The first combination rail-plane transcontinental passenger service begins between New York and Los Angeles. The New York Central took passengers to Cleveland where they boarded a Universal Air Express plane to Garden City, Kansas. The remainder of the 62 hour 15 minute journey took place on the Santa Fe.

1936 – The streamlined City of San Francisco enters service.

1951 – EMD delivers its 10,000^th locomotive – an E8 – to the Wabash. WAB Bluebird set 6-30159_6861

15: 1905 – First run of the 20^th Century Limited on the New York Central from New York to Chicago. The train’s famous fluorescent tail sign debuted on the same date in 1938. 20^th sign 6-21298_3840

1927 – GE demonstrates the first two-way radio communication between a locomotive and caboose.

1938 – Mail is transferred from an Air Corps blimp to an Illinois Central train near Belleville, Il. Not surprisingly, this form of air mail didn’t catch on.

1973 – The B&O, C&O and Western Maryland form the Chessie System. Although a common paint and operating scheme is applied, the railroads remain separate corporate identities. Chessie caboose 6-17648_139

16: 1949 – GE demonstrates a gas-turbine electric locomotive at Erie, PA.

1974 – The Milwaukee Road ends use of its electric locomotives. MILW Bipolar 6-18384_4881

17: 1831 – The locomotive Best Friend of Charleston explodes after its fireman ties down the safety valve. He becomes the first railroad fatality in the US.

1953 – Last regular run of a steam locomotive on the Southern Railway. 2007-1 Stand Steam Sou 6535 6-11119

18: 1831 - Robert Stephenson and Co. builds the John Bull in England for the C&A.

1886 – Transcontinental service begins in Canada on the Canadian Pacific. CP freight set 6-30026_3346

1910 – Congress expands the powers of the ICC through the passage of the Mann Elkins Act.

19: 1872 – The first Narrow Gauge convention begins in St. Louis, MO. The convention leads to the promotion of narrow gauge railroads in several states in an era of standardization. Notable narrow gauge lines constructed in this period include Pennsylvania’s East Broad Top and the Colorado narrow gauge systems of the Denver and Rio Grande, Rio Grande Southern, and Colorado and Southern. General Set 6-30168_7498

1954 – Train collectors are invited to a meeting in the barn of railroad historian and modeler Ed Alexander in Yardley, PA. At this meeting on the 19^th and 20^th, it is decided that a national association for train collectors should be formed. At a follow up meeting on October 17, the Train Collectors Association is founded. From the original 68 members, the organization has grown to over 30,000 worldwide.

20: 1841 – Samuel F.B. Morse patents the telegraph.

1862 – Senate approves the Pacific Railway Act – setting the way for the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.

1893 – Eugene Debs is elected as the first president of the first railroad union, the American Railroad Union.

21: 1970 – The largest railroad in the world, the Penn Central Company, declares bankruptcy. PC Hopper – 2010-1, 53 6-27424_1001

22: 1956 – The last steam locomotive on the SP&S, no. 910, operates. SPS 900 Challenger – 6-48094_2070

1972 – Amtrak’s first SDP40F’s enter service on the Super Chief.

24: 1886 – The first special train of fruit departs Sacramento for eastern markets. PFE 3pack 6-11657_3750

1980 – Detroit Toledo and Ironton is acquired by Grand Trunk Western.

1994 – MG tower closed MG Tower 6-37933_3665

27: 1974 – Amtrak debuts a new computerized ticket system. HHP 2010-1,39 6-31779_6382

28: 1895 – First electric train service in the US begins on the New Haven on the Nantasket Branch. NH EP5 88B3_6_48075

29: 1906 – President Roosevelt signs the Hepburn Act which gives the ICC rights to investigate and set railroad rates.

1935 – Last day of operation on Maine’s 2-foot gauge Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes RR.

30: 1831 – The B&O is the first railroad to transport troops, carrying about 100 to stifle rioting railroad workers in Sykesville, MD.

1947 – Pullman sells sleeping car service to 57 railroads after an anti-trust suit. Prior to this time, most Pullman cars carried the “Pullman” name on the letterboards above the windows. After the sale, railroads which owned the equipment put their own name on the cars. PullPass Exp. Pack 6-30111_1388

1952 – The SP&S puts its first stretch of welded rail in service.

1977 – The last RPO run departs Washington D.C. for New York. It marks the last time mail is processed on a train, although bulk mail still travels on board.

1: 1851 – The first refrigerated car carries 8 tons of butter from Ogdensburg, NY to Boston on the Northern New York RR. The car is a wooden boxcar insulated with sawdust. 2010-2 p. 78 6-26614 Tupelo milk car

1862 – President Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act into law, authorizing construction of a railroad from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.

1876 – The Hoosac Tunnel opens in Massachusettes. Straight O Gauge Tunnel 6-16868_1409

1901 – Work begins on Pennsylvania Station in New York.

1962 – N&W ends electrification on the Virginian

1965 – Last run of the Katy’s Texas Special. 2011Sig p. 128 AF Tex Spec. 6-48162

1967 – The Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merge to become the Seaboard Coast Line.

1968 – Chicago Northwestern acquires Chicago Great Western.

1986 – Seabord System changes its name to CSX Transportation.

1988 – Virginia is the last state to repeal its law requiring a caboose on all trains. 2010-2 p. 47 6-27642 Virginian caboose.

2: 1881 – President James Garfield is shot in the B&O station in Washington. He dies on September 19.

1901 – Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid rob a train in Wagner, MT of $40,000. KC Fed Reserve Mint Car 6-29648_7959

3: 1894 – President Cleveland sends a regiment of the US Army to Chicago to enforce a court injunction against striking railroad workers.

4: 1828 – Construction begins on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 2011Sig p. 34 6-38403 BO Heritage AC6000

1835 – B&O completes construction of Thomas Viaduct over the Patapsco River in Maryland. It is the oldest stone arch bridge still in operation in the US.

1869 – First railroad bridge across the Missouri River completed at Kansas City.

5: 1989 – The Santa Fe debuts its “Super Fleet” FP45’s in red and silver war bonnet paint. ATSF AC6000 6-28339_6951

6: 1961 – The New Haven files for bankruptcy. It will eventually be included into Penn Central as a condition for merger approval. New Haven Scrap Yard 6-34145_3245

7: 1862 – The first Railway Post Office route is established on the Hannibal and St Joseph Railroad in Missouri. Mail is picked up, sorted and delivered on board the train. Mail crane 6-22438_1998

8: 1956 – Santa Fe introduces its high level coach train, the El Capitan, from Chicago to Los Angeles.

9: 1918 – 101 people killed, 171 injured in deadliest US rail accident to date when two Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Ry. Trains collide head-on near Nashville, TN.

11: 1923 – The Pennsylvania tests locomotive cab signals that give the engineer a signal indication in the cab of the locomotive.

1967 – The first Canadian unit train runs on Canadian Pacific. Canada cyl. Cov hopper 6-27454_5682

12: 1831 – The B&O tests the locomotive York, built by Phineas Davis of York, PA.

1902 – The NYC’s 20^th Century Limited covers a 481 mile stretch of its run at an average speed of more than 60 mph. This makes plans for a 16 hour schedule possible. Semi-scale Hudson 6-21298_3827

14: 1877 – The great railroad strike of 1877 begins on the B&O.

1959 – Last run of steam on the Pennsylvania RR. M1 6750 6-11147_2503

15: 1853 – The Grand Trunk Railway is formed F3 diesels 6-34640_9392

1923 – Golden Spike driven in Alaska Railroad by President Harding at Nenana. MP15 diesel w horn 6-22137_4581

1985 – Bombardier curtails new locomotive construction. The company’s roots trace back through the Montreal Locomotive Works to the American Locomotive Company (ALCO).

17: 1879 – First railroad opens in Hawaii.

1966 – The CB&Q operates its last steam powered excursion train. 0-8-0 6-28700_2100

18: 1846 – The first international trains between the US and Canada begin service between Portland, Maine and Montreal on the Atlantic and St. Lawrence RR.

1858 – The Pennsylvania introduces a smoking car on its trains between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. This is the equivalent to a lounge car today.

1959 – Steam makes its last run on the Nickle Plate. 765 6-11212_7860

1968 – Last run of the Santa Fe’s California Specials.

19: 1987 – The Red River Valley and Western takes over 667 miles of BN track in North Dakota. BN SD60 8301 6-28312_4640

20: 1948 – Chicago Railroad Fair opens. Railroads from across the country display historic railcars and their latest technologies at what was to be the last of the great railroad exhibitions. DeWitt Clinton set 6-11164_7176

21: 1873 – Jesse and Frank James pull off their first train robbery, collecting a total of $3,000 from the express car and passengers. Police Station 6-21379_4013

1877 – The Railroad Strike reaches a climax with riots in Pittsburgh. Over $10 million in property is destroyed.

1952 – An earthquake closes the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe line over Tehachapi Pass for 25 days.

23: 1945 – Vista Dome debuts on CB&Q between Chicago and Minneapolis on the Twin Cities Zephyr.

1959 – Last UP freight powered by steam – Challenger No. 3713. 3710 6-48083_7033

1966 – NYC tests jet-powered RDC in Ohio. Jet RDC M-497 6-38401_1664

24: 1870 – The first rail car to travel coast-to-coast arrives in New York from California.

1877 – First patent for a successful reefer design issued to Joel Tiffany. W&A reefer 6-15029_5684

1986 – ICC rejects proposed merger of Southern Pacific and Santa Fe.

25: 1832 – Thomas B. Achuas dies in the first fatal US train wreck on the Granite Railway – a horse-drawn railway built to transport granite blocks to the Bunker Hill Monument in Quincy, Mass.

26: 1847 – Moses Garrish Farmer builds the first miniature train children’s ride.

1972 – Erie Lackawanna declares bankruptcy. RS3 w Railsounds 6-22280_4946

27: 1959 – The first revenue train crosses the Southern Pacific’s Great Salt Lake Fill in Utah. Cab Forward – 6-11107_3368

28: 1871 – Tracklaying begins for the Denver and Rio Grande in Denver. Bunk Car 6-22150_4628

30: 1902 – The largest locomotive in the world wrecks at Denver, CO.

31: 1809 – Thomas Lieper’s railroad near Philadelphia becomes the first successful US railroad. The line uses horses for power and wooden track.

1847 – The Monon Railroad is chartered. Operating boxcar 6-29856_3657

1956 – The Great Northern ends electrification over Cascade Pass.

1971 – Monon merged into L&N

1: 1836 – Sandboxes to provide extra traction are used for the first time on the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad. The cause of the slippery rails – crushed grasshoppers!

3: 1894 – The Pullman Strike is finally broken.

4: 1885 – The B&O introduces electric locomotives to pull trains through the 3.6 mile Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore.

1965 – The Milwaukee Road opens a new depot in Milwaukee. Hiawatha herald A2A5_MilwHead

6: 1867 – Cheyenne braves derail a UP train near Plum Creek, NE.

7: 1975 – Amtrak’s first new Amfleet cars enter service. Amfleet 2 pack 6-35433_6698

8: 1829 – The Stourbridge Lion debuts on the Delaware and Hudson Canal in Honesdale, PA. Although the engine is successful, it is too heavy for the wooden rails and never pulls a train again. Lion 6-11153_4345

1865 – The first patent for a streamlined train is issued to Samual Calthrop.

9: 1831 – The DeWitt Clinton makes the inaugural train run between Albany and Schenectady, New York. DeWitt Clinton 6-11164_7176

1893 – Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for his engine.

1945 – 34 are killed when the second section of the Empire Builder rear-ends the first that had stopped for a hotbox at Michigan, ND.

1988 – Rio Grande Industries buys the Southern Pacific for $1.8 billion. Although the Rio Grande’s parent company is the purchaser, the Southern Pacific name survives.

10: 1972 – The Illinois Central and Gulf Mobile and Ohio merge to form Illinois Central Gulf. ICG GP30 6-28388_3080

11: 1955 – Wabash steam locomotive 573 is retired to the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. Wab 2-6-0 6-38018_1386

12: 1988 – Union Pacific absorbs the Katy (Missouri – Kansas –Texas). UP Katy sd70 6-28263_4132

13: 1960 – Narrow gauge East Broad Top RR reopens as a tourist line.

1965 – Pacific Electric Railway merged into parent Southern Pacific. RS3 6-21316_3915

14: 1900 – One of the “Big Four” of the Central Pacific, tycoon Collis P. Huntington dies.

15: 1863 – The submarine HL Hunley arrives in Charleston on flatcars,

17: 1897 – An electric switch is patented by WB Purvis. O36 L-H turnout 6-12045_1982

18: 1883 – The Canadian Pacific reaches Calgary. CP 4-6-0 6-11202_6924

19: 1916 – President Wilson demands railroads grant an 8 hour workday.

20: 1894 – The Stearns Manufacturing Co. in Erie, PA completes the first Heisler-type steam locomotive. Pickering Lumber 5 6-38092_1909

21: 1935 – The UP’s Challenger enters service on the second section of the Los Angeles Limited. UP Challenger 3976 6-11211_4376

22: 1910 – The first passenger train to traverse the entire Western Pacific arrives in San Francisco from Salt Lake City.

1935 – The B&O puts its first diesels on long-distance passenger trains. E7 set 6-34505_4135

1968 – The Magma Arizona drops steam.

1998 – STB approves CSX NS split of Conrail. NS Heritage SD70ACE 6-28318_1242

23: 1882 – First CP train arrives at Regina, Saskatchewan.

24: 1835 – B&O opens line to Washington D.C.

1945 – Last run of the Yosemite Valley RR.

1946 – B&M replaces Hoosac Tunnel electrics with diesels. Straight tunnel 6-16868_1409

25: 1830 – Peter Cooper demonstrates the Tom Thumb on the B&O between Baltimore and Ellicott’s Mills, MD in a race against a horse-drawn train.

1943 – Last narrow gauge train on the Denver South Park and Pacific.

1970 – The last common carrier steam operation in the US, the Mobile and Gulf, ends.

27: 1867 – First patent given for a railroad crossing gate to J. Nason and JF Wilson of Boston. 6-12714_5887

1946 – Last Pennsylvania T1 enters service. 6-11207_7500

1957 – Last steam operation on the Santa Fe.

28: 1864 – First RPO in service on the Chicago and Northwestern.

1894 – First manganese steel rail manufactured in High Bridge, NJ.

29: 1866 – First public demonstration of the Mount Washington Cog Railway.

1979 – The Bangor and Aroostock stops hauling potatoes. The road’s red-white-and-blue boxcars and reefers were a trademark of eastern railroading. 6-27876_5309

30: 1830 – The B&O ends horse-operations in favor of steam locomotives.

1957 – The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis is merged into the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. LN caboose 6-22177_4597

1968 – The last train on the Tennessee Central operates.

31: 1831 – John Bull delivered to Camden and Amboy RR. John-bull-spread

1948 – Sumpter Valley Ry abandoned.

1964 – Duluth and Northeastern dieselizes.

September

1: 1859 – George Pullman’s first sleeping car, Chicago and Alton 9, makes its first run from Bloomington, IL to Chicago.

1941 – Last Rio Grande narrow gauge train leaves Santa Fe, NM.

1968 – The Illinois Central assumes control of the Tennessee Central.

1981 – NW takes over Illinois Terminal. NW boxcar 6-22168_4589

2: 1935 – FEC Key West route closed after hurricane damage. FEC dump car 6-22142_4625

1938 – New York Central coach 1472 first to be illuminated using fluorescent lights.

1987 – The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad merges into CSX Transportation.

3: 1883 – Mainline of the Northern Pacific completed from Minneapolis to Tacoma. NP RS11 6-28545_1393

1916 – Adamson Act, which mandates an 8 hour workday for all RR employees, is implemented.

1919 – President Wilson begins using a railroad office car for business during travel.

1930 – Thomas Edison tests his first electric passenger train from Hoboken to Montclair, NJ.

4: 1872 - The New York Sun exposes Credit Mobilier Scandal. Directors of the Union Pacific and lawmakers had created the Credit Mobilier company as a front to garner lucrative contracts for themselves during construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. The barons then distributed shares of the company to congressmen, cabinet members and even the Vice President as hush money to avoid investigation.

1941 – The first Big Boy is delivered to the Union Pacific from ALCo. Big Boy 4011 6-11208_7102

1999 – Pittsburgh closes its last remaining trolley line.

5: 1900 – Joshua Cowen and Harry C. Grant found Lionel Manufacturing Company – all they need now is something to manufacture.

1961 – Bangor and Aroostook ends passenger service.

1986 – Dakota Minnesota and Western purchases 965 miles of track from Chicago North Western.

6: 1869 – The first westbound passenger train arrives in San Francisco.

1960 – Maine Central suspends passenger service.

7: 1980 – Auto Train Corp., who operate a passenger train with auto carriers attached for passengers vehicles, declares bankruptcy. Four of the original locomotives are sold to Conrail. Amtrak assumes operation of the rest of the train and continues to have success with the Virginia to Florida train today.

8: 1883 – President Chester Arthur presides over the opening of the Northern Pacific Railroad at Gold Creek, MT.

1987 – The North Louisiana and Gulf is purchased by MidSouth.

9: 1909 – Railroad builder E.H. Harriman dies. Harriman’s dreams of uniting the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railroads were thwarted by the ICC but ultimately realized in 1996.

1929 – First air-conditioned Pullman cars enter service between Chicago and Los Angeles.

10: 1995 – Amtrak discontinues the Broadway Limited between New York and Chicago after 93 years of service. It is replaced by the Three Rivers.

11: 1950 – The last locomotive built by the Lima Locomotive Works, a center-cab transfer diesel, is delivered to the Pennsylvania Railroad.

1972 – Regular service begins on San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART).

12: 1850 – The first rails of Milwaukee Road predecessor Milwaukee and Mississippi are laid.

13: 1928 – Sperry demonstrates his rail detector car for the American Railway Association at Poughkeepski, NY.

1980 – The Crescent is the last US passenger train to be pulled by multiple EMD E-units. Crescent set 472_6-31713

1982 – The combined Union Pacific, Western Pacific, Missouri Pacific system receives approval by the ICC. MP 70ACE 6-28261

14: 1891 – New York Central’s Empire State Express makes a record setting 7 hour and 6 minute run between New York and Buffalo (436 miles). Hudson 6-22105_4545

1974 – America’s longest underwater tunnel opens between San Francisco and Oakland for BART.

15: 1830 – The world’s first passenger railroad, the Liverpool and Manchester, opens in England, powered by George Stephenson’s Rocket. The event is marred by casualty when William Huskison is killed by the steam locomotive.

1831 – The John Bull makes its first run on the Camden and Amboy. John-bull-spread

1896 – At the “Great Train Wreck” show, two locomotives are crashed into each other head-on before a crowd of 30,000. Boiler explosions kill two men and injure many more.

16: 1838 – Great Northern builder James J Hill is born.

1872 – Construction begins on the East Broad Top.

1875 – Fast Mail departs Grand Central Station for the first time.

1985 – Pennsylvania K4s Pacific 1361 comes down from Horseshoe Curve for restoration in Altoona. Conrail places GP9 7048 in its place. 1361 6-11264_5332

17: 1989 – The Grand Canyon Railway returns steam passenger service to the Grand Canyon from Williams, AZ.

18: 1893 – The Great Northern completes its transcontinental line near Everett, WA. GN 2-6-0 6-11270_7852

1937 – A Jubilee class 4-4-4 sets the Canadian speed record at 112.5 mph.

20: 1853 – The first Union passenger station opens in Indianapolis IN.

22: 1851 – The first railroad use of the telegraph takes place on the Erie Railroad, ushering in a new era of railroad communications and operations.

1946 – Alco delivers its 75,000^th locomotive, an A-B-A set of PA’s for the Santa Fe, no. 51. ATSF PA 6-34568_4049

1950 – A new Central Union Terminal opens in Toledo.

1995 – Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Pacific Corp (AT&SF Ry) merger to create Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). BNSF MP15 6-22516_7114

23: 1874 – East Broad Top railroad runs its first train.

24: 1869 – An attempt by speculators Jay Gould and Jim Fisk to corner the gold market fails. Mint car 6-19698_2269

25: 1866 – George W. Richardson patents the pop safety valve for locomotive boilers.

27: 1903 – The wreck popularized by the song Wreck of the Old ’97 occurs at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, VA on the Southern Railway. 11 are killed.

28: 1956 – C&O retires its last steam locomotive. CO Allegheny 6-38081_2911

1981 – Illinois Central operates the first of a new generation of RoadRailer truck trains.

29: 1913 – Rudolph Diesel dies at 55.

1962 – Last steam powered train on the Duluth Missabe and Iron Range.

1967 – Southern Pacific operates its last RPO.

1967 – Monon drops all passenger service

1978 – VIA Rail takes over CP passenger operations.

1988 – Washington D.C. Union Station reopens as a passenger terminal.

30: 1877 – Southern Pacific becomes first railroad in Arizona Territory at Yuma.