October 24, 1861
Pony Express service ends.
October 24, 1866
The first Bucker snow plow is completed at the Central Pacific's Sacramento shops.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
October 23, 1834
The first locomotive to pull a train on a track, built by John Stevens, it operated on a 220-foot circle of track on his Hoboken, New Jersey estate.
October 23, 1936
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Zephier, makes Chicago to Denver run in 12 hours, 12 minutes - an average of 91.6 MPH.
October 22, 1925
First production diesel-electric locomotive sold to Central Railroad of New Jersey.
October 22, 1934
Union Pacific's six-car streamlined M- 10001 departs Los Angeles for a 56 hour, 55 minute transcontinental run to New York's Grand Central Terminal.
October 22, 1937
Z-6 #900 given trial run, Spokane, WA to Pasco, WA (SP&S Ry).
October 22, 1974
Longest train on record in Canada, a 2.5 mile load of 250 grain cars, hauled from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to Thunder Bay Ontario.*
*Does anyone out there know if the above information still stands, or has this record been broken? I have a gut feeling that the source of my information is a quite old.
October 22, 1993
47 are killed when the eastbound Sunset Limited falls off a bridge near Mobile, Alabama which had been struck by a barge in dense fog.
October 21, 1918
Mount Royal Tunnel opened on the Canadian Northern Railway (later part of Canadian National).
October 21, 1960
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy opens new 2500-foot Mississippi River Bridge at Quincy, Illinois.
Apologies for being away for some time, but it looks like we Brits have missed the Harrow & Wealdstone Accident - 4th or 5th October 1952 (sorry, exact date escapes me, and I haven't got my book (see later) with me at work).
Over 100 passengers and train crew killed, 2 express locomotives written off, and the exact cause still unclear.
Way back in the sixties, my Econ Lecturer kindly gave me a copy of the Official Ministry of Transport Report into the Accident, and the detail of the investigation was testament to the professionalism of the then accident investigators, even to testing the paint used by the driver widely believed to bear responsibility to decorate his home a few days earlier - could that have caused him to become drowsy and miss the Distant Signal and the later Outer Home Signal?
Martin
October 20, 1940
First issue of Trains published.
October 20, 1955
Last SP&S steam engine leaves Hillyard (Spokane, WA).
October 20, 1969
Alco leaves the locomotive business.
October 20, 1980
645-mile former Rock Island Herrington, Kansas City-Dalas line is sold to Katy subsidiary Oklahoma, Kansas & Texas.
965-mile former Rock Island Kansas City-Tucumcari, New Mexico line is sold to Southern Pacific's Cotton Belt.
October 19, 1897
George Pullman dies.
October 19, 1913
23 killed in train accident at Bucatanna MS.
October 18, 1886
Largest one-day conversion of narrow gauge to standard gauge. 2000 men between 5 A.M and 6 P.M converted 418 miles of track on the Cotton Belt, then known as the St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas, from Bird's Point, MO to Texarkana, AR.
October 18, 1947
The inaugural run of the Alaska Railroad Aurora, a blue and gold streamliner, marks upgraded passenger service between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
October 18, 1956
Last trolley run in Brooklyn.
October 18, 1961
GM rolls out first GP-30 diesel-electric locomotive.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816 wrote: October 17, 1962 Union Pacific makes first road test of coal-burning gas-turbine-electric. CANADIANPACIFIC2816
October 17, 1962
Union Pacific makes first road test of coal-burning gas-turbine-electric.
October 18, 1962
Union Pacific realise that pulverising the coal might improve performance.
October 17, 1902
The Trinity & Brazos Valley Railroad is chartered (now part of BNSF's Dallas to Galveston line).
October 17, 1912
Oregon Electric completed, Albany, OR to Eugene, OR.
October 17, 1944
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy operates 82-car mail and express train from Chicago to Council Bluffs.
October 17, 1960
The Erie and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western merge to form the Erie Lackawanna.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816 wrote: October 16, 1964 Norfolk & Western merges Nickel Plate Road.
October 16, 1964
Norfolk & Western merges Nickel Plate Road.
That's an understatement! This is also the day that the Wabash and the Pittsburgh & West Virginia disappeared into the N&W system, and the Akron, Canton & Youngstown became a subsidiary of N&W (it was merged much later).
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
October 16, 1859
Abolitionist, John Brown attacks U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry and B & O's Wheeling to Baltimore Express.
October 16, 1944
Z-8 #910 makes it's initial run, Portland, OR to Wishram, WA (SP&S Ry).
October 16, 1950
Last narrow gauge train on the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina (Tweetsie).
Norfolk & Western merges Nickel Plate Road.*
*Carl pointed out to me that the Norfolk & Western gobbled up a couple of other roads besides the Nickel Plate. Greedy pirates!
October 16, 1973
Ann Arbor Railroad declares bankruptcy.
October 15, 1899
Overland Limited begins service on the Southern Pacific.
October 15, 1947
Tonopah & Goldfield abandoned.
October 15, 1960
The Erie Railroad and the Lackawanna Railroad merge.
October 15, 1966
U.S. Department of Transportation created.
October 15, 1976
The Missouri Pacific, Chicago & Eastern Illinois and Texas & Pacific railroads merge.
October 14, 1980
The Staggers Rail Act substantially deregulates railroads in the United States.
October 13, 1988
Southern Pacific Railroad sold to Rio Grande Industries.
October 12, 1934
Association of American Railroads formed.
October 12, 1954
Last eight of Erie Railroad's onetime fleet of 1545 steam locomotives make their last journey to the railroad's scrap yard in Chicago.
October 12, 1986
A once-in- a- 100- years flood knocks out two major Alaska Railroad bridges and several smaller bridges and covers the tracks in mud, causing nearly $3 million in damage. Service is restored within 13 days.
October 11, 1951
RS-3's ordered (SP&S Ry.)
October 11, 1962
Colorado & Southern 2-8-0 #641 makes last run of steam on a regular daily service standard gauge railroad, Leadville to Climax Colorado.
October 11, 1987
Soo Line sells 2002 miles to Wisconsin Central.
From Railroad Avenue by Freeman Hubbard.
"The first train robbery that can be traced definitely to the redoutable Jesse (James) occurred December 12, 1874, on the Kansas Pacific Railroad (now part of the Union Pacific system), although tradition connects his name with the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific holdup in Adair County, Iowa, on July 21, 1873."
West of Adair, Iowa along old US 6, is a historical marker, including a steam locomotive driving wheel, commemorating this event. Claimed to be Jesse James' first train robbery and the first train robbery west of the Mississippi River.
October 10, 1852
The Chicago & Rock Island officially opened between Chicago and Joliet.
October 10, 1848
The first steam engine to operate in Chicago, for the Galena, & Chicago Union RR, the Pioneer, arrives in New York by boat.
October 10, 1888
55 killed in accident at Mud Run, Pennsylvania.
October 09, 1877
Presidential order allows Southern Pacific to expand into Arizona and New Mexico.
October 09, 1995
A sabotaged rail results in the derailment of Amtrak's Sunset Limited west of Phoenix, Arizona, leaving one person dead and 78 injured.
October 08, 1979
Amtrak's Chicago to Miami Floridian is discontinued.
October 07, 1826
The first American railroad is completed in Quincy, Massachusetts. Horse draw wagons carrying granite were pulled from a quarry along a 3-mile track for the Bunker Hill Monument.
October 07, 1834
First American railroad tunnel opens on the Allegheny Portage Railroad, east of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
October 07, 1948
Passengers aboard the Baltimore & Ohio's Marylander between Washington and New York saw the first practical demonstration of television reception aboard a moving train.
October 07, 1949
The Gulf, Mobile & Ohio becomes one of the first major railroads to completely dieselize after it's last steam operation.
October 07, 1960
General Manager N.S. Westergard assumes additional post of Vice-President (SP&S Ry.)
CANADIANPACIFIC2816 wrote: September 27, 1864 Jesse James gang surprise attack train: 150 killed.
September 27, 1864
Jesse James gang surprise attack train: 150 killed.
The Centralia Massacre was an ambush by bushwhackers under Bloody Bill Anderson during the American Civil War in which 22 Union soldiers were executed at the Centralia, Missouri train station on September 27, 1864.
Jesse James was among the bushwhackers.
In the ensuing Battle of Centralia when federals attempted to capture Anderson another 123 federals were killed.
October 06, 1846
George Westinghouse is born.
October 06, 1866
The four Reno brothers, hold up their first train, taking $13,000.00 from the safes on a moving Ohio & Mississippi train. This was the first robbery of a train in motion.
October 06, 1935
Market Street Railway starts using trackless trolley coaches.
October 04, 1904
First day of New York City subway has 350,000 riders.
October 04, 1967
Santa Fe president John Reed announces that the railroad plans to drop all but a handful of first class passenger trains.
October 04, 1969
Last wooden passenger subway cars retired at Brooklyn.
October 04, 1970
First excursion train on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.
October 04, 1980
Smithsonian reactivates 2-4-0 John Bull.
October 04, 1981
Amtrak's Chicago to East Peoria Prairie Marksman is discontinued.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816 wrote: October 03, 1937 Railroad unions win 44 cent per day pay raise.
October 03, 1937
Railroad unions win 44 cent per day pay raise.
That's about 550 percent of our most recent pay raise!
CANADIANPACIFIC2816 wrote: October 1, 1988 Last run of Canadian National narrow gauge in Newfoundland. (I wasn't even aware that the CN operated narrow gauge trackage in that part of the world........interesting!)
October 1, 1988
Last run of Canadian National narrow gauge in Newfoundland.
(I wasn't even aware that the CN operated narrow gauge trackage in that part of the world........interesting!)
CN only took over the old Newfoundland Railway in 1949, after Newfoundland joined Canada, as part of the agreement regarding Confederation. I was recently up there, and this is the report I posted elsewhere about the trip. It includes a few links to the history of the Newfoundland Railway.
As you may remember, we made a trip to Newfoundland this summer, and I’m just now getting around to editing my photos and writing up some notes. Thought I’d share a few thoughts about the trip. I was born in Newfoundland, but not raised there. And I’ve never been all that interested in the history of the railroad there until I started preparing for this trip.
To give a quick, condensed summary of the Newfoundland Railway, suffice it to say that it was built between 1881 – 1898. It was narrow gauge, built to 3’-6” gauge. About 550 miles of mainline from the capital, St John’s to Port-aux-Basques on the southwestern coast.
Including all branch lines, total mileage was around 900 miles (depending on at what period you were measuring), making it the longest narrow gauge system in North America. After Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, the Newfoundland Railway came under the control of Canadian National. Towards the end of its run, they changed the name to Terra Transport.
Like many railroads serving large, underpopulated regions, it was a money losing proposition. When government funds starting running low, and with the competition from the newly completed Trans-Canada Highway in 1956, traffic decreased and deficits mounted. Service was terminated in 1988. Tracks were torn up almost immediately afterwards. Very little track or equipment remains today.
For more detailed information see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_Railway
Okay, enough background. We landed at St Johns, and spent most of our time out on the Bonavista Peninsula, so my train watching was limited to spots in between those points, which covers basically the eastern section of the island.
Here’s a map of the island:
http://home.earthlink.net/~lkstrong/NfldMap.htm
Considering that I had the wife and junior in tow, I got to see a good number of sites. We hit the Railway Coastal Museum, Avondale, Whitbourne, Clarenville, Trinity Loop, Bonavista and Pt Union.
Best Museum
Wow, they sure did a good job on restoring the old main station and railroad headquarters building in St John’s and turning it into the “Railway Coastal Museum”. Good exhibits with lots of photos and displays. Learned a lot about the Coastal Boats too. (The railroad also operated a fleet of small coastal boats providing passenger and freight service to outlying posts). Nice job restoring and/or preserving the building. Too bad they didn’t have more rolling stock outside, but the museum itself is excellent. Here’s a shot of the building.
Best preserved rolling stock
I have to hand it to Bonavista. The locomotive (#932) and cars there were in the best condition of those that we saw. The station building is nicely maintained and serves as a senior citizen center. I have no idea how much the current condition resembles the station as it was when it was in service. #932 is a class NF210 diesel, 1200 hp, built by EMD in the late 50’s.
Biggest (pleasant) surprise
I’m originally from Pt Union. Of course, the trains were gone from that particular branch long before I came along. In fact, I never associated trains with Pt Union. I knew they had recently turned the old station into a museum, but didn’t really expect to see much. Turns out that they did a very nice job of reconditioning the building. It was moved some 50-100 yards from where it originally stood. While about half the station is dedicated to the town in
October 03, 1837
The Sandusky, the first locomotive equipped with a whistle, makes it's first run from Patterson to Brunswick, New Jersey.
October 02, 1872
Colorado's second largest narrow gauge railroad, the Denver, South Park & Pacific is incorporated.
October 02, 1882
Asked whether he operates his railroads for the public benefit, William Vanderbuilt answers: "The public be damned! What does the public care for railroads, except to get as much out of them for as little consideration as possible!"
October 02, 1960
Last steam run on the Illinois Central.
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