JUNE 20, 1841
Samuel F.B. Morse patents the telegraph.
JUNE 20, 1862
The U.S. Senate approves the Pacific Railway Act.
JUNE 20, 1893
The first industrial railroad union, The American Railroad Union, is formed with Eugene Debs elected as it's first president.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
JUNE 21, 1870
Congress approves the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad (B&P) entering Washington, D.C. via a bridge across the Anacostia River and a tunnel under Virginia Avenue, SE from 11th to 8th St. and tracks on Virginia Avenue to 6th Street SW with a location for it's station on the Mall at 6th & B Street NW (today's Constitution Avenue). The Baltimore & Potomac station was built on the present-day site of the National Gallery of Art. Today's freight only Virginia Avenue trackage was the original freight & passenger mainline until Union Station's opening.
JUNE 21, 1960
In the Canadian province of Ontario, the last mixed train is run on the Canadian Pacific's Kingston subdivision between Renfrew and Sharbot Lake. After this date freight trains only operated on this section.
JUNE 21, 1970
Penn Central files for bankruptcy.
Read this in Arcamax History & Quotes:
June 22, 1918:
53 circus performers and many circus animals were killed whenan empty troop train rear-ended the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train, which was stopped in Ivanhoe, IND, to fix it's brakes.
JUNE 23, 1900
A stone bridge near McDonald, Georgia on the Southern Railway is washed away in front of a work train. The train fell into the gap and caught fire, killing 35.
JUNE 23, 1908
The Ottawa and New York Railway swing bridge over the Cornwall canal collapses. It was caused by undermining of the centre pier of the bridge by the rush of water and masonry from a large break in the canal bank. Through train service to New York was halted until Monday August 4th when temporary repairs could be completed. A permanent bridge was completed in February of 1909.
JUNE 23, 1938
New York City's Mayor LaGuardia assigns 21 police officers to patrol the subway system.
JUNE 23, 1991
Santa Fe 4-8-4 #3751 is first steamed up after an extensive restoration and rebuild effort by the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society.
JUNE 23, 2002
VIA Rail Canada commences to use Renaisance equipment on the Montreal - Toronto corridor. Service was subsequently extended to Montreal - Quebec and Montreal - Ottawa on the 25th of November, 2002. Renaisance equipment was acquired from the United Kingdom and was modified for Canadian service.
JUNE 24, 1886
The first special train of fruit for eastern markets leaves Sacramento, California.
JUNE 24, 1957
The last run of steam power on the Ontario Northland Railway occurs when #701 leaves Timmins and arrives at North Bay the following day.
JUNE 24, 1980
The Detroit, Toledo & Ironton is acquired by the Grand Trunk Western.
JUNE 25, 1894
The American Railway Union goes on strike.
JUNE 25, 1913
In the Canadian province of Ontario, a Winnipeg bound Canadian Pacific passenger train, the Imperial Limited, is derailed near Britannia on the Carleton Place subdivision. Eleven people were killed and 40 were injured in this accident which was caused when a track crew had not completed repairs. Three colonist, one first class, one tourist and one dining car were derailed, several lying close to the Ottawa River. All the dead and practically all the injured were immigrants, principally from the British isles.
JUNE 26, 1870
The Denver & Pacific becomes the first railroad to reach Denver by completing it's connection to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
JUNE 26, 1894
Eugene Deb's American Railway Union calls on every signalman, brakeman, switchman, fireman and yardman not to handle, move or in anyway assist in running a Pullman car or any train carrying such a car in support of the Pullman Strike.
JUNE 27, 1861
The Central Pacific Railroad is organized in California.
JUNE 27, 1906
Colorado's Gilpin Tramway is sold to the Colorado & Southern.
JUNE 27, 1920
This is the effective date of the amalgamation of the Grand Trunk Railway into the Canadian National Railways.
JUNE 27, 1974
Amtrak's computerized ticketing becomes operational.
JUNE 28, 1834
An engine explodes on the Harlem Railroad in New York City shortly after it's first run.
JUNE 28, 1888
In Ottawa, Canada, the first train, a ballast train is run over the Canada Atlantic Railway from Broad Street to Chaudiere Falls. The first revenue train, nearly a hundred cars of lumber, departed on September 18.
JUNE 28, 1895
The first electric train service in the U.S. begins on the New Haven & Hartford Railroad on the 7-mile Nantasket Branch.
JUNE 29, 1864
99 people were killed at Beloeil, Quebec on the Grand Trunk Railway in Canada's worst railroad accident. It was a special passenger train carrying German immigrants, and it went through an open drawbridge.
JUNE 29, 1898
The first through passenger train to cross the Canadian province of Newfoundland leaves St. Johns at 19:20 and arrives Port aux Basques 22:45, June 30.
JUNE 29, 1906
President Theodore Roosevelt signs the Hepburn Act, which allows the Interstate Commerce Commision to investigate and set railroad rates.
JUNE 29, 1914
In the Canadian province of Ontario, the Campbellford, Lake Ontario and Western Railway, which was leased to the Canadian Pacific for 999 years on April 16, 1913, is authorized to open from Glen Tay to Agincourt, via Tichborne. Regular train service commenced the same day, the first train leaving Ottawa, Broad Street at 10:00.
JUNE 29, 1935
This was the last day of operations on the 2 foot gauge Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad.
JUNE 30, 1831
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad becomes the first railroad to carry troops, transporting about 100 soldiers to Sykes Mills, Maryland to quell a riot by striking railroad workers.
JUNE 30, 1841
In the United Kingdom, the Great Western opens the complete length of it's line between London and Bristol.
JUNE 30, 1934
A railroad bridge on the U.S., Canadian border at Cornwall, New York is formally opened at a ceremony presided over by the Earl of Bessborough, Governor-General of Canada and George H. Dern, Secretary of War, representing Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Governor-General, with Lady Bessborough, a guard of honor of the entire batallion of the Stormont-Glengarry-Dundas Highlanders, accompanied by more than 100 representative Canadians and Hon. W.D. Robbins, United States Minister to Canada, marched in an impressive parade from the Canadian shore. At the same instant the United States Secretary of War and the American delegation stepped out from United States soil. Only a flimsy ribbon separated the two as they met in the center of the bridge. This was swept away with a single gesture of the Governor-General, and the boundary between Canada and the United States was once again freed from barriers. The Governor-General and Mr. Dern shook hands after the ribbon was snapped.
JUNE 30, 1947
After an anti-trust suit, the Pullman Company sells it's sleeping car service to 57 railroads.
JUNE 30, 1952
The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway lays the first welded rail on it's system in the St. John's cut.
JUNE 30, 1961
In the Canadian province of Ontario, Canadian National is authorized to discontinue passenger service between Ottawa and Barry's Bay. The last train departed Ottawa at 8:10 p.m. Friday, July 5, 1961.
JUNE 30, 1964
Alaska's White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad phases out the use of steam locomotives.
JUNE 30, 1965
The Missouri-Kansas-Texas becomes freight only.
JUNE 30, 1977
The last Railway Post Office in the United States departs Washington, D.C. bound for New York City.
JUNE 30,1979
Service with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) begins between Georgia State and Avondale.
JUNE 30, 1999
In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, Southern Rails Cooperative (Red Coat Road and Rail) takes over the operation of the 71.5 mile Canadian Pacific line from Pangman to Assinboia.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816 wrote: JUNE 30, 1831 The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad becomes the first railroad to carry troops, transporting about 100 soldiers to Sykes Mills, Maryland to quell a riot by striking railroad workers.CANADIANPACIFIC2816
There has to be an interesting story here--this is roughly one year after actual service was inaugurated on the B&O (among the first anywhere in the country), and it's surprising that they would already have enough dissatisfied employees to cause a problem requiring a hundred soldiers to put down. I'd think that the novelty of railroads wouldn't have worn off yet at that point, and people who worked there would have been happy and excited. But maybe that's just me.
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)
JULY 01, 1851
The first refrigerated car in the U.S. carries eight tons of butter from Ogdensburg, New York to Boston on the Northern New York Railroad in a wooden boxcar insulated with sawdust.
JULY 01, 1862
A transcontinental railroad from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean is authorized by an act of congress, signed by President Lincoln.
JULY 01, 1867
The Dominion of Canada is formed by Confederation of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. One of the conditions of Confederation was the building of a railway by the newly constituted Dominiom Government to connect Halifax with the St. Lawrence at or near Quebec. Sir Sandford Fleming directed the surveying and construction of the trackage to fill in the gap in the railway system between Riviere du Loup and Truro, the Grand Trunk having previously constructed eastwards as far as Riviere du Loup and the province of Nova Scotia having built a line between Halifax and Truro.
The Canadian Government Railway, also known as the Intercolonial Railway, was formed to take over the lines in Nova Scotia and to construct the trackage between Riviere du Loup and Truro.
JULY 01, 1968
New York City's 9th Avenue El, the oldest elevated railroad in the world, makes it's first trial run.
JULY 01, 1873
Canada's Prince Edward Island joins Confederation. One of the conditions was that the Dominion Government take over and complete the Prince Edward Island Railway which had been commenced in 1871. The Intercolonial Railway became responsible for the Prince Edward Island Railway and opened the line between Charlottetown and Tignish for traffic on July 4, 1875.
JULY 01, 1876
Through rail traffic between Halifax, Quebec and the rest of the Canadian rail system is made possible.
Boston & Maine's Hoosac Tunnel opens in Western Massachussetts. It was the longest of the long railroad tunnels still in use at the end of the steam era.
JULY 01, 1878
The Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad changes it's name to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.
JULY 01, 1893
Through service on the Great Northern's line from the Great Lakes to Everett, Washington, began.
JULY 01, 1901
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad acquired the Rio Grande Western Railway.
Work begins on Pennsylvania Station.
JULY 01, 1922
400,000 railroad workers go on strike to protest a 12.5% wage cut ordered by the Railroad Labor Board. The strike lasts until September 15 when a Federal judge issued an injunction banning all strike activities against the railroads.
JULY 01, 1962
Norfolk & Western ends Virginian electrification.
JULY 01, 1965
The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Special makes it's last run.
JULY 01, 1967
Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merge to create the Seaboard Coast Line.
Chicago Great Western is taken over by the Chicago & Northwestern.
JULY 01, 1973
Ex-Canadian Pacific 4-6-0 steam locomotive #1057 makes an inaugural run in excursion service from Ottawa, Ontario to Carleton Place. 1057 was also used the next year to Wakefield and ex-Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 #1201 was used in the following years.
JULY 01, 1988
Virginia becomes the last state to repeal the law requiring cabooses on all trains.
JULY 02, 1867
New York's first elevated railroad opens.
JULY 02, 1881
President James A. Garfield is shot at a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station in Washington, D.C. Garfield died on September 19, 1881.
JULY 02, 1894
The U.S. government issues an injunction against railroad strikers on the grounds that it interferes with interstate commerce and the postal service. U.S. Attorney General Olney has a personal interest in the injunction as a former railroad director and still an attorney for several railroads.
JULY 02, 1901
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rob a train of $40,000 at Wagner, Montana.
JULY 02, 1907
In the Canadian province of Ontario one hundred men begin grading the Kingston, Smths Falls and Ottawa Railway. Little progress was made on this Grand Trunk Railway controlled line, which would have run practically in a direct line between Kingston and Ottawa.
JULY 02, 1967
A special train is run from Ottawa Union Station to Fenton, Michigan to convey the body of US aviator Lieutenant J. Thad Johnson who was killed on "Lindbergh Field" (Uplands) while attempting to make a landing during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Both the station and train were specially draped and there were floral decorations in the mortuary car. The arrangements amounted to what was practically a State Military funeral.
JULY 02, 1969
Canadian National abandons Newfoundland passenger trains 101-102.
JULY 03, 1894
President Cleveland sends an army reginment to Chicago to enforce a court injunction against railroad strikers.
JULY 03, 1904
A Canadian passenger train, the Ocean Limited, makes it's first run between Montreal, Quebec and Halifax, Nova Scotia. This is the longest running train in Canada having operated continuously over the same 840 mile route.
JULY 03, 1920
In the Canadian province of Ontario, Canadian National opens a 2879 foot connection from Pembroke Junction to the Grand Trunk (Locksley sub.) in Pembroke. At this time the former Canadian Northern station is renamed Pembroke Junction. Local trains from Ottawa to Pembroke used the former Grand Trunk station in Pembroke, while transcontinental trains continued to use Pembroke Junction.
JULY 03, 1922
The Illinois militia is called out to combat striking rail workers.
JULY 03, 1957
Passenger service ends on the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin.
JULY 04, 1828
Construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad begins.
JULY 04, 1835
The oldest stone viaduct still in use in the U.S., the B & O's Thomas Viaduct over the Patapsco River in Maryland, is completed.
JULY 04, 1869
The first railroad bridge across the Missouri River is opened at Kansas City.
JULY 04, 1886
Canada's first scheduled transcontinental passenger train reaches Port Moody, British Columbia.
JULY 04, 1912
40 people were killed in a train accident at Corning, New York.
Oregon Electric extended service from Salem to Albany, Oregon.
JULY 04, 1966
In the Canadian province of Ontario, Canadian Pacific D10 class steam locomotive #1095 "The Spirit of Sir John" is placed on display at Kingston.
JULY 04, 1980
Canadian Pacific sells it's 50% interest in the Northern Alberta Railways to Canadian National.
JULY 04, 2005
Canadian National freight #786 derailed near Prescott, Ontario, derailing 51 empty tank cars. There were no injuries, but both main lines were blocked.
JULY 05, 1989
The Santa Fe paints it's Super Fleet FP45's red and silver.
JULY 06, 1875
Jesse James robs a train at Otterville, Missouri.
JULY 06, 1881
15 year old Kate Shelby crawls across a flood damaged bridge 50 feet above the Des Moines River to reach a telegraph office in Moingona, Iowa a mile and a half away in time to warn an approaching Northwestern train.
JULY 06, 1894
Two railroad strikers are killed and several wounded by troops near Chicago.
JULY 06, 1944
35 are killed in a train accident at High Bluff, Tennessee.
JULY 06, 1950
Canadian Pacific opens the first retarder hump yard in Canada at St. Luc, Montreal.
JULY 06, 1961
The New Haven files for bankruptcy.
FROM ARCAMAX HISTORY & QUOTES:
On July 7, 2005, terrorists struck the London transit system, setting off explosions in three subway cars and a double-decker bus in a coordinated rush-hour attack. A reported 56 people were killed, and more than 700 injured.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816 wrote: JULY 06, 1881 15 year old Kate Shelby crawls across a flood damaged bridge 50 feet above the Des Moines River to reach a telegraph office in Moingona, Iowa a mile and a half away in time to warn an approaching Northwestern train.
Sorry, Ray, as a former Chicago & North Western (always two words) employee, I couldn't go without correcting this one: Our railroad's heroine was Kate Shelley. The current bridge over the Des Moines River (much taller than 50 feet above the normal water level and still the longest double-track trestle in the country, AFAIK) is named in her honor--let's hope the new bridge next to it will also carry the name.
(Closer to home, Metra's timetables its various lines each are printed with a different contrasting color. The UP West line's are pink--that's traditionally Kate Shelley Rose, also in her honor.)
JULY 08, 1932
America's largest 2-foot gauge railroad, the Sandy River & Rangely Lakes Railroad in Maine, ceases operation.
JULY 08, 1956
The Santa Fe introduces all Hilevel coach service on the El Capitan between Chicago and Los Angeles.
JULY 08, 1959
In the Canadian province of Ontario, Canadian Pacific is authorized to discontinue passenger service between Ottawa and Waltham. The last trains ran on September 29-30, being mixed trains hauled by #6552.
JULY 09, 1905
A special train chartered by Walter Scott (Death Valley Scotty), departs Los Angeles and makes a record run to Chicago in 44 hours, 54 minutes.
JULY 09, 1918
In the deadliest train wreck in the United States, 101 people were killed when two Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway trains crash head-on near Nashville, Tennessee. Another 171 people were injured in the crash.
JULY 10, 1852
The Southern Railway Company (of Mississippi) is organized.
JULY 10, 1862
Construction begins on the Central Pacific Railroad.
JULY 10, 1888
In Oregon, the Union Pacific opens the first steel bridge on the Pacific coast.
JULY 10, 1894
Eugene Debs is indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for failing to comply with the government's injunction against the American Railway Union strike.
JULY 10, 1910
The Pacific Coast Extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad opens for through passenger service.
JULY 10, 1945
Oregon Electric's electrified operation comes to an end.
JULY 10, 1985
Illinois Central Gulf sells 757 miles of it's trackage to the Gulf & Mississippi.
JULY 11, 1908
In the Canadian province of Ontario, the Little Castor River bridge on the New York Central line, about two miles south of Embrun is destroyed by fire late on Saturday night. A gang of men was sent down from Ottawa on Sunday and it was possible to run trains over it first thing on Monday morning. With no trains running on Sundays the bridge was repaired without interrupting traffic.
JULY 11, 1923
The Pennsylvania Railroad tests the first continous locomotive cab signals.
JULY 11, 1967
Canadian Pacific runs Canada's first unit train. It was 3700 tons of sulfuric acid which was moved from the Copper Cliff plant in Sudbury to Sarnia, Ontario.
Southern Pacific opens it's Palmdale cutoff.
JULY 11, 1974
A turntable, originally from the Canadian Pacific Railway at Kingston, Ontario, is installed at Wakefield, Quebec to allow steam locomotives to be turned there.
JULY 11, 1981
The 17-mile Canadian Refractories Railway between Marelan and Kilmar, Ontario?, is abandoned.
JULY 12, 1831
Baltimore & Ohio tests their first locomotive, the York, built by Phineas of York, Pensylvania, and places it in service shortly thereafter.
JULY 12, 1871
North America's first public narrow gauge railway, the Toronto and Nipissing, is opened for traffic between Toronto and Uxbridge. The 3'6" gauge line was converted to standard gauge by 1884.
JULY 12, 1884
Receiver William S. Jackson took posession of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway, severing the line to Utah at the Colorado state line, and cancelling the trackage rights contract with the Denver, South Park & Pacific since that line now had it's own connection to Leadville.
JULY 12, 1902
The New York Central's 20th Centrury Limited covers a 481 mile stretch of it's New York to Chicago run averaging over a mile a minute, making a 16 hour schedule possible.
JULY 12, 1922
Railroad executives refuse to meet with strikers until they return to work.
JULY 12, 1997
The Waterloo - St. Jacobs Railway commences the operation of passenger service over the former Canadian National's Waterloo Spur between Waterloo and Elmira, Ontario.
JULY 13, 1836
Patent #1 is issued to Senator John Ruggles of Maine for a locomotive device designed to give multiplied tractive power to the locomotive and to prevent the slipping of the wheels. This was the first numbered patent issued under the Patent Act of 1836. Prior to this date, previously issued patents were not numbered.
JULY 13, 1886
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad is formed from the purchase of the assests of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway by it's own stock and bond holders.
JULY 14, 1877
The great strike of 1877 begins with a walkout by railroad workers of the Baltimore & Ohio RR. The strike speeds across the nation as railroad unions protest a 10% pay cut and demand better working conditions.
JULY 14, 1943
Canadian National opens Montreal Central Terminal.
JULY 14, 1947
An F-3 #800 enters service on streamlined trains Nos. 1 & 2 on the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway.
JULY 14, 1959
The Pennsylvania Railroad runs steam power for the last time.
JULY 14, 1991
Southern Pacific derails a train containing metham sodium into the Sacramento River, killing all fish and most insects and vegetation for 42 miles. The derailment was such a public relations disaster that SP brought out Daylight engine 4449 to run some specials over the pass on Labor Day weekend to display the cleanup progress.
JULY 15, 1853
The Grand Trunk Railway is formed.
JULY 15, 1864
A troop train loaded with Confederate prisoners collides with a coal train killing 65 and injuring 109.
JULY 15, 1913
American workers attack Japanese railway laborers at Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
JULY 15, 1923
A golden spike for the Alaska Railroad is driven by President Harding at Nenana, Alaska.
JULY 15, 1983
Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole and Alaska's Governor Bill Sheffield sign a report detailing the Alaska Railroad's property, assets and liabilities to be transferred to the state.
JULY 15, 1985
Bombardier, the successor of Montreal Locomotive Works, drops out of the business of manufaturing new locomotives.
JULY 16 1877
Violence erupts in Martinsburg, West Virginia as striking railroad workers derail a train and seize railroad property. The local militia refuses to shoot at the strikers, but President Hayes orders the men back to work and sends in Federal troops to break the strike.
JULY 16, 1939
The first rack-rail diesel-electric locomotive is placed into service on the Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway, the world's highest cog railroad.
JULY 16, 1945
In the Canadian province of Ontario, Canadian National opens the high ore dock at Port Arthur which was built to handle ore from the Steep Rock Iron Mines near Atikokan, Ontario. The first shipment left the dock July 20th on the vessel Marquette.
JULY 16, 1970
The states of Colorado and New Mexico purchase 64 miles of narrow gauge trackage from the Denver & Rio Grande Western. The purchase price was $547,120.00. This would become the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway, running from Chama, New Mexico to Antonito, Colorado.
JULY 16, 1983
Amtrak's Chicago to Oakland renamed California Zephyr changes it's route from the Union Pacific across Wyoming to the Denver & Rio Grande Western through the Colorado Rockies.
JULY 17, 1831
The locomotive Best Friend of Charelston exploded after a fireman annoyed by the hissing of steam escaping from the engine, tied down an exhaust valve. Though not a wreck, the explosion marked the first railroad-related fatality in the Uninted States.
JULY 17, 1856
A Sunday school excursion train was involved in a collision, which killed 60, including 46 children near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
JULY 17, 1879
The first railroad opens in Hawaii.
JULY 17, 1951
New York Central was given permission to abandon passenger service on it's Ottawa division, but was told that an alternate plan to restart the service under six month basis was allowed if it was warranted.
JULY 17, 1966
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy operates it's last steam powered excursion train.
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