MAY 18, 1896
In Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds Louisiana's Jim Crow Law which required railroads to provide separate but equal accomodations for the white and colored races. This separate, but equal doctrine remained in place for 58 years until reversed by the Court in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka.
MAY 18, 1901
Striking railroad workers in Albany, New York are forced back on the job by state militia.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
MAY 19, 1851
First train on the Erie Railroad to reach the railroad's terminus, Dunkirk, New York, at Lake Erie.
MAY 19, 1909
Puget Sound extension of Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific completed.
MAY 19, 1918
Government provides $1 billion to U.S. railroads for upkeep.
MAY 19, 1955
Noting that there were still 6500 coal burning steam locomotives in service, the National Coal Association protests that a planned ceremony by the Interstate Commerce Commission to commemorate the passing of steam locomotives from America's transportation scene is premature.
MAY 19, 1974
Amtrak's Super Chief is renamed the Southwest Limited.
MAY 19, 1990
Alaska Railroad passenger service begins using new passenger equipment for daily express service between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
MAY 20, 1830
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad publishes the first railroad timetable.
MAY 20, 1879
In Canada, the Department of Railways and Canals comes into effect with a Minister having jurisdiction over all railways pertaining to the Dominion Goverment. Previously this function had been covered by the Department of Public Works.
MAY 20, 1880
Southern Pacific reaches Tucson, Arizona.
MAY 20, 1926
The Railway Labor Act becomes law.
MAY 20, 1956
Last run of SP&S E-1 #700.
MAY 20, 1998
Canadian Pacific (St. Lawrence and Hudson) announces discontinuance of service on the Prescott subdivision (originally Bytown and Prescott Railway) between Kemptville and Leitrim Road. The rails were removed in May of 1999.
MAY 21, 1852
First train to enter Chicago from the east (Northern Indiana Railroad).
MAY 21, 1877
At Altoona, Pennsylvania, Alexander Graham Bell's assistants begin tests which result in the permanent installation of telephones in the Pennsylvania Railroad shops.
MAY 21, 1927
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific's Pioneer Limited becomes the first Pullman train to be completely equipped with roller bearings.
MAY 21, 1932
To promote ticket sales, the Missouri Pacific Railroad runs the first Mystery Excursion from St. Louis. Passengers purchased tickets without knowing their destination until they arrived, which turned out to be Arcadia, Missouri.
MAY 22, 1868
The Great Train Robbery. Seven members of the Reno gang hold up an Indianapolis bound Jeffrerson, Madison & Indianapolis train at Marshfield, Indiana. The gang makes off with $98,000 from a safe in the express car.
MAY 22, 1909
Georgia railroad workers strike against employment of Negroes.
MAY 22, 1941
As part of the war effort, the first tank (Mark III) is produced at the Canadian Pacific's Angus Shops in Montreal. On June 30 Montreal Locomotive Works produced the first M-3 (Modified) Cruiser tank.
MAY 23, 1870
First train to go coast to coast, the Pullman Hotel Express departs Boston.
MAY 23, 1881
In Canada, the first Union Station is opened at Chaudiere (Broad Street) between the Canada Central Railway and the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway.
MAY 23, 1887
Canada's first transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Canadian Pacific mainline is extended 12.2 miles along Burrard Inlet to Vancouver. The first train is pulled by Port Moody based locomotive No. 374, now preserved at the Vancouver Drake Street roundhouse.
MAY 23, 1891
The first chapel car, the Evangel, is dedicated in Cincinnati, Ohio. The car was fitted for religous services and used on the Northern Pacific Railroad.
MAY 23, 1902
Ottawa, Northern and Wester trains begin to use the Canadian Pacific Union Station at Broad Street.
MAY 23, 1946
Rail unions go on srike despite government seizure of the railroads.
MAY 23, 1952
President Truman orders railroads returned back to ownders after 21 months of control by the army.
MAY 23, 1967
"GO Transit" is inaugurated by the province of Ontario between Pickering, Toronto, Oakville and Hamilton under an operating agreement with Canadian National.
MAY 23, 1989
Amtrak begins service to Atlantic City, New Jersey.
MAY 24, 1830
Passenger and freight service opens on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad between Baltimore and Endicott's Mills, Maryland (13 miles).
MAY 24, 1844
Telegraph introduced on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
MAY 24, 1915
In the Canadian province of Ottawa: Glengarry and Stormont opens between St. Polycarpe Junction (Soulanges) and Cornwall. Tracklaying was completed on November 30, 1914 and the event was celebrated by a dinner in Williamstown on December 2nd. This left ballast work and stations, etc. to be completed. A Canadian Pacific inspection train was run over the unfinished line on March 20th and the company was leased to the Canadian Pacific on June 1st, 1915.
MAY 24, 1931
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad introduces the first all air-condition train, the Columbian, between New York and Washington, D.C.
MAY 24, 1961
Final run for the Milwaukeee Road's Olympian Hiawatha.
MAY 24, 1964
Canadian National commences operation of a new transcontinental passenger train called Panorama.
MAY 25, 1865
The first Bessemer steel rails manufactured in the U.S. at Chicago Rolling Mills. By the end of the century, steel rails had almost completely replaced iron.
MAY 25, 1903
In Scranton, Pennsylvania, the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad becomes the first railroad to be powered by an electrified third -rail system.
MAY 25, 1945
The New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad becomes the first U.S. railroad to be completely equipped with diesel-electric locomotives.
MAY 26, 1934
The Burlington Route's Pioneer Zephyr, the first streamlined diesel-electric train, makes a non-stop run from Denver to Chicago in 13 hours, 5 minutes. It is the first train to run over a thousand miles nonstop.
MAY 26, 1946
Southern Railway accepts delivery of it's first F-type freight diesel locomotive.
U.S. government lifts control of the railroads after an accord ends strike.
FROM ARCAMAX HISTORY & QUOTES:
Financier and railroad developer Jay Gould was born on May 27, 1836.
MAY 27, 1794
Cornelius Vanderbilt was born.
MAY 27, 1836
Jay Gould, US railroad executive and financier was born.
MAY 27, 1895
The Supreme Court upholds the federal government's injunction against Eugene Debs. (? I am not familiar with this at all. Who was Eugene Debs, and what does this have to do with the history of railroading?? Perhaps if I were to do an internet search I might learn something.)
Eugene Victor Debs was born in Indiana in 1855. He found work as a railroad fireman in 1870 and eventually became active in the trade union movement. Debs worked as an editor of the Locomotive Firemen's Magazine, before being elected national secretary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in 1880. Debs, a member of the democratic party, was elected to the Indiana Legislature in 1884.
In 1893 Debs was elected the first president of the American Railway Union (ARU). During the Pullman strike of 1894, Debs was arrested and charged contempt of court. Despite being defended by Clarence Darrow, he was found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison.
Debs now became a socialist and believed that capitalism should be replaced by a new cooperative system. Although he advocated radical reform, Debs was opposed to the revolutionary violence supported by the Communist Party. Debs would run for the Presidency of the United States a couple times on the Socialist Party ticket, and he died in 1926.
MAY 28, 1869
Cheyenne Indians destroy a section of the Union Pacific Railroad near Fossil Creek, Kansas.
MAY 29, 1935
Milwaukee Road begins Hiawatha service between Chicago and St. Paul. On the Chicago to Milwaukee section these trains averaged 100 MPH.
MAY 29, 1976
Santa Fe discontinues Super C service.
MAY 29, 1984
In Ontario, Canada: Last run over the Canadian Pacific's Waltham subdivision between Wyman and Waltham is handled by no. 6538, the last locomotive to wear the traditional maroon and grey paint scheme.
MAY 30, 1881
Kansas City, St. Joseph & Burlington Railway Chartered. In 1901 it became part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
MAY 30, 1893
The Walter Mains Circus train derails at Little Horseshoe Curve, near Tyrone, Pennsylvania. The derailment kills 6 people and 100 circus animals.
MAY 30, 1911
The first Milwaukee Road Olympian arrives at Deer Lodge, Montana.
MAY 30, 1953
Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway discontinues passenger service and converts from electric to diesel power.
MAY 31, 1902
In Ontario, Canada: A special train carrying Thomas G. Shaughnessy, President of the Canadian Pacific Railway on his annual tour of inspection of the line to the Pacific coast is stopped at the Central station by blocks placed on the line by the Canadian Atlantic Railway for the purpose of preventing the Canadian Pacific using the station for through traffic. This matter was referred to the Railway Committee of the Privy Council.
MAY 31, 1947
The Gulf, Mobile & Ohio stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to Chicago after it merges with the Alton lines.
MAY 31, 1950
Service ends on the Virginia & Truckee Railway.
MAY 31, 1961
Dallas becomes the largest U.S. city without Passenger Service with the last run of the Texas & Pacific Texas Eagle.
JUNE 01, 1875
A ceremony of the turning of the first sod on the Canadian Pacific Railway was held on the left bank of the Kamistiquia River in the townsite of Fort William about four miles from the river's mouth.
JUNE 01, 1891
North America's highest railroad (14,109 ft.), the Manitou & Pike's Peak Railway in Colorado, opens.
JUNE 01, 1898
The Erdman Act, which provides for mediation of railroad disputes, is adopted.
JUNE 01, 1908
Dalles, Portland & Astoria Navigation Co. transferred to the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway.
JUNE 01, 1912
In Ontario, Canada: Central Station is opened to traffic at 0:7:00 by the Grand Trunk Railway. Powers were obtained on April 27, 1907 by the Ottawa Terminals Railway which was acquired by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1910.
JUNE 01, 1915
In Canada, the National Transcontinental Railway is completed between Moncton and Winnipeg via Edmundston, Quebec and Senneterre. Because of the high cost, the Grand Trunk refused to lease the line which was operated from May 1, 1915 as a component of the Canadian Government Railways until the formation of the Canadian National System.
JUNE 01, 1931
Coincident with the first docking of the Empress of Britain, Canadian Pacific opens a line through a tunnel under the Plains of Abraham to the Wolfe's Cove Harbour Terminal in Quebec City. The first shot of dynamite was fired on the 5th of April, 1930, the break-through was made on the 16th of February, 1931, and the first train, locomotive and 13 cars carrying railroad officials, ran through the tunnel on the 26th of May, 1931.
JUNE 01, 1947
The Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad acquires the Alton Railroad.
JUNE 01, 1951
Canadian Pacific discontinues rail service to Place Viger Station, Montreal.
JUNE 01, 1982
The Norfolk & Western Railroad merges with the Southern Railway to form the Norfolk Southern Corporation.
JUNE 01, 1985
Transcontinental passenger service through Ottawa, Canada is restored (first westbound with VIA 6769-6626, first eastbound with VIA 6784). This replaced the local service between Ottawa and Sudbury which commenced in November of 1981.
JUNE 02, 1873
Construction begins on San Francisco's Clay Street for for the world's first cable railroad.
JUNE 02, 1913
The first train runs across Canadian Pacific's high level bridge between Edmonton and South Edmonton.
JUNE 02, 1967
In Ontario, Canada: A connection is installed at Laman, which allows Canadian Pacific to abandon it's Maniwaki subdivision between Hull and Laman. The last run using the old trackage was #80, the southbound Maniwaki way freight, on June 1, 1967 with 8797. On June 2, 1967, the first train to use the new trackage was #79 with 8766.
June 02, 1982
Soo Line takes control of Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern.
JUNE 03, 1856
In the Canadian province of Nova Scotia: The Windsor Branch Railway was opened by the Nova Scotia government. This was the oldest constituent of the Dominion Atlantic Railway.
JUNE 03, 1889
The first train on the Canadian Pacific Railway arrives at St. John, New Brunswick from Montreal, marking the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway as a coast to coast railway.
JUNE 03, 1891
Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad incorporated.
JUNE 03, 1913
Ruth Trust becomes Ruth Realty Company (SP&S Ry).
JUNE 03, 1947
General Motor's Train of Tomorrow begins nationwide tour from Chicago.
JUNE 04, 1857
The first middle route to the Mississippi River was completed, when the Ohio & Mississippi RR's tracks connected East St. Louis with Cincinnati and Baltimore.
JUNE 04, 1889
Canadian Pacific commences operation of a through train from Montreal to Minneapolis and St. Paul. The first train originated at Sault Ste. Marie but the second and subsequent trains ran right through. These were known as the "Soo Express".
JUNE 04, 1961
Canadian National closes it's Turcot Yard. The 56 stall roundhouse was closed the following year.
JUNE 05, 1919
Canadian National Railways incorporated.
JUNE 05, 1947
Chesapeake & Ohio acquires Pere Marquette.
JUNE 05, 1950
U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregation policies in Southern railroad dining cars are invalid.
JUNE 05, 1979
A Long Island Railroad train becomes the first to be operated exclusively by women.
JUNE 05, 1982
Seattle's Waterfront streetcar begins operation.
JUNE 06, 1833
Andrew Jackson becomes the first U.S. President to travel by rail, on the B & O line between Ellicott's Mills and Baltimore, Maryland.
JUNE 06, 1899
In the Canadian province of Ontario: The Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway becomes part of the Canada Atlantic Railway.
JUNE 06, 1915
In the Canadian province of Ontario: The Ottawa and New York Railway makes a record run between Ottawa and Russell bringing Ottawa firefighters and equipment to Russell to fight a major fire which had broken out there. The trip for the 22 miles was made in 22 minutes. Engineer Alex Jamieson and Conductor George Broker were in charge of this train.
JUNE 06, 1919
Canadian National Railway Company incorporated.
JUNE 06, 1999
Central Manitoba Railway, a subsidiary of Cando Contracting, takes over the operation of the former Canadian National Carman subdivision between mile posts 0.13 and 50.50.
JUNE 07, 1860
Trackwork begins on San Francisco's Market Street Railroad.
JUNE 07, 1870
The first patent for an automatic electric block signal system is issued to Thomas S. Hall of Stamford, Connecticut.
JUNE 07, 1905
The first steel mail car is placed into service on the New York, Salamanca & Chicago Railroad.
JUNE 08, 1889
Cable Car service begins in Los Angeles.
JUNE 08, 1900
White Pass & Yukon Route opens service between Skagway and Whitehorse.
JUNE 08, 1905
The Pennsylvania Railroad announces 18-hour service between New York and Chicago.
JUNE 08, 1953
Union Pacific places first propane gas turbine locomotive into service.
JUNE 08, 1957
In the Canadian province of Ontario: Canadian National began to tear up the abandoned New York Central line beginning at Crysler. The rails were reused in Montreal for their new hump yard.
JUNE 09, 1881
Canada Central Railway is amalgamated into the Canadian Pacific Railway.
JUNE 09, 1883
The first commercial electric railway, the Chicago EI, line begins operation.
JUNE 09, 1955
Canadian National places in operation a Centalized Traffic Control (CTC) system which controls 28 miles of trackage in the Ottawa area.
JUNE 09, 1959
Operations cease on the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railroad.
JUNE 10, 1910
The Spokane, Portland & Seattle completes it's mainline from Spokane to Portland.
JUNE 10, 1961
Chicago, Aurora & Elgin abandoned.
JUNE 10, 1973
Amtrak receives first EMD SDP40Fs.
JUNE 10, 1998
In the Canadian province of Ontario: Canadian National concludes an agreement to convey the Alexandria subdivision, between Coteau and Hawthorne, to VIA Rail Canada. Canadian National retained exlusive rights to operate local and overhead freight upon running rights payments to VIA.
JUNE 11, 1864
Civil War Battle of Central Railroad Trevillian Station, Virginia.
JUNE 11, 1888
Canadian Pacific Railway opens the "Sault Branch" from Sudbury to Sault Ste. Marie where a connection was made not only with the American railway system but also with Canadian Pacific steam ships.
JUNE 11, 1905
Pennsylvania Railroad debuts fastest train in the world (New York to Chicago in 18 hours).
JUNE 11, 1940
New York City's 9th Avenue EI, the oldest elevated railroad in the world, makes it's last run. The youngest of New York City's elevated lines, the 2nd Avenue EI, also makes it's last run.
JUNE 11, 1956
The Pacific Great Eastern Railway opens between North Vancouver and Prince George, British Columbia. A formal opening ceremony took place on August 27th.
JUNE 11, 1980
San Francisco's K-Ingleside streetcar converts to METRO service San Francisco.
JUNE 12, 1832
Tuscumbia Railway begins operations.
JUNE 12, 1899
Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch rob a Union Pacific train of $60,000 near Wilcox Station, Wyoming.
JUNE 12, 1905
Pennsylvania Railroad's Pennsylvania Special (which later became the Broadway Limited) sets a speed record of 127.2 MPH. This would stand as the all time record for steam locomotives.
JUNE 12, 1911
In the Canadian province of Ontario: Work starts at Dwyer Hill on the grading of the last section of the Canadian Northern Ontario line between Ottawa and Toronto. This was the last line constructed into Ottawa.
JUNE 12, 1919
In the Canadian province of Ontario: An interlocker is installed at Bedell, then known as Kempton, to control train movements over the diamond crossing between Canadian Pacific's Winchester and Prescott subdivisions.
JUNE 12, 1973
In Cornwall, Ontario, Canada: Former Cornwall Street Railway motors nos. 6 to 9 and 15 were scrapped at St. Lawrence Iron & Metal in Quebec.
JUNE 13, 1928
The first rail detector car, invented by Elmer Ambrose Sperry is tested for the first time at Beacon, New York. The car made it possible to detect flaws in railroad track.
JUNE 13, 1957
Central Railroad of New Jersey retires #1000, the first diesel-electric locomotive.
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