Chapter
NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Rivanna
Chapter
Charlottesville, Virginia
This Month in Railroad History
* October*
OCTOBER 01 1834
Patent issued to Ross Winans for the first locomotive with six or
eight driving wheels.
OCTOBER 01 1861
Theodore Judah recommends Donner Pass route for the Central
Pacific through the Sierra Nevadas.
OCTOBER 01 1931
Cotton Belt's Blue Streak freight service begins.
OCTOBER 01 1943
T.F. Dixon becomes Vice-President & General Manager (SP&S
Ry.)
OCTOBER 01 1964
San Francisco cable cars declared a national landmark.
OCTOBER 01 1967
Last run for Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Fast Mail
OCTOBER 01 1979
Amtrak's National Limited, Lone Star, North Coast Hiawatha and
Hilltopper are discontinued.
OCTOBER 01 1988
Last run for Canadian National narrow gauge in Newfoundland.
OCTOBER 02 1872
Colorado's second largest narrow gauge railroad, the Denver,
South Park & Pacific Railway is incorporated.
OCTOBER 02 1882
Asked whether he operates his railroads for the public benefit,
William Vanderbilt 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.
OCTOBER 03 1837
The Sandusky, the first locomotive equipped with a whistle makes
it's first run from Patterson to New Brunswick, NJ.
OCTOBER 03 1937
Railroad unions win 44 cent per day pay raise.
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 Railway.
OCTOBER 04 1980
Smithsonian reactivates 2-4-0 John Bull.
OCTOBER 04 1981
Amtrak's Chicago to East Peoria Prarie Marksman is discontinued.
OCTOBER 05
NO KNOWN EVENTS FOR THIS DATE!
OCTOBER 06 1846
George Westinghouse is born.
OCTOBER 06 1866
The four Reno brothers, hold up their first train, taking $13,000
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 07 1826
The first American railroad is completed in Quincy,
Massachusetts. Horse drawn wagons carrying granite were pulled
from a quarry along a 3-mile long 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 its last steam operation.
OCTOBER 07 1960
General Manager N.S. Westergard assumes additional post of
Vice-President (SP&S Ry.)
OCTOBER 08 1979
Amtrak's Chicago to Miami Floridian is discontinued.
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 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, PA.
OCTOBER 11 1951
RS-3's #65-68 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.
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 Chicago
scrap yard.
OCTOBER 12 1986
A once-in-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 13 1988
Southern Pacific Railroad sold to Rio Grande Industries.
OCTOBER 14 1980
The Staggers Rail Act substantially deregulates railroads in the
United States.
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 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 its 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)
OCTOBER 16 1964
Norfolk & Western merges Nickel Plate Road.
OCTOBER 16 1973
Ann Arbor Railroad Declares bankruptcy.
OCTOBER 17 1902
The Trinity & Brazos Valley Railroad is chartered (Now part
of Burlington Northern'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.
OCTOBER 17 1962
Union Pacific make first road test of coal-burning
gas-turbine-electric.
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
steamliner, 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.
OCTOBER 19 1897
George Pullman dies.
OCTOBER 19 1913
23 killed in train accident at Bucatanna, MS.
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 Herington, Kansas City-Dallas line is
sold to Katy subsidiary Oklahoma, Kansas & Texas.
OCTOBER 20 1980
965-mile former Rock Island Kansas City-Tucumcari, New Mexico
line is sold to Southern Pacific's Cotton Belt.
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.
OCTOBER 22 1925
First production diesel-electric locomotive sold to Central
Railroad of New Jersey.
OCTOBER 22 1934
The 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.
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 23 1824
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 Zephyr, makes Chicago to Denver
run in 12 hours, 12 minutes - an average of 91.6 MPH.
OCTOBER 24 1861
Pony Express service ends.
OCTOBER 24 1866
The first Bucker snowplow is completed at the Central Pacific's
Sacramento shops.
OCTOBER 25 1848
The locomotive Pioneer pull the first westbound train out of
Chicago.
OCTOBER 25 1886
In Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois,
the Supreme Court declares that a state cannot regulate even that
portion of interstate commerce that takes place within its own
borders, removing the States legislative powers over railroads.
This led to passage of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 by
Congress.
OCTOBER 26 1906
Oregon Electric purchases Willamette Valley Traction
OCTOBER 26 1968
Penn Central vacates Chicago's La Salle Street Station in favor
of Union Station.
OCTOBER 26 1985
First run for Burlington Northern's propane-fueled GP-9.
OCTOBER 27 1870
William J. Palmer Incorporates Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.
OCTOBER 27 1891
The St. Clair Tunnel, connecting the U.S. and Canada beneath the
St. Clair River opens.
OCTOBER 27 1904
First part of the New York City subway opens.
OCTOBER 28 1956
Chicago Burlington & Quincy introduces new Vista-Dome Denver
Zephyrs.
OCTOBER 28 1979
Amtrak's first double deck Superliner coaches debut on the
Chicago to Seattle Empire Builder.
OCTOBER 28 1983
After over 48 years of service, New Jersey Transit #3323 becomes
the last revenue train to be pulled by a GG1.
OCTOBER 29 1904
New York City IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit) subway opens.
OCTOBER 29 1989
New York City MTA opens 63rd street extension to subway.
OCTOBER 30 1955
Union Pacific shifts Omaha-Chicago streamliner routes from the
Chicago & Northwestern to the Milwaukee Road.
OCTOBER 30 1972
Two Illinois Central Gulf commuter trains collide in Chicago,
killing 45 and injuring 356.
OCTOBER 30 1983
Amtrak begins tri-weekly Auto Train service from Lofton, VA to
Sanford, FL.
OCTOBER 31 1956
Brooklyn, NY ends streetcar service.
OCTOBER 31 1966
Canadian National begins Montreal-Toronto Rapidos.
OCTOBER 31 1970
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, known as Amtrak is
created.
OCTOBER 31 1976
Canadian Pacific and Canadian National issue joint VIA timetable.
OCTOBER 31 1978
Last train out of St. Louis Union Terminal.
OCTOBER 31 1987
Montana Rail Link begins operation over 907 miles of ex-Northern
Pacific (Burlington Northern) track.
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