1909 in rail transport

none 1908 1909 1910 1900 Events January events January 1 - The Chemins de fer de l'Ouest in France is incorporated into the state-owned Chemins de fer de l'État. January 26 - The Jamestown, Franklin and Clearfield Railroad, a predecessor of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, is formed from the merger of four smaller railroads in Pennsylvania.New York Central Railroad (1913), New York Central Railroad System: Annual Report 1913 - History of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern https://web.archive.org/web/20120813000845/http://www.s363.com/dkny/lsms.html August 13, 2012 . Retrieved January 25, 2006. January 29 - The final spike is driven in the construction of the Virginian Railway at Glen Lyn, Virginia. March events March 7 - The Winona Interurban Railway (Indiana) is forced by its major creditor to begin operations on Sundays, a move resisted by its Sabbatarian founders, including H.J. Heinz and J. M. Studebaker. April events April 1 - Great Central Railway places turbine steamships on its Grimsby-Rotterdam service. April 4 - Passenger service begins on the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railroad (predecessor of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad) between Hammond, Indiana, and Pullman, Illinois.http://www.post-trib.com/news/1026442,SSHISTORY629.article South Shore Railroad history 2008-06-29 Chicago Tribune 15 July 2011September 2016 medicmedic April 12 - Gary, Indiana, United States: a westbound Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railroad train runs past a meet point and causes a head-on collision with an eastbound train, killing twelve. thumb|right|300px|K1, the first Garratt locomotive, photographed by its builders, Beyer, Peacock & Company May events May 17 - Firemen on the Georgia Railroad strike to protest the hiring of African-Americans. May 26 – Los Angeles Pacific Railroad begins passenger service over the Santa Monica Air Line.Air Line Flyer Service Put On To Santa Monica http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19090526.2.102.59 8 September 2020 Los Angeles Herald 25 May 1909 5 Sherman R.P. June events June - George Whale retires as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London & North Western Railway; he is succeeded by Charles Bowen-Cooke. June 19 - Shadyside, Indiana, United States: an eastbound Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad train runs past a meet point and causes a head-on collision with a westbound train. July events July 10 - The Great Northern Railway electrifies the 2.5 mi on original Cascade Tunnel, near the summit of Stevens Pass in the Cascade Mountains. This first system and General Electric-built boxcabs are the only three-phase AC railway electrification implementation ever to be used in North America.Ralph Willard Hidy Muriel E. Hidy Roy V. Scott 2004 115 The Great Northern Railway: A History University of Minnesota Press 978-0-8166-4429-2 July 25 - Opening of Tauern Railway Line in Austria.Richard Balkwill Marshall, John John Marshall (railway historian) The Guinness Book of Railway Facts and Feats 6th Enfield Guinness Publishing 1993 978-0-85112-707-1 August events August 30 - Great Western Railway begins using its Fishguard terminus in Wales for boat trains in connection with the Cunard steamships on Atlantic routes as a first port of call. August - Canadian Pacific opens the Spiral Tunnels to traffic on the line through Kicking Horse Pass. September events September - Robert S. Lovett succeeds E. H. Harriman as president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the Southern Pacific. Lovett also assumes the position of Chairman of the Executive Committee for the railroad. September 17 - Beyer, Peacock & Company of Manchester, England, steam the first Garratt locomotive built to the design of Herbert William Garratt, K1 for the North East Dundas Tramway.K1: the world's first Garratt http://whr.bangor.ac.uk/k1.htm 2007-07-15 https://web.archive.org/web/20070806225729/http://whr.bangor.ac.uk/k1.htm 2007-08-06 October events October 9 - The Alaska Northern Railroad Company (a predecessor of the Alaska Railroad) purchases the assets of the bankrupt Alaska Central Railway and subsequently extends the line northward another 34 km mi on. October - Blue Nile Road & Railway Bridge completed at Khartoum in Sudan, the longest bridge in tropical Africa at this date. November events November 1 - A Golden Spike ceremony is held on the Western Pacific Railroad. As no company officials are present, the local track foreman drives the last spike, the track crew shout “Hooray!” and two women walking by with their children kiss each other. November 3 - The Lethbridge Viaduct, one of the largest railway structures in Canada on the Canadian Pacific near Lethbridge, Alberta, opens. November 10 - Louis Brennan successfully demonstrates his gyroscopically-balanced monorail system, which he designed for military use and patented in 1903, at Gillingham, England.The Monorail Society http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/History.html Monorails in History 2005-11-08 https://web.archive.org/web/20051109073850/http://monorails.org/tMspages/History.html 9 November 2005 live November 21 - Kagoshima Line, Mojiko (Kitakyushu), via Hakata (Fukuoka), Kumamoto, Hitoyoshi to Kagoshima route officially completed in Kyushu Island, Japan.December 2016 December events December 1 - The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway publicly inaugurates London's first suburban surface railway electrification on its South London line, known as the "Elevated Electric" (overhead wire 6.7 kV a.c. at 25 Hz).Turner John Howard The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, III: Completion and Maturity 1979 Batsford London 978-0-7134-1389-2 December 20 - Henry Fowler is appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway of England, succeeding Richard Deeley. Unknown date events section October 2020 The Nickel Plate Road begins a massive grade separation project in Cleveland, Ohio, to eliminate street grade crossings on the railroad's mainline in the city. Albert Hunt invents the wigwag grade crossing protection signal for the Pacific Electric in Los Angeles, California. Opening of the Jingzhang railway connecting Beijing with Zhangjiakou, first section of the Jingbao railway in northwestern China and the first railway designed and built by Chinese. Reconstruction of Flinders Street railway station in Melbourne, Australia, is completed. Births August births August 4 – Isabel Benham, American railroad financial expert, is born (d. 2013). Deaths February deaths February 4 – Thomas Lowry, president of Minneapolis Street Railway 1877-1892, president of Twin City Rapid Transit, president of Soo Line Railroad 1889-1890 and 1892-1909, dies (b. 1843). March deaths March 13 - William Jackson Palmer, builder of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (born 1836). May deaths May 19 - Henry H. Rogers, American financier who helped finance and build the Virginian Railway (born 1840). July deaths July 23 - Ernest F. Cambier, Belgian colonial pioneer who established the first Congo railway (born 1844).Brainymedia.com 2005 http://www.brainyhistory.com/daysdeath/death_july_23.html July 23 Deaths in History 2005-07-19 September deaths September 9 - E. H. Harriman, executive in charge of both the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific (born 1848). October deaths March 24 - Edward Entwistle, first driver of the Rocket locomotive (born 1815).Richard Entwistle Edward Entwistle of Rocket Fame http://www.efhadata.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4664&sid=c6bdac61f50e94a3cd33229bd7ea222f Entwistle Family History Association Forum 2011-03-30 2013-10-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20150610202706/http://www.efhadata.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4664&sid=c6bdac61f50e94a3cd33229bd7ea222f 2015-06-10 dead References