1896 in rail transport

none 1895 1896 1897 1890 Events January events January 23 – Construction begins on the Northwestern Elevated Railroad of the Chicago "L" with the first structure erected at the intersection of Fullerton and Sheffield Avenues.Chicago "L".org, Northwestern Elevated (1893–1924). Retrieved January 23, 2006. February events February 14 – Northern Pacific Railway opens its Union Station in Portland, Oregon. February 19 – Braamfontein Explosion: A train carrying 56 tons of dynamite explodes at Braamfontein, Johannesburg, killing more than 78 people.The Great Dynamite Explosion, report by J. G. Blumberg, Fairmount School, Johannesburg, excerpt from the autobiography of Dutch immigrant Jan de Veer who came to South Africa in 1893. February 24 – Erie Railroad purchases the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad.Western New York Railroad Archive (December 17, 2005), Erie Railroad – History https://web.archive.org/web/20060502094343/http://wnyrails.railfan.net/railroads/erie/erie_home.htm 2006-05-02 . Retrieved December 28, 2005. March events March 20 – The Grand Trunk Railway purchases the Central Vermont Railway and begins operating it as a wholly owned subsidiary. April events April 6 – The Snowdon Mountain Railway in North Wales, the only Abt rack system line in the British Isles, commences public operation; however, a derailment leading to one fatality causes services to be suspended for a year.Kardas Handel Britain's worst railway opening day – Ladas and the Snowdon Mountain Railway Railway World 58 683 April 1997 66–71 April 15 – Passenger rail service of the Henry Flagler Florida East Coast Railway arrives at its new terminus in Miami from West Palm Beach at the persuasion of Julia Tuttle; this quickly leads to incorporation of the city of Miami months later and extensive development of the Greater Miami, South Florida and the Keys. https://myfloridahistory.org/date-in-history/april-15-1896/first-train-henry-flagler%E2%80%99s-florida-east-coast-railroad-arrived-miami The first train of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad arrived in Miami Cocoa, Florida Florida Historical Society Florida Historical Quarterly October 31, 2016Bramson Seth Speedway to Sunshine: The Story of the Florida East Coast Railway https://books.google.com/books?id=S_l2TR6eyYMC&pg=PA145 2003 Boston Mills Press 978-1-55046-358-3 145–Burke J. Wills The Streets of Key West: A History Through Street Names https://books.google.com/books?id=LLtPnBVPo-wC&pg=PA176 2004 Pineapple Press Inc 978-1-56164-317-2 176–Bramson Seth H. Miami: The Magic City https://books.google.com/books?id=8H-RVTjot-QC&pg=PA130 2007 Arcadia Publishing 978-0-7385-4368-0 130– thumb|upright|Budapest Metro May events May 2 – Budapest Metro Line 1 (Hungary), the world's second, is opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.The Millennium Subway Line of Budapest May 9 – First Nord Express, Paris, France/Oostend, Belgium, to Saint Petersburg, Russia. May 13 – The Pretoria–Pietersburg Railway, a predecessor of the Central South African Railways, is incorporated in London. May 30 – Construction of the Uganda Railway starts at Mombasa.Miller Charles The Lunatic Express 1971 Macdonald New York 978-0-02-584940-2 June events June 29 – The St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad Company (predecessor of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway) is incorporated. July events July 23 – Delivery of world's first commercially-built oil-engined locomotive, from Richard Hornsby & Sons of Grantham, England to the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, London (18 in mm on gauge).Webb, Brian The British Internal Combustion Locomotive 1894–1940 1973 David & Charles Newton Abbot 0-7153-6115-5 July 30 – Atlantic City rail crash: Shortly after 6:30 PM, at a crossing just west of Atlantic City, New Jersey, two trains collide, crushing five loaded passenger coaches, killing 50 and seriously injuring around 60. August events August 14 – The Uganda Railway Act, 1896, is approved in the United Kingdom for construction of a railway in Africa from Mombasa to Lake Victoria.The Law Journal Reports for the Year 1896 (Stevens and Sons, Ltd., 1896), Volume 65. p. 247. September events September 15 – The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (the 'Katy') conveys 40,000 people to Crush, Texas to witness a staged train wreck as a publicity stunt arranged by its general passenger agent, William George Crush. Three spectators are accidentally killed.Allen Lee Hamilton http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/llc01 Crash at Crush Handbook of Texas University of Texas at Austin 2007-04-15 October events October 5 – Norwegian Railway Museum established at Hamar.http://members.ozemail.com.au/~telica/Norway_Hamar_Railway_Museum.html Norwegian Railway Museum – Hamar 2010-01-28 2020-08-21 https://web.archive.org/web/20200821043317/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~telica/Norway_Hamar_Railway_Museum.html dead December events December 14 – Glasgow Subway, the third oldest metro system in the world, begins operations in Glasgow, Scotland. December 25 – Japanese National Railways opens two lines out of Tabata: an extension of the Tsuchiura Line from Tsuchiura, and the Sumidagawa Line to Sumidagawa. December 30 – Pere Marquette 1896 6, the first steel train ferry, makes its first voyage. Unknown date events The Green Bay & Western Railroad is formed from the bankruptcy proceedings of the Green Bay, Winona and Saint Paul Railroad. The Loup Creek & Deepwater Railway (predecessor of the Deepwater Railway) is formed. Atlas Car & Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio, begins building steam locomotives. Beyer, Peacock & Company of Manchester, England, deliver the first five New South Wales T524 class 'Australian Consolidation' 2-8-0 type heavy goods locomotives to the New South Wales Government Railways, forerunners of the system's numerically largest class, finally totalling 280 representatives. Narrow gauge Ferrocarril de Tacubaya begins passenger service to Mexico City's Tacubaya amusement park.Mexican Narrow Gauge https://archive.org/details/mexicannarrowgau0000gera registration Best Gerald M. Howell-North 1968 The first narrow gauge (750 mm) railway in Estonia connecting Valga with Pärnu is opened.Ajalugu http://www.evr.ee/?id=31736&PHPSESSID=236c033efe38d1ee57cf233f127330cc Eesti Raudtee 23 April 2012 Estonian https://web.archive.org/web/20170923095735/http://www.evr.ee/?id=31736&PHPSESSID=236c033efe38d1ee57cf233f127330cc 2017-09-23 dead Deaths January deaths January 23 – Ferdinand Schichau, German mechanical engineer and founder of locomotive manufacturing company Schichau-Werke, dies (b. 1814). June deaths June 4 – Austin Corbin, president of Long Island Rail Road (b. 1827). October deaths October 21 – James Henry Greathead, English inventor of the tunnelling shield used for the London Underground (b. 1844).John Marshall John Marshall (railway historian) Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers 2nd Oxford Railway & Canal Historical Society 2003 0-901461-22-9 References