1903 in rail transport

none 1902 1903 1904 1900 Events January events January 20 – The Grand Trunk Western Railroad opens a passenger depot in Lansing, Michigan. January 28 – Esmond Train Wreck: fourteen people are killed when the Crescent City Express (No. 8, bound for Benson, Arizona) collides head-on with the bound Pacific Coast Express (No. 7, bound for Tucson). February events February 12 – North British Locomotive Company established as a locomotive builder in Glasgow, Scotland, by merger of Dübs & Company, Neilson, Reid & Company, and Sharp, Stewart & Company.James W. Lowe British Steam Locomotive Builders Cambridge Goose and Son 1975 0-900404-21-3 In April it receives its first new order for steam locomotives, from India.Murdoch Nicolson Mark O'Neill Glasgow: Locomotive Builder to the World Edinburgh Polygon 1987 0-948275-46-4 March events March 3 – Baker valve gear for steam locomotives is first patented in the United States.http://steamtraction.farmcollector.com/Farm-life/AD-BAKER-COMPANY-INCIDENTS.aspx?page=4 Remembering the A.D. Baker Company Blake LeRoy W. May–June 1979 Farm Collector 4 2012-07-09 2012-05-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20120510141722/http://steamtraction.farmcollector.com/Farm-life/AD-BAKER-COMPANY-INCIDENTS.aspx?page=4 dead April events April 7 – Apalachicola Northern Railroad, later to become AN Railway, is chartered. May events May 3 – The Mersey Railway, operating between Birkenhead and Liverpool by tunnel beneath the River Mersey, England, converts from steam to electric traction.Gahan, John W. The Line Beneath the Liners – a hundred years of Mersey Railway sights and sounds 1983 Countyvise Birkenhead 0-907768-40-7 May 13 – The Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad (later to become part of Chicago & North Western Railway) begins passenger train service to Casper, Wyoming.Casper Star-Tribune June 22, 2005 http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/06/22/news/casper/a2e0ab59d0ef19c0872570270020fd84.txt BP Amoco Timeline June 22, 2005 May 25 – The Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad opens, becoming the first railroad in the United States to use an electrified third rail to power its trains. July events July – Regular passenger traffic from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok over the Trans-Siberian and Chinese Eastern Railways begins. July 1 – Opening of the Albula Railway portion of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) (metre gauge) in Switzerland, passing through the Albula Tunnel, the highest of the principal Alpine tunnels at 1370 m.October 2016 July 13 – Danbury Union Station in Danbury, Connecticut, on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, opens.Gulder, Bill http://www.danbury.org/drm/history/DRM-history-1.html A Brief History of the Danbury Railway Museum 2005-07-12 https://web.archive.org/web/20050725081841/http://www.danbury.org/drm/history/DRM-history-1.html 2005-07-25 live July 27 Construction begins on the Baghdad Railway with the 200 km on segment between Konya and Bulgurlu in the Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey).2004-12-01 http://www.trainsofturkey.com/w/pmwiki.php/History/CIOB Trains of Turkey Baghdad Railway 2005-07-22 Glasgow St Enoch rail accident, Scotland: sixteen killed when a train crashes into the buffers. August events August 10 – Paris Metro train fire, France: electric fire on Paris Métro at Couronnes; 84 killed. August 17 – The Great Western Railway becomes the first British railway company to operate its own road motor services (i.e. buses), between Helston and The Lizard in Cornwall.Cummings John Railway Motor Buses and Bus Services in the British Isles 1902-1933, volume 2 Oxford Publishing Company 1980 Oxford 0-86093-050-5 September events thumb|Aftermath of the Wreck of the Old 97 a few days after the accident. September 27 – Wreck of the Old 97, Danville, Virginia, United States: A southbound Southern Railway passenger train derails on a trestle in Danville; eleven people are killed.https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52537703/the-anglo-saxon/ Many People Killed The Anglo-Saxon Rockingham, NC October 1, 1903 5 Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52538234/the-topeka-state-journal/ Nine Are Killed The Topeka State Journal Topeka, KS September 28, 1903 1 Newspapers.com October events October – Experimental electric trains, built by AEG and Siemens & Halske, reach 210.2 km/h (130.6 mph) between Marienfelde and Zossen in Germany. October 1 The first railway in Norway rebuilt to double track, from Bryn to Lillestrøm on the Hovedbanen, is opened.Norsk Jernbaneklubb Norsk Jernbaneklubb Banedata '94 82-90286-15-5 1994 Norwegian The Gold Coast Government Railway is extended from Obuasi to Kumasi. October 21 – Howard Elliott succeeds Charles Sanger Mellen as president of Northern Pacific Railway.Railway Age Gazette (August 1, 1913) pp. 177-8. October 26 – The Key System begins operating their first streetcar-ferry service, the Berkeley line in Berkeley, California.Demoro Harre W. Harre W. Demoro https://archive.org/embed/keyroutetransbay0000demo The Key Route: Transbay Commuting by Train and Ferry, Part 1 Interurban Press 1985 0-916374-66-1 Interurbans Specials 95 Glendale, California 17–20 October 31 – The Purdue Wreck, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA: A Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis Railway football special carrying the Purdue University football team and fans to the annual game with Indiana University collides with a coal train. Fourteen of the team and three other passengers are killed. November events thumb|Kalka-Shimla Railway November 9 – The 2ft6in gauge Kalka-Shimla Railway opens in India.Northern Railways of India http://ksr100.com/History.asp Kalka-Shimla Railway November 8, 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20051118111332/http://ksr100.com/History.asp November 18, 2005 December events December 14 – The New York, New Haven and Hartford introduces the all-parlor car Merchants Limited between Boston and New York City.31 Unknown date events The British Engineering Standards Committee draws up specifications for eight standard steam locomotive designs for the broad gauge Indian Railways.R.R. Bhandari Steam in History Indian Railways Fan Club http://www.irfca.org/articles/isrs/isrs082004-steam-history.html 2000 2010-10-07 https://web.archive.org/web/20100926150918/http://irfca.org/articles/isrs/isrs082004-steam-history.html 26 September 2010 live Southern Pacific Railroad gains 50% control of the Pacific Electric system in Los Angeles, California. The Wilkes-Barre & Hazleton Railway opens as the first railroad to have a guarded third rail. The provisions of the Railroad Safety Appliance Act, enacted in 1893, are extended to include all railroad cars whether or not the cars themselves are used in interchange service. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway introduces the first 2-10-2 compound locomotives (built by Baldwin Locomotive Works) into service.Richard Balkwill Marshall, John John Marshall (railway historian) The Guinness Book of Railway Facts and Feats 6th Enfield Guinness Publishing 1993 0-85112-707-X Edward Harriman becomes president of the Union Pacific. George Whale succeeds Francis William Webb as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London & North Western Railway. Accidents uncollapsed Births April births April 10 – Edward T. Reidy, last president of Chicago Great Western Railway 1957–1968. Deaths March deaths March 29 – Gustavus Franklin Swift, founder of Swift & Company which pioneered the use of refrigerator cars in late 19th century America (born 1839) July deaths July 27 – Frederick Kimball, American civil engineer who was instrumental in the formation of Norfolk & Western (born 1844). Unknown date deaths John Elfreth Watkins, railroad civil engineer and first curator for the Smithsonian Institution's railroad artifacts including John Bull. References 2