December 31, 1853 Canada's Great Western Railway opens between Hamilton and London Ontario.
?
December 31, 1870 The Vermont Central Railroad leases The Rutland Railroad.
?
December 31, 1887 Michigan's only international railroad bridge, the 1.2-mile series of spans across the rapids of the St. Mary's River at Sault Ste. Marie is opened. The double bascule spans are, at the time, the largest of this type of in the world.
?
December 31, 1955 Grand Trunk Western drops passenger service between Pontiac and Caseville MI. The last run carried one passenger: a reporter covering the event.
?
December 31, 1968 The Pullman Co., owned by the railroads to provide sleeping car services, ceases all operations, primarily due to Penn Central's insistence that it staff its own cars.
?
December 31, 1983 All running boards are to be removed from box cars and refrigerator cars.
?
December 31, 2011 The Canadian National fully absorbs the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range and the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific railroads. The two roads are placed in the CN-controlled Wisconsin Central Ltd. family.
?
December 31, 2012 The Canadian National reorganizes its holdings in the former Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and places them in CN’s Wisconsin Central Ltd.
?
Mark Tomlonson
