February 12, 1827 Two dozen Baltimore merchants, concerned over loss of trade to New York and Philadelphia, hold their first meeting to discuss a rail road to the West, to be built along the line of the National Road.
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February 12, 1849 The Aurora Branch Railroad is chartered, the first segment in what will be the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
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February 12, 1855 Michigan passes a law requiring crews on passenger trains and depot personnel to wear badges on their hats or caps indicating their job title.
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February 12, 1855 The Detroit & Pontiac merges with the Oakland & Ottawa to form the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad (later GT).
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February 12, 1868 The Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central Railway (later PRR) is incorporated by the merger of the Columbus & Indiana Central Railway and Chicago & Great Eastern Railway The CC&IC operates between Columbus and Chicago via Logansport and between Columbus and Indianapolis, with a branch from Logansport to Effner.
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February 12, 1879 The Board of the Pennsylvania Railroad gives the Altoona (PA) Library Association $500 and the use of a room at the Altoona Shops to create a library for the use of PRR employees.
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February 12, 1900 The Pennsylvania Railroad Lines West Executive Committee authorizes the further expansion of Conway Yard, including a lengthened turntable for Class H4 and H6 locomotives.
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February 12, 1901 In two separate acts, Congress requires the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsylvania Railroads to eliminate grade crossings within the District of Columbia and to build new passenger stations.
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February 12, 1930 The Columbia City and Logansport (IN) RPO is discontinued.
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February 12, 1933 The last passenger train runs between Niles and Benton Harbor on the New York Central.
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February 12, 1934 In Chicago, Union Pacific takes delivery of M-10000, later known as the "City of Salina". It begins a nationwide tour of 12,625 miles. Some of that mileage will be run at 111 mph.
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February 12, 1953 The New York Central sells 28 acres of its old coach yard in Boston. The land will be developed as the Prudential Center.
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February 12, 2008 Arthur Lewis passes away at the age of 89. Mr. Lewis was an investment banker who oversaw both the creation of Amtrak and the creation of Conrail. He also worked for a bus-lobbying group and headed several airlines.
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February 12, 2012 Berkshire Hathaway acquires the BNSF Railway for $44 billion.
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February 13, 1849 The Vermont Central Railway opens from White River Junction south to Windsor VT.
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February 13, 1855 The Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad (later GTW) is formed by the merger of the Detroit & Pontiac and Oakland & Ottawa Railroad. This will create a continuous line from Detroit to Lake Michigan
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February 13, 1907 The New York Central & Hudson River Railroad uses an electric locomotive for the first time to pull a passenger train out of Grand Central Terminal. Earlier electric passenger trains used MU equipment.
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February 13, 1910 The Pennsylvania Railroad announces it has 324 all-steel passenger cars in service: 245 coaches, 21 combines, 10 diners, 29 baggage cars, 18 postal cars and one office car. This represents about 25% of the entire fleet.
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February 13, 1935 Madison, Wisconsin streetcar service ends as damage from an ice storm hastens the already-planned conversion to buses.
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February 14, 1834 King Ludwig I of Bavaria approves the first railroad in Germany.
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February 14, 1842 Author Charles Dickens arrives in New York, after traveling from Boston via railroad and steamship.
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February 14, 1857 The State of Michigan awards a federal land grant between Grand Rapids and Little Traverse Bay to the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad.
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February 14, 1867 The first car of flour shipped using the new Blue Line, a cooperative traffic agreement among several railroads, arrives in Boston from St. Louis.
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February 14, 1886 California orange groves ship the first trainload of fruit to the east.
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February 14, 1891 The last spike in the construction of the Great Northern is driven at Blaine WA.
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February 14, 1896 The Northern Pacific Railway opens Portland (OR) Union Station.
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February 14, 1897 Railroad reformer Robert R. Young is born. Chairman of the Board of Chesapeake & Ohio, Erie, Missouri Pacific, Nickel Plate, Pere Marquette, Wheeling & Lake Erie and finally New York Central, he is perhaps best known for his advertising campaign: "A hog can cross the country without changing trains but you can't".
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February 14, 1905 Workers tunneling for the Pennsylvania Railroad blast a hole under the Erie Railroad's Weehawken NJ yard. A number of freight cars are swallowed up by the hole, but no one is injured.
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February 14, 1915 The first position-light signals are placed in service between Overbrook and Bryn Mawr PA. Designed to increase signal visibility in electrified areas, they will eventually become a Pennsylvania Railroad standard.
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February 14, 1923 Great Lakes carferry "Ann Arbor #4" encounters a gale soon after leaving Frankfort MI. She turns around and heads back, but her load of freight cars break loose and careen about the deck. A huge wave hits her and swamps her. She founders against the Frankfort breakwater. No hands are lost, but some of the crew are injured.
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February 14, 1927 The first New York Central "J-1" Hudson locomotive is outshopped by Alco.
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February 14, 1932 The Kenosha Electric Railway ends operations. Streetcars will return to Kenosha in 2000.
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February 14, 1998 In Yaounde, Cameroon, an oil train collides with another freight train. After the wreck, a person trying to scavenge some of the waste oil sets off an explosion which kills 120.
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February 14, 2004 Tower 17 closes in Texas, the last in the state and the next to the last west of the Mississippi.
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February 14, 2007 A TGV train sets a new world speed record for conventional flanged-wheel-on-rail trains of 553 km/h (343.6 mph) breaking the 513.5 km/h record set in May 1990. The record will be broken again when preparations are made for an all-out attempt in April 2007.
Mark Tomlonson
