February 22, 1850 The Columbus & Xenia Railroad is completed between its namesake Ohio cities. It is the first railroad in Ohio to be built with T-Rail (as opposed to strap rail) in its original construction. (Some sources say Feb 21.)
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February 22, 1851 The Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati RR (later Big Four) is completed from Cleveland to Columbus.
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February 22, 1852 The Buffalo & State Line Railroad (later LS&MS) opens between Buffalo and the NY/PA state line near Erie.
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February 22, 1854 The Chicago & Rock Island Railroad completes its line between Chicago and Rock Island, IL. It is the first railroad to reach the upper Mississippi River.
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February 22, 1855 The first common carrier railroad in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Iron Mountain Railroad (later DSS&A, SOO, CN) is charted.
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February 22, 1856 The first railroad in California, the Sacramento Valley (later Southern Pacific) is opened between Sacramento and Folsom.
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February 22, 1863 Construction begins on the Central Pacific Railroad.
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February 22, 1866 The first railroad bridge over the Hudson between Albany and Greenbush opens, linking the New York Central and the Hudson River Railroads. NYC will begin running through trains between New York and Buffalo, but in summer will still deliver most freight to the river steamers.
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February 22, 1867 The Pullman Palace Car Company is incorporated in Illinois.
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February 22, 1881 The Kankakee & Seneca Railroad is incorporated. Running 49 miles between its two namesake Illinois towns, it is intended to be a link between the Rock Island and Big Four railroads.
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February 22, 1890 The Peoria & Eastern Railroad is chartered (some sources say February 21).
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February 22, 1910 The Interstate Commerce Commission denies a petition filed by several railroads to allow them to increase their shipping rates to cover recent wage increases.
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February 22, 1919 The Pennsylvania Railroad halts work on a new freight yard in West Philadelphia. Laid out in 1914, it is now deemed too short for the longer freights trains created by heavier steam locomotives. Expanding the yard is deemed too difficult.
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February 22, 1920 The Milwaukee Road stages a pushing match (no drawbar could withstand a tug-of-war) between 2-6-6-2 Mallet 9520 and brand new bi-polar electric 10254. The bi-polar wins. A similar contest between two steam engines will be staged in 1930 for the movie "Danger Lights" starring Jean Arthur.
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February 22, 1938 Santa Fe's "El Capitan", offering coaches and ¡°Lunch Counter¡± food service cars begins weekly Chicago-Los Angeles service.
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Mark Tomlonson
