October 2, 1855 The Detroit & Milwaukee (later GTW) is completed from Detroit to Fentonville, a distance of 50 miles.
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October 2, 1860 The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), traveling under the name "Lord Renfrew" (one of his minor titles) takes a special Pennsylvania Railroad train from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg. He rides in the locomotive cab through Gallitzin Tunnel and on the locomotive's pilot beam around Horseshoe Curve.
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October 2, 1869 The New Jersey Railroad begins car floating all freight to New York rather than carrying freight wagons on ferryboats. This is the probable beginning of pier-station car floats.
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October 2, 1888 Streetcars begin service in Akron OH,
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October 2, 1902 The Traverse City, Leelanau & Manistique Railroad (built by GR&I, later C&O) obtains trackage rights over the Manistee & Northeastern between Traverse City and Hatch's Siding.
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October 2, 1912 The Great Northern opens its ¡°Surrey¡± cut-off to traffic. Running between Minot and Fargo ND, the new route saves 52 miles over the orginal routethrough Grand Forks and Devils Lake.
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October 2, 1914 The Michigan Central opens ¡°Tower 2¡± (later ¡°BO¡± Tower) in Kalamazoo MI. The tower will control junctions with the Chicago, Kalamazoo & Saginaw, Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and Grand Trunk railroads.
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October 2, 1926 The second annual Pennsylvania Railroad-New York Central baseball game is held at Indianapolis. NYC's Indiana Harbor Belt team wins, 3-1.
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October 2, 1935 Two young men, aged 12 and 13 are taken off a boxcar roof on a Detroit bound freight train at the Augusta MI coal dock. In spite of carrying a single loaf of bread and no cash, they had hopes of seeing the Detroit Tigers play in the World Series.
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October 2, 1941 The CI&L (Monon) completes its multi-year signal project, installing ABS signals on its line to Louisville. When this project is completed the entire line will operate under ABS.
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October 2, 1947 Construction begins on the Toledo Central Union Terminal.
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October 2, 1963 The ICC concludes its hearings on the Penn Central merger. The transcript runs to 20,000 pages and represents the longest railroad merger hearing to date.
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Mark Tomlonson
