October 11, 1869 "Vanderbilt Bronze", a large sculpted pediment celebrating Cornelius Vanderbilt's career and featuring the larger than life statue now at Grand Central Terminal, is unveiled in a special ceremony at the St. John's Park Freight Station in lower Manhattan.
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October 11, 1873 The Mineral Range Railroad completes its Hancock to Calumet MI line.
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October 11, 1876 Sir Henry Whatley Tyler becomes President of the faltering Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. He begins an aggressive drive to overhaul the company and reach Chicago independent of the Vanderbilt lines.
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October 11, 1887 Between 9 and 11 people are killed when a freight train runs into the rear of a standing passenger train near Kouts IN on the Chicago & Atlantic Railway (later ERIE, EL).
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October 11, 1897 Trains begin using the downtown Chicago "Loop".
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October 11, 1911 The New Jersey Public Utilities Commission directs the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey to stop in Asbury Park on Sundays. This ends a concession made to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, located immediately south of Asbury Park.
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October 11, 1922 The Ft. Wayne Union Railway is incorporated to serve the International Harvester plant on the east side of Ft. Wayne. It is jointly owned by the Nickel Plate, New York Central, Pennsylvania, and Wabash railroads, each with a 25% share in the new company.
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October 11, 1923 The last movie western-style train robbery takes place near Ashland OR. Four people are killed; no money is stolen.
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October 11, 1950 The Toledo, Peoria & Western operates steam for the last time.
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October 11, 1965 The ICC accepts on its docket the proposed merger of Chesapeake & Ohio, Norfolk & Western, Boston & Maine, Jersey Central, Delaware & Hudson, Erie Lackawanna and Reading railroads. The proposed merger will be dismissed 6 years later.
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October 11, 1987 The first train of the new Wisconsin Central Ltd. Runs between Stevens Point and Fond du Lac WI.
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October 11, 1996 Amtrak first demonstrates 100-mph operation on its Kalamazoo MI to Porter IN segment.
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October 11, 2003 Metro-North Railroad closes its last tower.
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October 11, 2007 Norfolk Southern operates the nation's first revenue service train equipped exclusively with electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes. The train, consisting of three locomotives and 115 hybrid coal gondolas, will be used in regular service between coal mines in southwestern Pennsylvania and the Keystone Generating Station in Shelocta, PA.
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October 11, 2023 SEPTA puts up a new station sign at Conshohocken PA. People soon notice that the sign has misspelled Philadelphia (¡°Philadlephia¡±).
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October 12, 1855 The Philadelphia City Surveyor & Engineer reports to the City Councils that passenger railroads (i.e. horse cars) are a superior alternative to the city's omnibus network.
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October 12, 1922 The Pennsylvania Railroad, interested in using radio for communications between the locomotive and cabin car, witnesses a demonstration of radio reception without an external aerial on the Broadway Limited between New York and Chicago.
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October 12, 1929 The Pennsylvania Railroad releases a short, silent promotional film titled "Broadway Limited", to be shown by R-K-O Theatres nationwide.
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October 12, 1934 Five Railroad Industry groups merge to form the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
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October 12, 1950 The New York Central places an order for 200 diesel locomotives from four builders.
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October 12, 1954 The last Erie steam locomotives are taken to a scrap yard in Chicago.
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October 12, 1956 Great Northern opens Gavin Yard in Minot ND.
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October 12, 2003 China opens a 250-mile long passenger-only heavy rail line between a port city and a provincial capital. It is China's first passenger-only line and is planned to eventually reach from the northeast port city to Beijing.
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October 13, 1869 The Allegan & Holland Railroad (later HNW) and the Muskegon & Ferrysburg Railroad are merged into the Michigan Lake Shore Railroad under an agreement signed September 29. The MLS will later be included in the Pere Marquette, Chesapeake & Ohio and CSX railroads.
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October 13, 1902 Professor Ernest Rutherford of McGill University, who would earn the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1908, is the first to demonstrate wireless communication between a station and a moving train. His test subject was a special Grand Trunk passenger train running between Toronto and Montreal.
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October 13, 1910 The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern begins dispatching its trains between Elkhart IN and Chicago IL by telephone, replacing the telegraph.
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October 13, 1914 The Algoma Central & Hudson Bay Railway [later AC, WC, CN, GDLK], building north from Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, opens its northernmost section between Oba and Hearst, Ontario.
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October 13, 1932 Streetcar motormen and conductors go on strike in Jackson, Kalamazoo, and Lansing MI. They are protesting a cut in wages since the first of the year from 51 cents per hour to 31 cents per hour. ($12.07 to $7.34 in 2024 dollars)
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October 13, 1956 Thanks to a new connection with the Lackawanna, Erie Railroad passenger trains can proceed directly to Hoboken, bypassing Jersey City.
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October 13, 1978 The last passenger train in the US pulled by an Alco PA-1 [albeit one termed a "PA-4" after a new prime mover and electrics are installed] pulls out of Boston: MBTA train 453.
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October 13, 2009 A man decides to protest a ticket dispute by "mooning " the conductor at Lauenbruek Station, Germany after he was thrown off the train. His pants catch in the closing car door, dragging him about 600 feet. The stunt delays 23 trains and shuts down service on the line for an hour. Several charges will be filed against the 22-year-old man.
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October 13, 2011 The American Heritage Company, operator of the Durango & Silverton train, announces it has reached an agreement to also operate the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic railroad.
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Mark Tomlonson
