December 2, 1855 The Rock Island reaches Iowa City only minutes before a midnight $50,000 bonus deadline. The locomotive is dragged the final 1,000 feet with ropes in minus 30-degree temperatures.
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December 2, 1856 T.T. Woodruff receives the first patent for a sleeping car.
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December 2, 1863 The Union Pacific Railroad begins construction.
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December 2, 1865 The Southern Pacific Railroad is incorporated.
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December 2, 1872 A U.S. House Committee is formed to investigate profiteering and bribes paid by Credit Mobilier (the construction company for Union Pacific Railroad) to members of Congress.
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December 2, 1894 The Wisconsin & Michigan Railway begins passenger service between Peshtigo WI and Faithorn Jct. MI. Freight service will begin in two days.
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December 2, 1903 A Pennsylvania Railroad freight locomotive explodes in Greenwood DE, killing two crewmembers and setting fire to the town.
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December 2, 1911 The Santa Fe first-class train "de-Luxe" begins weekly Chicago to Los Angeles service.
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December 2, 1912 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads are prohibited from merging under United States anti-trust laws.
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December 2, 1918 The Railroad Yardmasters of America union is formed.
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December 2, 1928 The last interurban leaves Marshall MI at 12:15 a.m.
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December 2, 1929 The Warren & Jamestown Street Railway (PA and NY) ends.
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December 2, 1934 Illinois Central's premier "Panama Limited" is re-instated after a two and a half year suspension due to the Depression.
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December 2, 1939 A Grand Trunk Western crewman riding on the footboards of a tender is killed as his engine backs across US-12 in Kalamazoo, striking a semi-truck that had tried to beat the train to the crossing.
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December 2, 1956 The Pennsylvania Railroad sends its last four leased 2-10-4's back to the Santa Fe.
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December 2, 1958 The Louisville & Nashville opens Boyles Yard, a modern hump facility north of Birmingham Alabama.
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December 2, 1961 Last passenger train runs on Boston & Maine's Conway Branch.
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December 2, 1961 President Kennedy rides back to Washington DC from the Army-Navy game on a special Pennsylvania Railroad train in PRR Business Car No. 120.
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December 2, 1967 Last run of New York Central's "Empire State Express".
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December 2, 1975 Six South Moluccan extremists seize a train near the Dutch town of Beilen. They will hold 23 passengers hostage until surrendering on December 14.
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December 2, 1992 Chicago & North Western makes its last run between Freemont and Chadron NE, nicknamed “The Cowboy Line”,
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December 2, 2021 One of the last remaining Baldwin “Sharknose” diesels, No. 1216, is moved out of the Escanaba & Lake Superior shops in Escanaba MI where it has been stored since 1982 with a broken crankshaft. It is moved to a heated shop in Wells, MI, about a mile away.
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December 2, 2021 Railfan & Railroad Magazine reports that VIA Rail has unveiled the first of 32 new trainsets for service between Windsor ON and Quebec City QC. The trainsets are being built by Siemens.
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Mark Tomlonson
