January 23, 1869 George Westinghouse applies for his first air-brake patent.
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January 23, 1872 The Baltimore & Ohio completes the first grain elevator at Locust Point, Baltimore.
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January 23, 1876 A plan is formed to consolidate all railroads operating on Long Island NY into the Long Island Railroad, eliminating duplication of services.
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January 23, 1880 The Coney Island Elevated Railroad is incorporated.
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January 23, 1896 Construction begins on the Chicago “L”. The first structure is built at the corner of Fullerton and Sheffield Avenues.
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January 23, 1900 The Dayton-Xenia Traction Company opens from Dayton to Xenia via Belmont.
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January 23, 1905 The Great Northern-owned steamship "Minnesota" makes its maiden voyage from Seattle to ports in Japan and China. Patrons can buy a single ticket for their St. Paul to Tokyo journey.
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January 23, 1911 A new speed record is set for Washington to New York: 3 Hours 55 minutes. J.P. Morgan has rented a special Pennsylvania Railroad train for the trip.
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January 23, 1932 The Pennsylvania Railroad begins a trial of fixed ladders for upper berths in New York to Washington service.
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January 23, 1946 The Pennsylvania Railroad Board of Directors authorizes the purchase of 214 passenger cars to re-equip Blue Ribbon trains at a cost of $20.5 million. ($355 million in 2025) Eighty-seven cars are ordered from Pullman-Standard, 70 from Budd and 57 from AC&F. PRR wants the cars in the first quarter of 1947, but the crush of orders from other roads and postwar reconversion problems will cause the last delivery to be in August 1949.
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January 23, 1949 The Pennsylvania Railroad cuts its Chicago-Detroit service to two daily round trips.
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January 23, 1952 The Pennsylvania Railroad queries a consulting firm about reducing the financial losses of passenger service. The idea of eliminating long-distance trains duplicated by the New York Central and Baltimore & Ohio railroads is suggested.
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January 23, 1955 A new ticket bureau is installed in 30th Street Station, Philadelphia. With new "Ticketfax" and other machines, it can deliver a Pullman ticket in as little as 1 minute, as opposed to up to 1 hour previously.
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January 23, 1980 Amtrak AEM-7 900 makes its first trial run. The AEM-7's will eventually replace the GG-1's.
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January 23, 2014 The London Underground’s Victoria Line is shut down when workers accidently pour fast-setting concrete into a signal-relay vault.
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January 23, 2024 The U.S. Department of Transportation approves a $2.5 billion bond offering to build Brightline West. The planned 218-mile line between southern California and Las Vegas is to reach speeds of 186 mph (300 km/h) or more, half the time of making the same trip by car.
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Mark Tomlonson
