May 10, 1835 The Portage Railroad (PA) opens a second track.
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May 10, 1848 The Union Railroad (MA ¨C later B&A) is chartered.
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May 10, 1864 A new 40-foot RPO car makes its first trial run between Baltimore and Jersey City. The car will enter regular service between Jersey City and Washington.
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May 10, 1865 Horsecars begin operation in Grand Rapids MI.
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May 10, 1869 Tracks of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads are joined at Promontory, UT.
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May 10, 1871 The Lancaster & Reading Narrow Gauge Railroad is incorporated in Pennsylvania to build a 4'-0" gauge line between Reading and Safe Harbor via Lancaster and a branch from Lancaster to Quarryville. The line will compete with the Reading & Columbia Railroad.
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May 10, 1876 Fearful of being bypassed by the main lines, the citizens of Bedford and Billerica MA charter the Billerica & Bedford Railway, the first common-carrier 2-foot gauge railroad in the United States.
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May 10, 1876 The Pennsylvania Railroad places 85 new passenger cars in service to handle the Centennial traffic. Sixty-five of the cars are listed as "Third Class" and are boxcars with open window holes and board seats. These cars will not be successful and most will be converted to peach cars by August.
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May 10, 1893 New York Central's 4-4-0 "999" sets an absolute speed record (fastest speed attained by humans) of 112.5 miles per hour.
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May 10, 1903 The Pennsylvania Railroad begins running a summer-only coach train between Indianapolis and French Lick Springs, a popular Indiana resort. The route runs over the Monon between Gosport and the resort.
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May 10, 1929 The Hillman Branch west of Emerson and the Rockport branch of the Detroit & Mackinac are abandoned.
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May 10, 1930 The Pennsylvania Railroad cancels its experiments with a diesel switcher powered by a Cummins engine. The test bed never received the carbody that had been ordered for it.
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May 10, 1932 William K. Walthers founds the model railroad manufacturing and distributing company bearing his name.
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May 10, 1945 The last remnant of the former Toledo & Chicago interurban line north of Ft. Wayne to Garrett ends freight service. Most services ended in 1937
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May 10, 2019 Over 25,000 people attend celebrations at Golden Spike National Historic site for the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Traffic approaching the park is backed up for 40 miles. Also today: Union Pacific locomotives 4014 and 844 touch pilots in a symbolic reenactment of the original ceremony in front of Ogden depot.
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Mark Tomlonson
