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April 5, 1862 The Jamestown & Franklin Railroad (later CP&A, LS&MS, NYC&HR, NYC) is chartered.

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April 5, 1877 The Boston & Maine acquires the Vermont Railroad.

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April 5, 1903 The Pennsylvania Railroad closes four stations in Philadelphia due to a drop in the short-haul market that has been taken over by trolleys.

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April 5, 1910 By some accounts, the French Legislature passes a law banning kissing in railway stations. The purpose of the law was to keep parting couples from delaying the trains. In 2009, however, it was reported that this "law" may actually be an urban legend.

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April 5, 1920 A Pere Marquette ferry becomes stuck in the ice off Pt. Sauble after leaving Ludington and eleven passengers try to walk to shore. Suddenly the ice flow breaks up, and the winds carry the piece holding the group out into Lake Michigan. Hundreds of spectators line the shore and watch as the Coast Guard, with great difficulty, rescues the group.

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April 5, 1920 St. Paul (MN) Union Station is opened.

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April 5, 1964 The first driverless trains run on the London Underground.

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April 5, 1965 Police begin riding New York's subway system from 8:00 P.M. to 4:00 A.M. due to fears of rising subway crimes. The program ends ten years later, on April 5, 1975, due to the city's fiscal crisis.

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April 5, 1982 Michigan Interstate ends operation of the former Ann Arbor north of the city of Ann Arbor. Operation will briefly resume at a later date.

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April 5, 1995 CN North America opens the new St. Clair Tunnel.

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April 5, 2016 San Francisco television station KCBS reports that BART is relying heavily on e-bay to source electrical and computer components to keep its aging equipment in service. New equipment is expected to arrive in the fall.

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Mark Tomlonson

April 2, 1853 An Act of the New York State Legislature approves the merger creating the New York Central Railroad. The merger will be ratified by stockholders in June.

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April 2, 1869 Incorporation papers for the Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad [later MC, NYC, PC, CR] are signed.

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April 2, 1888 To protect it from an oncoming storm, The Hotel Brighton, at the foot of what is now Coney Island Ave. in Brooklyn NY, is moved inland 520 feet. The move is accomplished by laying track, raising the building as a whole, and pulling it using six steam engines. The move begins on this date, and continues for nine more days. It is the largest building move of the 19th Century.

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April 2, 1900 The Peoria & Pekin Traction begins operations between its two namesake Illinois towns.

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April 2, 1918 New Haven's "Bay State Limited" becomes one of many trains eliminated by the USRA. It will not be reinstated after the war, although many are.

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April 2, 1933 The Pennsylvania and Wabash Railroads inaugurate new fast, through passenger trains from Chicago to Detroit via Ft, Wayne, IN. The trains are given a running time of 4 hours, 45 minutes. The Wabash then drops its passenger service between Ft. Wayne and Chicago.

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April 2, 1957 Alfred J. Perlman introduces "Flexi-Van". The cars reduce the dead weight and air drag of conventional TOFC service, but require special equipment.

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April 2, 1962 The Roanoke Transportation Museum is chartered. Later it will be known as the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

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April 2, 1975 Amtrak orders 235 bi-level "Superliner" cars for long-distance service from Pullman-Standard and an additional 200 Amfleet cars from Budd. Pullman-Standard, having sold its Michigan City Plant five years earlier, purchases the Allied Structural Steel Company plant at Hammond IN to build "Superliners".

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April 2, 1976 CN Tower is completed. Built by Canadian National, it was the tallest tower and tallest free-standing structure in the world when built. It remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere.

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April 2, 1993 Amtrak's "Sunset Limited" becomes the first regularly scheduled transcontinental passenger train operated by one company in the United States as the eastbound section departs Los Angeles. The westbound will make its first departure on April 4.

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April 3, 1848 The Oakland & Ottawa (later D&M, GT) is chartered by the Michigan State Legislature to construct a railroad from Pontiac to Lake Michigan in Ottawa County.

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April 3, 1853 The Pennsylvania Railroad's new shops at Altoona complete its first repairs to a locomotive, the "Greene".

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April 3, 1855 The Detroit, Monroe & Toledo Railroad (later LS&NI, LS&MS, NYC) is organized.

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April 3, 1875 General Superintendents of several railroads meet at St. Louis, making arrangements to run their trains over Eads Bridge into Union Station.

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April 3, 1890 Streetcars begin running in Milwaukee WI.

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April 3, 1923 The Pennsylvania Railroad's Car Service Department Glee Club gives a one hour and ten minute program over station WIP in Philadelphia. This is the first time a railroad musical group performance has been broadcast.

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April 3, 1924 Prohibition agents find 22 cases of wine, whiskey and gin in the private railroad car of Pennsylvania Railroad Vice President. George LeBoutillier. The steward is arrested and the car seized.

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April 3, 1955 A passenger train plunges into a canyon in Guadalajara, Mexico. Three hundred passengers and crew are killed.

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April 3, 1958 The Baltimore & Ohio completes its dieselization project.

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April 3, 1959 Construction begins on Japan National Railway's "Tokiado" bullet train between Osaka and Tokyo.

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April 3, 1961 The Boston & Albany, Ware River, Pittsfield & North Adams and Beech Creek Extension railroad companies all disappear into parent New York Central.

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April 3, 1987 The Budd Corporation ships its last railcar.

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April 3, 1987 The Soo Line sells its Lake States Transportation Division to the newly-formed "Wisconsin Central Ltd."

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April 3, 2007 A modified TGV train sets a new speed record for conventional (non-MagLev) equipment of 574.73 km/h (357.2 mph). TGV manufacturer Alstrom is using the demonstration to test high-speed technical concepts. The test train, consisting of two electric locomotives and three double-deck cars, has larger than normal wheels on the engines and operates on 31,000 volts rather than the normal 25,000.

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April 4, 1839 Alarmed by the fact that steamboats and railroads provide quick and superior escape routes for runaway slaves, the Maryland Legislature prohibits any slave from traveling on a steamboat or train unless in company of a master or with a signed pass.

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April 4, 1875 Following the North Carolina Railroad's change to 60" gauge despite a state prohibition, Pullman establishes a through sleeper on the Piedmont Air Line between Richmond and New Orleans.

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April 4, 1892 The 5/8-mile long Ellwood Connecting Railroad (later P&LE, NYC) is chartered.

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April 4, 1902 The Grand Rapids & Indiana agrees to operate the Traverse City, Leelanau & Manistique Railroad.

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April 4, 1910 An amendment to the Safety Appliance Act requires freight cars to be equipped with ladders, handholds and running boards.

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April 4, 1927 The first 14-single-room sleepers are placed into service, on the Pennsylvania Railroad. The cars, running between New York and Washington, offer greater privacy than the traditional berths.

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April 4, 1935 The Pennsylvania Railroad tests EMC's new "NC" 900-horsepower switcher. PRR declines to purchase any, saying the locomotive is "too light".

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April 4, 1936 Electric streetcar service ends in Flint MI.

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April 4, 1942 The Nickel Plate's "Commercial Traveler" quits, ending passenger service on the road's "East End".

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April 4, 1953 The Pennsylvania Railroad tests a Lima LS-25m on Madison Hill. The engine is equipped with dynamic brakes and a pressure-maintaining valve.

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April 4, 1960 The New Jersey State Legislature authorizes a $6 million subsidy ($53.5 million in 2021 dollars) for commuter service.

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April 4, 1976 The first F40PH, number 200, begins service on Amtrak. At the end of its service life the locomotive will be rebuilt into a cab-control car.

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April 4, 2005 Greenbriar Equity Group LLC and Berkshire Partners LLC announce the completion of the acquisition of Electro-Motive Division from General Motors. The company is officially renamed Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD).

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April 4, 2005 Tokyo introduces women-only cars in crowded rush hour trains in a bid to prevent groping by male passengers using the cover of the crowd.

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Mark Tomlonson

April 1, 1832 The Baltimore & Ohio opens from Frederick Junction to Point of Rocks MD on the Potomac River, about 71 miles from Baltimore.

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April 1, 1836 The Erie Railroad is incorporated.

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April 1, 1861 A sleeping car designed and patented by Edward Knight is placed in service on the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Knight had been elected a Pennsylvania Railroad director one month before.

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April 1, 1865 Robert Pitcairn takes over as Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Pittsburgh Division. Pitcairn will be the first on the PRR to devise a modern system of telegraphic train orders and will be the main sponsor of experiments with air brakes.

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April 1, 1873 The first train crosses the Maumee River bridge into Toledo on the Toledo, Tiffin & Eastern Railroad. Regular service will begin soon.

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April 1, 1873 The New York & Harlem is leased to the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad.

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April 1, 1880 The Reading Railroad tests Number 507, a 4-2-2 "Bicycle" locomotive with a pair of 78-inch drivers for passenger service. The locomotive's cab is perched on top of a large Wooten firebox.

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April 1, 1885 The Southern Pacific takes over operation of the Central Pacific.

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April 1, 1890 General Aaron Stiles patents a trolley pole.

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April 1, 1893 The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada merges several rail companies it has owned into itself.

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April 1, 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt makes a grand circle tour from Washington DC to California. Roosevelt will ride in the cab of the locomotive taking his train around Horseshoe Curve.

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April 1, 1906 The Manufacturers Junction, owned by Western Electric and running in Cicero IL, begins operations.

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April 1, 1911 The Long Island Railroad begins using a battery car on its Bushwick Branch.

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April 1, 1917 Hell Gate Bridge opens for passenger service.

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April 1, 1923 Construction of the steelwork for Chicago Union Station's Headhouse begins.

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April 1, 1925 Last day of the last line (Cleveland & Chagrin Falls) of the Eastern Ohio Traction Company.

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April 1, 1925 The Great Northern, Northern Pacific and the Union Pacific begin pooled passenger service between Seattle WA and Portland OR.

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April 1, 1926 The Pullman Company assumes the operation of Long Island Railroad parlor car service. Nineteen LIRR parlor cars are converted to coaches.

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April 1, 1930 The Pennsylvania Railroad opens a new station at Gary IN.

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April 1, 1933 The Canadian National Radio Department and its network of stations, developed to entertain passengers on long distance runs, is turned over to the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, and will eventually become the CBC.

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April 1, 1935 Boston & Maine 6000 is christened "The Flying Yankee" and placed into service three days later.

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April 1, 1937 The Pennsylvania Railroad rejects a proposal from Electro-Motive Corporation made last November for new EA/EB 1,800 HP passenger diesels for the "Blue Ribbon Trains" at $380,000 (2021: $6.99 million) for the twin units. The proposal would cut "Broadway Limited" running time to 15 hours and cut 45 minutes from the "Spirit of St. Louis". PRR rejects the units as too small and non coal-burning. It decides instead to go with General Electric's proposed coal-burning turboelectric locomotive.

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April 1, 1939 General Electric delivers its "Steamotive" steam turbine electric locomotive to the Union Pacific. UP will place it on an exhibition tour promoting the new movie, "Union Pacific".

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April 1, 1947 The Interstate Commerce Commission approves the Chesapeake & Ohio/Pere Marquette merger.

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April 1, 1947 The 20^th Century Limited is carded at 15 ? hours between Chicago and New York.

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April 1, 1949 With the entry of Newfoundland into the Confederation of Canada, the Newfoundland Railway is transferred to Canadian National Railway.

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April 1, 1952 Bulk mail traffic formerly handled by the Long Island Railroad is moved to trucks by the Post Office.

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April 1, 1958 The last Union Ticket Office in New York City closes.

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April 1, 1960 Class 1 railroads report a total of only 519 steam locomotives on their rosters.

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April 1, 1963 SEPTA is created in Philadelphia after costly strikes against the PTC and the Red Arrow.

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April 1, 1965 Chicago Great Western announces that due to operating losses of more than $300,000 per year ($2.5 million in 2021), it will be discontinuing its last two passenger trains on April 30. The two trains run between Minneapolis and Omaha.

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April 1, 1966 A Federal ban on running boards goes into effect for box and similar house cars ordered after this date.

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April 1, 1967 The United States Department of Transportation begins operation.

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April 1, 1976 Conrail begins operations with the merging of Penn Central, Erie Lackawanna, Central of New Jersey, Lehigh Valley, Lehigh & Hudson River and Reading Railroads.

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April 1, 1976 The Detroit & Mackinac assumes switching duties in Mackinaw City for the car ferry “Chief Wawatam”. It had been done previously by Penn Central.

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April 1, 1978 VIA Rail Canada becomes an independent company, emerging from CN Rail. They also acquire the Turbotrains.

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April 1, 1980 The Rock Island ceases operations.

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April 1, 2005 Kansas City Southern formally takes controlling interest in the Transportation Ferroviaria Mexicana Railway. This increases the KCS system to over 6,000 miles of line stretching across the Central U.S. and into Mexico.

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Mark Tomlonson

March 31, 1823 A Charter for a "Pennsylvania Rail Road Company" between Philadelphia and Columbia is granted to John Stevens of Hoboken NJ and others.

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March 31, 1862 The "Oregon Pony" arrives in Portland OR, the first locomotive in the Pacific Northwest.

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March 31, 1870 The southern branch of the Union Pacific becomes the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, quickly dubbed "The Katy".

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March 31, 1873 The White River bridge on the Cairo & Fulton Railroad (later CA&T, StLIM&S, MP, UP) opens, and trains run through between St. Louis and Little Rock.

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March 31, 1901 Southern Pacific’s Coast Line between San Francisco and Los Angeles is completed.

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March 31, 1909 The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad begins operating women-only cars during the rush hour as a three-month experiment. They will be withdrawn on July 1 after proving to not be popular and to be the subject of derisive comments from men, such as "Hen Cars" or "Old Maids' Retreat".

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March 31, 1911 The Pennsylvania Railroad notes that during the past month, 92% of its Lines East passenger trains have been on time.

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March 31, 1916 Three New York Central passenger trains, including the westbound 20^th Century Limited, collide in Amherst OH in heavy fog. Forty-eight die as a result of the collision. Movie star Mary Pickford, one of the passengers on the 20^th Century Limited, refuses to leave the scene until all the injured have been helped.

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March 31, 1918 President Wilson signs a bill first establishing Daylight Saving Time. The railroads, however, will continue to print timetables in Standard Time.

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March 31, 1925 The Troy & New England Interurban quits. The last car to run on the line was the same one that opened it 30 years earlier.

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March 31, 1951 Passenger service on the Detroit & Mackinac ends.

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March 31, 1952 The Pennsylvania Railroad's last ferryboat operation from Philadelphia to Camden, the Market Street Ferry, ends.

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March 31, 1960 Great Northern’s “International” makes its last run.

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March 31, 1963 PCC and trolleybus service ends in Los Angeles.

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March 31, 1978 All high-carbon steel wheels are to be removed from cars carrying dangerous materials.

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March 31, 1980 Last day of the Rock Island. At 7,500 miles it is the largest rail abandonment in United States history.

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March 31, 1981 Conrail completes removal of #2 track between Altoona and Gallitzin PA, making the former Pennsylvania 4-track "Broad Way" 3 tracks through Horseshoe Curve.

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March 31, 1986 The Huron & Eastern Railway (MI) begins operations over former Chesapeake & Ohio trackage.

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March 31, 2010 The Union Pacific Railroad unveils locomotive 2010, painted to recognize the Boy Scouts in honor of the Boy Scouts of America's 100th Anniversary. It is only the 14th locomotive to receive special paint in the line's 150-year history.

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March 31, 2020 A Port of Los Angeles railroad engineer, Eduardo Moreno, is arrested after trying to crash his train into the hospital ship USNS Mercy. The ship was in Los Angeles to assist in treating COVID-19 patients. Moreno feared that the ship was actually part of a government take-over.

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Mark Tomlonson

March 30, 1847 The Pennsylvania Railroad is organized and a Board of Directors elected.

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March 30, 1856 The Chicago Burlington & Quincy and the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad (later C&NW) begin using the Illinois Central Terminal in Chicago.

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March 30, 1872 The Texas Pacific Railroad absorbs the Southern Trans-Continental Railway.

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March 30, 1901 The Chicago Short Line Railwayis incorporated.

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March 30, 1909 The Queensboro Bridge opens between Manhattan and Long Island City. The top deck of the bridge carries two elevated railway lines, and the bottom deck carries two streetcar lines. A streetcar station in the middle of the bridge allows passengers to take an elevator or stairs to Welfare Island (later Roosevelt Island).

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March 30, 1952 The last freight delivered by an Indiana Public Service Company freight motor is made to the company's Ft. Wayne power plant by motor 817. Future deliveries will be made by the New York Central.

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March 30, 1954 The first segment of the Toronto Subway (Yonge Street) begins operation.

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March 30, 1959 The New York Central agrees to pay the Illinois Central $5 million (2019: $44 million) for breaching its contract to have Michigan Central trains terminate at Central Station in Chicago. NYC has moved them to LaSalle Street station.

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March 30, 1982 Last day of Milwaukee Road operations in Montana

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Mark Tomlonson

March 29, 1869 The Kalamazoo, Allegan & Grand Rapids Railroad (later LS&MS, NYC, PC) is completed from Allegan to Grand Rapids MI. (Some sources say March 1.)

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March 29, 1909 The Pennsylvania Railroad places an order for 24 examples of a new class of electric locomotive: the DD1.

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March 29, 1929 The Pennsylvania Railroad completes a program of painting town names in 10-foot high letters on railroad buildings to aid pilots of Transcontinental Air Transport. The lettering appears in 36 different cities.

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March 29, 1931 Great Northern's "Oriental Limited" makes its last run, having been superseded by the "Empire Builder". The name will be used again by GN, and then dropped for good with the creation of the "Western Star".

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March 29, 1936 10,000 people gather in Indianapolis to watch the 200-inch mirror blank for the Palomar observatory pass through on its cross-country trip aboard well-hole flat car NYC 499010.

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March 29, 1955 The French National Railways set a new rail speed record of 207 mph.

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March 29, 1957 The New York, Ontario & Western is abandoned, the first Class I railroad to quit and the first railroad to be abandoned in its entirety.

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March 29, 1957 The Central Vermont dieselizes.

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March 29, 1960 Revenue steam ends on the Grand Trunk Western as 2-8-2 4070 pulls a 50 car freight from Pontiac to Durand in Michigan.

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March 29, 2018 Florida’s “Brightline” commuter rail makes its first test run into the unfinished Miami station.

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Mark Tomlonson

March 26, 1860 The first freight car (loaded with lard) leaves St. Louis for New York via Buffalo and the New York Central. The trip will take five days. This is the first car to run through without breaking bulk. Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, New York Central and other railroads will establish a line of freight cars with wide-tread wheels for through freight to points east of Buffalo and Pittsburgh without transshipment between Ohio and the standard gauges.

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March 26, 1921 The Grand Rapids & Indiana is leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad for 999 years along with 11 other companies. The lease is retroactive to January 1.

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March 26, 1926 The Kankakee & Urbana Traction ends passenger operations. Freight operations are sold to the Illinois Terminal. IT will serve the three grain elevators on the line until June next year.

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March 26, 1930 After eight months of trying to make it as a freight only line, the Tyler Traction Company (WV) calls it quits.

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March 26, 1936 The Rexall Drug train, pulled by New York Central “Mohawk” #5344 begins its tour.

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March 26, 1945 The Pennsylvania Railroad places its S2 6-8-6 steam turbine in service between Chicago and Crestline OH. Its normal assignments are "The Trail Blazer" eastbound and "The Admiral" westbound.

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March 26, 1947 Streetcar service ends in Akron OH.

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March 26, 1951 The Bangor & Aroostook and Pennsylvania railroads arrange to have PRR lease BAR diesel locomotives when they are not needed by BAR due to seasonal lulls in traffic.

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March 26, 1962 Canadian National's eastbound "Ocean Limited" becomes the first train painted entirely in CN's new passenger paint scheme. A few engines and cars started appearing in the new scheme last year.

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March 26, 2013 Hartsdale Interlocking, between Canadian National’s former Elgin Joliet & Eastern and the former Pennsylvania Railroad Panhandle line in Indiana is closed and the diamond removed. CN begins service to the single customer, Midwest Pipe Coating, affected by the closing.

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March 27, 1835 A rotary steam locomotive built by Willam Avery of Syracuse NY is tested on the New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Company between Hackensack and Passaic Rivers. The first locomotive on the NJRR is not powerful enough. ?Mr. Avery proposes to build a larger version, but nothing further is heard from him.

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March 27, 1855 Secretary of War Jefferson Davis presents the report on surveys for the Pacific railroad to Congress. The surveys suggest five separate routes between the 32nd and 49th parallels.

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March 27, 1874 Kalamazoo MI's first Grand Rapids & Indiana depot burns to the ground. A new one will be built on the same location.

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March 27, 1879 The Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive "Modoc" pulls 138 loaded cars between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

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March 27, 1902 A new Union Station for Washington DC is proposed. The proposal would remove the railroad stations from the National Mall.

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March 27, 1918 The Pennsylvania Railroad grants a license to the Position-Light Signal Company to build and install position-light signals on the PRR. In return, the railroad will collect a $1 per light unit royalty.

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March 27, 1935 General Motors' Electro-Motive Division breaks ground in McCook IL for their new locomotive factory.

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March 27, 1953 For the second time in U.S. history, four trains are involved in a single wreck. Near Conneaut OH on the New York Central, an improperly secured 18-inch pipe slips off a gondola, damaging an adjacent track. The track damage and improper flagging will cause another freight train and 2 passenger trains to derail and collide. Twenty-one people are killed and forty-nine injured. The first 4-train wreck occurred in Connecticut in December, 1891.

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March 27, 1954 The Sylvania Central (GA) quits.

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March 27, 1960 The last regularly scheduled steam-powered passenger train on a major U.S. railroad runs from Durand to Detroit on the Grand Trunk Western.

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March 27, 1960 Missouri Pacific's last day of passenger service on its Kansas City-Ft. Smith-Little Rock line.

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March 27, 1961 Black demonstrators stage a "ride-in" on Charleston SC streetcars.

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March 27, 1963 In a report that will come to be known as the “Beeching Axe”, Dr. Richard Beeching recommends huge cuts to the United Kingdom’s rail network.

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March 27, 1964 Great Britain's "Great Train Robbers" are sentenced to a total of 307 years behind bars.

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March 27, 1967 The Great Northern runs its first taconite unit train from Nashwauk MN to Allouez WI.

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March 27, 1976 Washington D.C.'s "Metro" opens its first 4.6 miles.

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March 28, 1836 Michigan Territory charters seven railroads in a single day.

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March 28, 1846 The Central Rail Road of Michigan is sold by the state to a group of New York investors and becomes the Michigan Central.

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March 28, 1857 The Memphis & Charleston Railroad opens between Memphis and Stevenson, AL, on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. This completes a continuous route of uniform gauge between Charleston, SC, and Memphis. It is the first trunk line between the Atlantic and Mississippi south of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers.

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March 28, 1883 The defunct Black River & St. Lawrence Railway is reorganized as the Carthage & Adirondack Railway (later NYC).

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March 28, 1885 First use of a Leslie snowplow.

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March 28, 1888 San Francisco's Powell Street cable car line opens.

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March 28, 1905 The Paramaribo-Dam railway is opened in Suriname. It never sees a revenue train, and slowly returns to the jungle.

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March 28, 1909 The Pennsylvania Railroad begins serving complimentary tea and coffee to parlour and sleeping car passengers at any time of the day.

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March 28, 1909 Chicago Banker Frank Vanderlip hires a New York Central & Hudson River train to rush him to his dying Mother in New York. The trip takes 16 hours and 30 minutes. Regular schedules take around 24 hours.

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March 28, 1959 Last revenue run of the last interurban in Canada: The Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto.

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March 28, 1961 Erie-Lackawanna begins New York to Chicago piggyback service.

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Mark Tomlonson

March 25, 1807 The Swansea & Mumbles Railway begins the first railway passenger service in the world, using horse-drawn cars. The line had been built three years earlier to haul granite. It will remain in service until 1960, using horses, sail, steam, electric, gasoline and diesel to operate the trains.

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March 25, 1887 The Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad becomes the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw Railroad.

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March 25, 1936 The 200-inch mirror blank for the Palomar observatory begins its cross-country trip aboard a well-hole flat car [NYC 499010] which has had smaller diameter wheels fitted for added clearance. At the time the mirror is shipped it is the single most valuable item ever shipped by rail. The mirror has been encased in a steel shipping container to counter Creationists who have threatened to shoot the mirror in transit. They fear it will allow man to see God in the process of creation. As it travels in the well-hole flatcar, the mirror is only inches above the rails.

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March 25, 1942 After testing a similar Chesapeake & Ohio locomotive, the Pennsylvania Railroad approves construction of 50 class J1 2-10-4 locomotives. The engines will not have the signature PRR Belpaire firebox to save weight. Also approved today: 10 additional GG1 electric locomotives.

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March 25, 1955 The New York Central and New Haven railroads jointly announce the purchase of one "Train X" each from Pullman-Standard. The trains will be powered by a Baldwin-Lima Hamilton diesel.

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March 25, 1956 Detroit's Gratiot trolley line converts to bus to permit the sale and shipment of the PCC cars to Mexico City. A fan trip a few days later uses a PCC in the Mexico City colors.

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March 25, 1957 The New Haven's two lightweight trains, "Dan'l Webster" and "John Quincy Adams" enter service between New York and Boston.

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March 25, 2011 The Manufacturers' Railway petitions the Surface Transportation Board to cease operations on its "Brewery Line", serving the Anheuser-Busch Brewery as well as its First Street Line. Abandonment is not being sought, meaning the lines could be re-opened if traffic for them is found.

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Mark Tomlonson

March 24, 1828 The Philadelphia & Columbia Railway (later PRR), the first to be owned by a state, is authorized.

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March 24, 1852 Ohio passes a law permitting railroads to change gauge from 4'-10" (the former Ohio Standard gauge) in order to make roads of uniform gauge from end to end.

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March 24, 1904 The Delray Connecting Railroad (MI) is incorporated.

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March 24, 1925 Papers are filed by the Grand Rapids & Indiana to abandon its Jennings (MI) branch. The former flooring mill at Jennings shut down two years earlier and the population of the town has fallen to 75.

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March 24, 1932 For the first time, a radio broadcast is made from a moving train in the U.S.

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March 24, 1935 Pennsylvania Station in Newark NJ opens.

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March 24, 1941 "Sun Valley Serenade" begins production. This movie, starring Sonja Henie and Milton Berle, will receive an Oscar nomination in 1942 for Best Song, thanks to the debut of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller.

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March 24, 1976 Penn Central makes it last official run along the former Lake Shore & Michigan Southern from Otsego through Allegan and Hopkins to Dorr MI. This ends rail service to Allegan.

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March 24, 1980 The Cotton Belt begins operations over former Rock Island trackage between Tucumcari and St. Louis. Cotton Belt agreed to buy the line two years ago.

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March 24, 2007 The last Southern Pacific semaphore signals in service are retired. The Central Oregon & Pacific, operating the ex-SP Siskiyou line, bags the now inoperative Union Switch & Signal Style B semaphores.

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Mark Tomlonson

March 23, 1836 Virginia declares it a felony to damage or destroy railroad property. Slaves who damage railroads "shall suffer death without benefit of clergy".

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March 23, 1858 E.A. Gardner of Philadelphia patents a streetcar.

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March 23, 1861 London's first streetcars, designed by a Mr. Train of New York, begin operation.

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March 23, 1882 The Providence, Webster & Springfield Railroad is chartered. The Massachusetts railroad will be operated by the Boston & Albany.

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March 23, 1883 The Mann Boudoir Car Company is formed in New York. A success in Europe, it will operate at a loss for its entire five-year U.S. existence.

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March 23, 1913 Four days of heavy rains begin causing severe flooding in the Ohio River Basin in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Over 600 people will be killed in the flooding. The Pennsylvania Railroad suffers $3.5 million ($90 million in 2019) dollars in damages. The floods also put an end to commercial traffic on the two remaining Ohio Canals. They will be retained for water supply and recreation.

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March 23, 1914 The Pennsylvania Railroad opens a new station in Ft. Wayne IN and its track elevation project in that city is completed.

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March 23, 1937 The Los Angeles Railway Company begins using PCC cars.

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March 23, 1953 Great Northern runs its last steam locomotives in the Cascades Region.

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March 23, 1981 Intermodal rates & services are deregulated, leading directly to the rise of intermodal traffic.

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March 23, 1988 CSX begins Detroit-Atlanta “Roadrailer” service using ex-Clinchfield "F" units as motive power.

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March 23, 2004 The first locomotive runs in Tibet as part of the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

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March 23, 2010 MetroRail opens in Austin TX. The 32-mile line is the city's first commuter rail service.

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Mark Tomlonson

March 22, 1862 The East Boston Freight Railroad (later B&A, NYC) is chartered in Massachusetts.

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March 22, 1897 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that railroads are subject to anti-trust legislation.

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March 22, 1898 The Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer Railroad is incorporated.

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March 22, 1911 The Kansas City, Clay County & St. Joseph Railway (Interurban) is incorporated. Although the line runs in Missouri, the promoters are mostly Interurban owners from Indiana.

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March 22, 1916 The Great Lakes Transit Corporation is formed to take over the railroad-owned liners and packet steamers now prohibited by ICC order. Operations will begin April 1.

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March 22, 1936 New York Central “Mohawk” #5344 is given streamlining and painted blue and white in preparation for its use in pulling the Rexall Drug train. It is also converted from coal to oil fuel. It is lettered “NYC” and “Rexall” but carries no number.

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March 22, 1944 The Board of the Pennsylvania Railroad approves contacting Government officials to allow the hiring of 3,000 Mexicans as track gang men and laborers.

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March 22, 1957 The New York Central abandons its line from Rooseveltown to Ottawa, Ontario. In April, Canadian National will purchase the portion of the line between Cornwall and Ottawa.

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March 22, 1970 After efforts to make it a rolling National Monument fall short, the Chicago Burlington & Quincy/Denver & Rio Grande Western/Western Pacific "California Zephyr" makes its last run when the Western Pacific drops its segment. The D&RGW remnant will run until 1983.

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March 22, 2011 The North Carolina Department of Transportation announces it will use Federal Funds to create a high-speed rail link between Raleigh and Charlotte.

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March 22, 2019 Two men are confirmed as record-setters for their ride in 2017 that took them over every MBTA route in 7 hours, 29 minutes and 46 seconds.

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March 22, 2020 While working at Victoria Station in central London, a British Railway worker is spat on and coughed on by a patron who claimed to have Covid-19. The worker, Belly Mujinga, will die of the disease in May.

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Mark Tomlonson