May 18, 1836 The Central Railroad of Michigan (later MC, NYC, PC, CR, NS) begins construction at King's Corner (SE corner of Woodward & Jefferson), Detroit.
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May 18, 1875 The Waynesburg & Washington Railroad is incorporated in Pennsylvania to build a narrow gauge railroad between those points.
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May 18, 1896 The Lehigh Valley's signature train, the "Black Diamond" makes its first run. The train gets its name from a Toledo man who won $25 in a contest.
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May 18, 1917 Nickel Plate draftsmen design a "Nickel Plate Road" logo to be applied to all freight cars. Before this time only small lettering and reporting marks had been applied. The basic logo would remain until the merger with the Norfolk & Western.
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May 18, 1922 The New York Central Railroad gains control of the Chicago Stockyards District by the purchase of the Chicago River & Indiana Railroad and the Lease of the Chicago Junction Railway.
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May 18, 1942 The experimental class Q1 4-6-4-4 duplex locomotive is completed at Altoona for the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is assigned to service between Columbus and Chicago.
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May 18, 1952 A pickup truck hits the side of a Chesapeake & Ohio freight train at an unsignaled crossing just outside of Sawyer MI. Thirty of the 107 cars in the train derail, destroying the Sawyer depot, a warehouse and a grocery store. The driver of the pickup will pass away from his injuries 10 days later.
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May 18, 1958 The Nickel Plate runs its last steam-powered passenger train, a roundtrip excursion from Buffalo to Cleveland.
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May 18, 1979 The State of Michigan purchases the Grand Trunk Western car ferry "City of Milwaukee".
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May 18, 1990 France's TGV train hits a speed of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph) in a test of TGV equipment and track structure. This sets a record (later broken) for the fastest speed obtained by conventional equipment on conventional track, although both the TGV trainset and track have been modified for the tests.
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May 18, 2020 Norfolk Southern closes its Roanoke shops, founded in 1881.
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Mark Tomlonson
