December 1, 1845 The New York & Harlem (later NYC) reaches White Plains NY.
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December 1, 1852 The Auburn & Eel River Valley Railroad (later PRR) is incorporated in Indiana to run from the Auburn & Eel River Valley Railroad in DeKalb County to Logansport.
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December 1, 1852 The Pennsylvania Railroad first offers all-rail passenger and mail service across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
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December 1, 1867 The Bay City & East Saginaw (later F&PM, PM, C&O) begins operations between its two namesake Michigan towns.
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December 1, 1867 The Boston & Albany merges with the Boston & Worcester and Western railroads.
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December 1, 1872 The management of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago, Grand Rapids & Indiana, Michigan & Lake Shore, and Cincinnati, Richmond & Fort Wayne Railroads (all later PRR) are consolidated with an office at Fort Wayne.
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December 1, 1873 Due to the Panic of 1873, wages of all employees on Pennsylvania Railroad's Lines West are cut by 10%.
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December 1, 1874 The Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad completes its Flint to Ludington route via Midland, Clare and Reed City.
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December 1, 1875 The Atlantic Coast Line begins publishing "Atlantic Coast Line Journal", one of the first advertising/travel magazines.
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December 1, 1897 The Baltimore & Ohio changes its Chicago end point to Grand Central Station.
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December 1, 1901 The Chicago Kalamazoo & Saginaw completes its Pavilion Branch running southeast from Kalamazoo.
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December 1, 1903 "The Great Train Robbery", the first "Western" film, is released.
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December 1, 1905 Opening of the Marion & Bluffton Traction Company (IN), 32 miles.
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December 1, 1905 A group of investors meets to organize the Chicago-New York Electric Air Line Railroad. The idea behind the line is to make a railroad as nearly straight and level between the two namesake cites as physically possible. The line was to be made up of companies that would each build a short stretch. A small segment in Indiana will be all that ever opens.
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December 1, 1905 The Long Island Railroad extends its electrification from Hammel to Far Rockaway on the Rockaway Branch.
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December 1, 1913 The Buenos Aires Metro, the first underground railway in the Southern Hemisphere, begins operations.
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December 1, 1917 The Dayton, Springfield & Xenia Southern (OH Interurban) abandons its line between Beavertown [present day Kettering near the intersection of Wilmington Pike and Dorothy Lane] and Spring Valley.
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December 1, 1925 The Pennsylvania Railroad agrees with Ingersoll-Rand to test one of their oil-electric locomotives.
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December 1, 1929 Cleveland Union Terminal begins limited operation, serving ten westbound New York Central trains.
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December 1, 1933 The two remaining streetcar companies in Washington DC are consolidated under the Capitol Traction Company.
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December 1, 1937 Representatives of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Pullman and RCA meet in Chicago to discuss adding a Radio/Victrola system to the observation cars of the "Broadway Limited".
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December 1, 1938 In a blinding blizzard, a school bus in Sandy UT crosses the tracks in front of a Denver & Rio Grande Western freight train traveling at 60 mph. The driver stopped before crossing, as required by law, but did not open his doors to better hear the train approaching. The train dragged the bus about one-half mile before it could stop. Twenty-five students died along with the bus driver. The incident leads to the requirement that school buses stop and open their doors before crossing tracks. It remains the worst railroad crossing accident in United States history.
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December 1, 1939 Atlantic Coast Lines' "Champion" is introduced.
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December 1, 1942 Wartime gasoline rationing is imposed across the United States.
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December 1, 1949 Nickel Plate leases the Wheeling & Lake Erie for 99 years.
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December 1, 1951 The Laramie, North Park & Western is absorbed into the Union Pacific.
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December 1, 1952 Canadian Pacific Railway ushers in the modern intermodal era with the introduction of Trailer-On-Flat-Car service. Earlier attempts at intermodal date back to the 1830's.
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December 1, 1958 Boston & Maine continues cutting back passenger operations in its western regions and passenger trains no longer run through Hoosac Tunnel.
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December 1, 1959 The Virginian Railway is merged into the Norfolk & Western.
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December 1, 1963 The Pennsylvania Railroad begins "Operation Beaver": a paint-up, fix-up and clean-up program designed to put a cosmetic veneer over deferred maintenance.
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December 1, 1987 Digging begins on The Chunnel. Ten years later on this date it will "hole through".
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December 1, 1999 The Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad (The "Ma & Pa") is merged with Yorkrail to become York Railway Co.
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December 1, 2007 Norfolk Southern terminates its Joint Section agreement with Canadian National, initiated between the Wabash and the Grand Trunk in 1898, ending 109 years of operation into Ontario. However, NS and CN cannot come to agreement to handle Fort Erie interchange traffic, and service is allowed to continue under a new temporary agreement.
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Mark Tomlonson
