December 30, 1829 As experiments in motive power continue, six persons travel over the Baltimore & Ohio in a sail car.
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December 30, 1853 The Gadsden Purchase is finalized. The land, bought from Mexico, is acquired primarily because it includes the best rail route between Texas and California. The land is now the southern portion of Arizona and New Mexico.
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December 30, 1862 The Central Transportation Company is incorporated, merging the sleeping car patents of T.T. Woodruff and Edward Knight of Philadelphia. The new company assumes operation of sleeping cars on the Pennsylvania and other railroads.
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December 30, 1869 The Ohio & Mississippi Railroad opens its Louisville Branch between North Vernon, IN and Jeffersonville, giving the Baltimore & Ohio system access to Louisville.
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December 30, 1871 Grand Duke Alexis of Russia and his party travel through Kalamazoo on their way to Chicago from Detroit, traveling via the Michigan Central Railroad. The Grand Duke will tour rebuilding efforts following the Chicago Fire.
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December 30, 1889 The Hamilton & Lindenwald Electric Transit (OH) receives its charter.
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December 30, 1906 A train wreck at Terra Cotta near present day Fort Totten in Washington DC kills 52. The accident leads to the ICC banning future wooden body passenger car construction.
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December 30, 1927 The first subway in The Orient opens in Japan: The Ginza Line in Tokyo.
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December 30, 1960 The Soo Line is formed with the merger of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie and Wisconsin Central railroads.
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December 30, 1963 Dayton Union Railway Company sells the old portion of Dayton Union Station to the city. The station will be demolished.
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December 30, 1968 The Long Island Railroad places its first M-1 "Metropolitan" cars in revenue service.
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December 30, 1969 RPO service between Detroit and Grand Rapids MI ends.
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December 30, 1976 Boeing LRV's begin serving on the MBTA.
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December 30, 1996 Dallas Area Rapid Transit opens its first Trinity Rail Express line between Dallas and Irving TX.
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December 30, 2020 The former Chesapeake & Ohio carferries SS. Badger and SS. Spartan, along with another lake boat, are sold to Interlake Holding Company.
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December 30, 2020 China begins driverless high speed rail (350 km/h, 217 mph) between Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. The three cites are Winter Olympics sites.
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December 30, 2023 Eurostar rail service between London and Paris is suspended as unprecedented flooding in tunnels under the Thames River make the line impassable.
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Mark Tomlonson
