February 20, 1852 The Michigan Southern Railroad via the Northern Indiana & Chicago (later MS&NI, LS&MS, NYC, PC, CR, NS) reaches Chicago. The rush to beat the Michigan Central into Chicago has left a break in Michigan Southern's line between La Porte and Michigan City. Michigan Southern travelers are forced to take a stagecoach between those two cities.
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February 20, 1873 The last rail is laid on the Canada Southern Railway, completing the line from St. Thomas to Ft. Erie, Ont.
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February 20, 1904 Streetcars begin running between Indiana Harbor and East Chicago IN.
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February 20, 1915 The Panama-Pacific Exhibition opens in San Francisco. The Pennsylvania Railroad wins the Grand Prize for the best railroad display. They have brought scale models of Penn Station. Washington Union Station and a 2 miles=1 inch map of the entire PRR system. They are also showing promotional films in two P70 coaches spliced together. Westinghouse contributes to the display with a DD1 locomotive.
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February 20, 1917 The Pennsylvania Company obtains trackage rights over the Wabash at Detroit.
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February 20, 1921 A blizzard hitting the east coast causes transmission lines to fail, halting or delaying electric-powered rail service. Some stranded passengers one-half mile east of Manhattan Transfer burn newspapers, advertising cards and car seats in an attempt to stay warm until help arrives.
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February 20, 1927 The Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railway begins deluxe limited parlor and dining car service between Chicago and South Bend. Fare in the parlor cars is an extra 50 cents, dinner in the diner averages $1.25. ($8.86 and $22.16, respectively in 2024)
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February 20, 1939 The Lehigh Valley introduces its "Asa Packer", a rebuilt heavyweight train that has been "streamstyled". It is in service between Jersey City NJ and Mauch Chunk PA.
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February 20, 1946 Pullman Standard claims (incorrectly) delivery of the first passenger car built after World War II.
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February 20, 1998 The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern files an application with the Surface Transportation board to build a new line to haul coal in the Powder River Basin.
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February 20, 2002 An overcrowded train en route from Cairo to the southern Egyptian city of Luxor bursts into flames. At least 360 are killed.
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February 20, 2006 The Chicago Transit Authority opens infrastructure improvements on its Brown line, designed to update and increase capacity.
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February 20, 2014 While filming the movie “Midnight Rider” just outside Doctortown GA, a camera assistant is killed while on CSX’s Altamaha River bridge. The movie crew had permission to shoot in the area, but did not have permission to be on CSX tracks.
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February 20, 2023 The head of Renfe, the Spanish rail network, resigns after the discovery that the 31 new passenger trains he ordered at a cost of $275 million do not fit through several tunnels. The trains were slated for the mountainous northern region of Spain between Asturias and Cantabria.
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Mark Tomlonson
