January 20, 1837 An advertisement in the “Toledo Blade” states that the Erie & Kalamazoo has received its first steam engine, and service will commence “in a few days”.
?
January 20, 1846 An act of the Indiana Legislature charters the Martinsville & Franklin Railroad (later Big Four, NYC). It will be another 7 years before it is built.
?
January 20, 1848 The Schenectady Locomotive Engine Manufactory is incorporated. It is a predecessor of both the Schenectady Locomotive Works and Alco.
?
January 20, 1856 The first train arrives in Wabash IN on the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad (later WAB, NW, NS).
?
January 20, 1862 The Flint & Pere Marquette (later PM, C&O, Chessie, CSX, LSR) begins operations between East Saginaw and Mt. Morris MI.
?
January 20, 1874 The Chicago lakefront depot used by the Michigan Central, Illinois Central and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads is destroyed by fire.
?
January 20, 1877 Charles Collins, Chief Engineer of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, commits suicide over last month's Ashtabula bridge disaster.
?
January 20, 1880 The Illinois Central completes its purchase of the New Orleans, St. Louis & Chicago Railroad, which it has controlled since 1877.
?
January 20, 1903 The Grand Trunk Western opens a passenger depot in Lansing MI.
?
January 20, 1903 The Kanawha & West Virginia (later NYC, PC, CR) is incorporated.
?
January 20, 1907 The Pennsylvania Railroad establishes trains 186 and 187, running only on Sundays between Chicago and Valparaiso IN. The trains are to serve city dwellers going to the countryside and returning in the evening.
?
January 20, 1923 Canadian Government Railways incorporate as Canadian National Railways. Railways affected are Canadian Northern, Intercolonial, National Transcontinental, Grand Trunk Pacific Branch Lines, New Brunswick & Prince Edward Island, International Railway of New Brunswick, Salisbury & Albert, Elgin & Havelock, St. Martin's, Lotbiniere & Megantic, Caraquet & Gulf Shore and the New Glasgow Iron, Coal & Railway.
?
January 20, 1938 The ICC grants the request of the Wisconsin & Michigan to abandon the entire line. In early 1939 Chicago & North Western will buy the W&M property in Menominee MI.
?
January 20, 1953 More than 600 coaches, sleepers, parlor cars and diners converge on Washington DC for Dwight Eisenhower's first inauguration. Over 10,000 people use parked Pullmans as hotels; two thousand one hundred at Baltimore & Ohio's Eckington Yard alone.
?
January 20, 1959 The Seaboard Air Line opens its new St. Petersburg FL station.
?
January 20, 1986 Plans for the construction of a railroad tunnel under the English Channel are announced. Actual work will not begin for another 23 months.
?
January 20, 2009 Washington DC's Metrorail sets a record as it handles more than 930,000 riders. Most of the increase is due to the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
?
January 20, 2017 Reviving a tradition he began as a Senator, Vice President Joe Biden takes an Amtrak train from Washington to Wilmington following the inauguration of Donald Trump.
?
Mark Tomlonson
