October 13, 1869 The Allegan & Holland Railroad and the Muskegon & Ferrysburg Railroad are merged into the Michigan Lake Shore Railroad under an agreement signed September 29. The MLS will later be included in the Pere Marquette, Chesapeake & Ohio and CSX railroads.
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October 13, 1902 Professor Ernest Rutherford of McGill University, who would later earn the Nobel Prize for chemistry, is the first to demonstrate wireless communication between a station and a moving train. His test subject was a special Grand Trunk passenger train running between Toronto and Montreal.
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October 13, 1914 The Algoma Central & Hudson Bay Railway [later AC, WC, CN], building north from Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, opens its northernmost section between Oba and Hearst, Ontario.
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October 13, 1956 Thanks to a new connection with the Lackawanna, Erie Railroad passenger trains can proceed directly to Hoboken, bypassing Jersey City.
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October 13, 1978 The last passenger train in the US pulled by an Alco PA-1 [albeit one termed a "PA-4" after a new prime mover and electrics are installed] pulls out of Boston: MBTA train 453.
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October 13, 2009 A man decides to protest a ticket dispute by "mooning " the conductor at Lauenbruek Station, Germany after he was thrown off the train. His pants catch in the closing car door, dragging him about 600 feet. The stunt delays 23 trains and shuts down service on the line for an hour. Several charges will be filed against the 22-year-old man.
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October 13, 2011 The American Heritage Company, operator of the Durango & Silverton train, announces it has reached an agreement to also operate the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic railroad.
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Mark Tomlonson
