October 15, 1849 A National Pacific Railroad Convention is held in St. Louis with 1,000 delegates attending. They will consider building a railroad to California to tap the recently discovered gold fields.
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October 15, 1851 The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western begins operations.
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October 15, 1860 The New York & Harlem Railroad begins through ticketing with the New York Central to Albany. The trip takes 4 hours, 18 minutes.
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October 15, 1864 RPO service begins between New York and Washington. This route will be the last RPO in operation 113 years later.
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October 15, 1870 Service on the Chicago & Lake Huron, Western Division (later GT, GTW, CN) between Climax Prairie (now Climax) and Battle Creek MI begins.
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October 15, 1874 The Peoria, Atlanta & Decatur Railroad is renamed the Illinois Midland Railway.
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October 15, 1904 The Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad opens its Akron extension between Barberton and White Grocery, Akron. (12.56 miles)
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October 15, 1904 In a crush caused by the World's Fair, St. Louis Union Station handles 86 trains in one hour.
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October 15, 1906 Baltimore & Ohio opens its Potomac Yard ending a carfloat operation from Shepherd's Landing to Aquia and Alexandria.
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October 15, 1907 A pneumatic switch machine is placed in service at the Pennsylvania Railroad's Hollidaysburg Yard.
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October 15, 1910 First Michigan Central passenger trains through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
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October 15, 1918 The first General Electric diesel-electric locomotive sold is shipped to the Jay Street Connecting Railroad in New York City. Its 200-hp prime mover is built by General Motors.
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October 15, 1923 The Pennsylvania Railroad begins using its new freight depot at Third & Larned Streets in Detroit.
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October 15, 1939 Last day of operations, Toledo & Indiana (interurban).
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October 15, 1941 Pullman launches an experimental coach-sleeper between New York and Chicago on the Pennsylvania Railroad's "Trail Blazer"
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October 15, 1949 The Gulf, Mobile & Ohio retires its last steam locomotive, 2-8-2 #404, becoming the first major U.S. railroad to dieselize. The event is covered in a "Life" magazine feature.
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October 15, 1953 Twin City Lines sells its remaining 91 PCC cars to Mexico City.
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October 15, 1960 Merger date of the Erie and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroads.
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October 15, 1966 The United States Department Of Transportation is created.
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October 15, 1967 The Union Pacific experiments with shipping livestock as TOFC freight.
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October 15, 1973 The Ann Arbor declares bankruptcy as it defaults on a loan from parent Detroit Toledo & Ironton. The loan was used for the conversion of Ann Arbor carferry No. 7 to the "MV Viking" 8 years earlier.
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October 15, 1996 CSX announces it will try to buy Conrail.
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October 15, 2005 China announces the completion of the world's highest railway. The pan-Himalayan line climbs 16,640 feet above sea level across Tibet's snow-covered plateau, known as the roof of the world. It has been criticized as an environmental and cultural threat to Tibet and is itself threatened by rising temperatures that could one day melt the frozen ground beneath it.
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October 15, 2009 Virginia & Truckee McKeen car No. 22 moves under its own power for the first time in 64 years.
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October 15, 2010 The Gotthard Base Tunnel is holed through. At 35.4 miles, it is the longest tunnel in the world. When opened, it will serve railroads and highway traffic.
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Mark Tomlonson
