October 27, 1854 Near present day Jeanette’s creek in Chatham-Kent ONT on the Great Western Railway (later GT, CN), a gravel train that had falsely been given clearance collides head-on with a passenger train running at least 4 hours late.? The wreck kills 52 people and leaves as many as 60 injured. It is Canada’s first major train wreck and the worst train wreck in North America at that time.
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October 27, 1856 First train between Montreal and Toronto over what will become the Canadian National "Kingston" subdivision.
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October 27, 1859 First train between Louisville and Nashville on the L&N.
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October 27, 1870 The Denver & Rio Grande Railway Company is incorporated.
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October 27, 1872 Combined boat-rail service ends on the Camden & Amboy between New York and Philadelphia.
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October 27, 1904 The first New York subway system opens on the East Side on Park Avenue South from City Hall to Grand Central and on the West Side on Broadway from Grand Central to 137th Street. Three hundred fifty thousand people ride on the 9.5-mile route. It is the first subway to run both underground and underwater.
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October 27, 1904 Informal tests are held at Schenectady of the new General Electric Locomotives bound for Grand Central Terminal.
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October 27, 1907 The first revenue train enters the unfinished Washington DC Union Station.
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October 27, 1912 The lower level of Grand Central Terminal opens.
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October 27, 1930 Electro-Motive Corporation's demonstrator number 463 runs from Philadelphia to Steelton with 10 cars. This is the first EMC diesel to run on the Pennsylvania Railroad.
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October 27, 1956 The New York Central removes its Aerotrain from service.
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October 27, 1957 The "Aerotrains" make their last runs in mainline service on the Union Pacific. UP felt the trains were too small and had inadequate food service.
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October 27, 1957 The New York Central places its "Train X" set in commuter service between Chicago and Elkhart.
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October 27, 1964 All Baltimore & Ohio passenger trains are now terminating at Fort Street Union Depot in Detroit, save for a single RDC still at Michigan Central Station for contract reasons.
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October 27, 2014 The first train (“Pere Marquette”) departs from Amtrak’s new Grand Rapids MI station, named after former Congressman Vern Ehlers.
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October 27, 2016 “BO” tower in Kalamazoo closes.
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Mark Tomlonson
