1906 In Rail Transport

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1906 In Rail Transport

EVENTS

January events

January 3 - At the annual stockholder's meeting, the charter for the Cleveland Short Line Railway is amended to specify Collinwood, Ohio and Rockport, Ohio as the terminals of the railroad.

April events

April 18 - The great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake strikes, damaging the Southern Pacific Railroad 's headquarters building and destroying the mansions of the now-deceased Big Four . Also destroyed are many cable car routes, which will be replaced with electric streetcars.

May events

May 8 A special train carrying E.H. Harriman makes a run from Oakland CA to New York in 761 hours and 27 minutes. This record will stand until October 1934, when it will be broken by Union Pacific Streamliner M-10000.

May 19 The Simplon Railroad Tunnel between Italy and Switzerland, the world’s longest until 1979, opens to traffic.

June events

June 30 - Twenty four passengers and four railwaymen die as the result of a Collision Between Two Trains at Salisbury , England .

July events

July 22 - The State Street Line , Chicago 's last Cable Car route, ends operations.

September events

September 8 - Ottawa 's Bank Street Subway is opened as Streetcar number 253 of the Ottawa Electric Railway traverses the tunnel.

September 21 - A Grand Trunk Railway Passenger Train hits a stopped freight train at a crossover in Napanee, Ontario ; the engineer stayed at the controls trying to slow his train as much as possible and became the only fatality. The train's passengers later erected a monument in the engineer's honor.

December events

December 2 - Construction begins on Santa Fe 's Rocky Ford, Colorado , Station ; the station is completed and occupied by the end of March 1907.

December 7 - The Southern Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad jointly form the Pacific Fruit Express Company (PFE) Refrigerator Car line.

December 14 - John D. Spreckels announces he will form the San Diego & Arizona Railway Company and build a 148 Mile (238 Km ) line between San Diego and El Centro, California . Spreckels has an agreement with the Southern Pacific Railroad to silently fund the project.

December 28 - After his death, Alexander J. Cassatt is succeeded as president of the Pennsylvania Railroad by James McRea .

December 30 - A train wreck at Terra Cotta near present day Fort Totten in Washington, D.C. , kills 52; the accident leads to the Interstate Commerce Commission banning future wooden body Passenger Car construction.

Unknown date events

The Green Bay And Western acquires a majority interest in the Ahnapee And Western Railway .

Samuel Spencer is succeeded by William Finley as president of the Southern Railway .

The Cairo Electric Railways And Heliopolis Oases Company is formed.

BIRTHS

DEATHS

June deaths

June 6 - Francis Webb , Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London And North Western Railway (b. 1836 ).

December deaths

December 28 - Alexander J. Cassatt , president of the Pennsylvania Railroad 1899 – 1906 (b. 1839 ).

REFERENCES

Colin Churcher's Railway Pages ( 2005 .

Colin Churcher's Railway Pages ( 2005 .

¹

²

'' History of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company ''. Retrieved August 6 2005 .

'' Norfolk Southern Railway ''. Retrieved February 22 2005 .

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ( 2005 .

Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society ( 2005 .

Spencer, D. K., '' The History of the Rocky Ford, Colorado Depot ''. Retrieved December 2 2005 .

³

White, John H., Jr. ( Spring 1986 ), America's most noteworthy railroaders, ''Railroad History'', Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, 154, p. 9-15.