1909 In Rail Transport

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1909 In Rail Transport

EVENTS

January events

2006 .

January 29 - The final spike is driven in the construction of the Virginian Railway at Glen Lyn, Virginia .

March events

March 7 The Winona Interurban Electric Railway ( Indiana )is forced by its major creditor to begin operations on Sundays, a move resisted by its Sabbatarian founders, including H.J. Heinz and J. M. Studebaker.

April events

April 1 - Great Central Railway places turbine steamships on its Grimsby - Rotterdam service

train runs past a meet point and causes a head-on collision with an eastbound train.

May events

May 17 Firemen on the Georgia Railroad strike to protest the hiring of African-Americans.

June events

June - George Whale retires as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London And North Western Railway ; he is succeeded by Charles Bowen-Cooke .

train runs past a meet point and causes a head-on collision with a westbound train.

August events

August 30 - Great Western Railway begins using its Fishguard terminus in Wales for boat trains in connection with the Cunard steamships on Atlantic routes as a first port of call

August - Canadian Pacific Railway opens the Spiral Tunnels to traffic on the line through Kicking Horse Pass .

September events

September - Robert Lovett succeeds E. H. Harriman as president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad . Lovett also assumes the position of Chairman of the Executive Committee for the railroad.

October events

October 9 - The Alaska Northern Railroad Company (a predecessor of the Alaska Railroad ) purchases the assets of the bankrupt Alaska Central Railway and subsequently extends the line northward another 34 Km (21 Mile s).

November events

November 1 “Golden” spike ceremony on the Western Pacific. As no company officials were present, the local track foreman drove the last spike, the track crew shouted “Hooray!” and two women walking by with their children kissed each other.

November 10 - Louis Brennan successfully demonstrates his Gyroscopically -balanced Monorail system, which he designed for military use and patented in 1903, at Gillingham , England .

December events

1 December - The London, Brighton And South Coast Railway inauguates Britain 's first rail electrification scheme in South London .

20 December - Henry Fowler is appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway , succeeding Richard Deeley .

Unknown date events

The Nickel Plate Road begins a massive grade separation project in Cleveland, Ohio , to eliminate street grade crossings on the railroad's mainline in the city.

Albert Hunt invents the Wigwag grade crossing protection signal for the Pacific Electric in Los Angeles, California .

BIRTHS

DEATHS

March deaths

March 13 - William Jackson Palmer , builder of the Denver And Rio Grande Western Railroad (b. 1836 ).

May deaths

May 19 - Henry H. Rogers , American Financier who helped finance and build the Virginian Railway (b. 1840 ).

July deaths

July 23 - Ernest F. Cambier , Belgian colonial pioneer who established the first Congo railway (b. 1844 ).

September deaths

September 9 - E. H. Harriman , executive in charge of both the Union Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad (b. 1848 ).

REFERENCES

Brainymedia.com ( 2005 .

Hilton & Due, "The Electric Interuban in America"

The Monorail Society, '' Monorails in History ''. Retrieved November 8 2005 .