1913 in rail transport explained

Events

January events

• January 13 - Julius Kruttschnitt leaves Union Pacific Railway and succeeds Robert S. Lovett as Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

February events

• February 1 - New York City's Grand Central Terminal opens as the world's largest train station to date.

May events

• May 7 - Tracklaying begins on the Graysonia, Nashville and Ashdown Railroad (a predecessor of Kansas City Southern Railway) between Murfreesboro and Shawmut, Arkansas.^[1]

June events

• June 28/29 - Bever–Scuol-Tarasp railway opens in Switzerland.

July events

• July 2 - General Electric produces a gas-electric locomotive which is sold to the Electric Line of Minnesota as its #100 Dan Patch.^[2]
• July 15 - Opening of the Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway's Lötschberg railway line in Switzerland, including the 14.6km (09.1miles) Lötschberg Tunnel.

August events

• August 1 - The Alton and Southern Railroad is formed through the merger of the Alton and Southern Railroad Company, the Denverside Connecting Railroad and the Alton and Southern Railway.
• August 13 - Stainless steel (which will soon be used to construct passenger car bodies) is invented by Harry Brearley in Sheffield.
• August 21 - Construction begins on the Morrisburg and Ottawa Electric Railway just south of Billings Bridge, Ottawa.

September events

• September 1  - Howard Elliott succeeds Charles Sanger Mellen as president of New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
• September 2  - Traveling at in heavy fog north of New Haven, Connecticut, the White Mountain Express crashes through two cars of the Bar Harbor Express and overturns a third coach, killing 21 and injuring 50.^[3]

October events

• October 20 - The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's tracks reach Casper, Wyoming, making Casper the busiest rail junction in Wyoming.^[4]

December events

• December 1 - First section of Buenos Aires Metro opened, the earliest metro system in the Southern Hemisphere or the Hispanophone world, and the southernmost.
• December 18 - Korekimi Nakamura steps down as president of South Manchuria Railway.
• December 19 - Ryutaro Nomura succeeds Korekimi Nakamura as president of South Manchuria Railway.
• December 26 - A major fire at its predecessor forces the new Michigan Central Station in Detroit to open early.

Unknown date events

• The Nickel Plate Road completes its grade separation project in Cleveland, Ohio.
• The Supreme Court of the United States orders the Union Pacific Railroad to sell all of its stock in the Southern Pacific Railroad.
• ALCO ceases new steam locomotive production at the former Rogers Locomotive Works plant in Paterson, New Jersey; ALCO continues producing new locomotives at its other plants.
• First examples of Class 140 C steam locomotives delivered to Chemins de Fer de l'État in France; 340 will eventually be built.^[5]
• The world’s first rail vehicle with diesel-electric transmission, and the first diesel of any type in regular revenue main line service, a 75bhp railcar built by Atlas-Deva/Asea, enters service on the Södermanland Mellersta Railway in Sweden. It will remain in use until 1939.^{[6] [7]}
• The Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway, a copper ore-hauling short line in Montana, electrifies using a 2,400 Volts DC system engineered by General Electric, the first primarily freight railroad in North America to electrify.
• Hejaz Railway Station opened in Damascus.
• First on-train cinema set up, on the Trans-Siberian Railway.^[8]
• William Finley is succeeded by Fairfax Harrison as president of the Southern Railway.
• Mary Averell Harriman, wife of the late Edward H. Harriman, creates the E. H. Harriman Award to recognize outstanding achievements in railway safety.^[9]

Births

April births

• April 21 - Richard Beeching, chairman of the British Railways Board 1961 - 1965 (died 1985).

December births

• December 27 - Ian David Sinclair, president of Canadian Pacific Railway 1969-1981, is born (died 2006).

Deaths

March deaths

• March 31 - J. P. Morgan, American financier who helped to finance United States Steel Corporation (born 1837).

April deaths

• April 22 - John Saxby, English railway signalling engineer (born 1821).^[10]

May deaths

• May 20 - Henry Morrison Flagler, visionary and builder of the Florida East Coast Railway (born 1830).

September deaths

• September 25 - Herbert William Garratt, English steam locomotive builder and inventor of the Garratt locomotive (born 1864).^[11]

References

• Norfolk Southern Railway. Retrieved February 22, 2005.
• (July 28, 2005), Significant dates in Ottawa railway history. Retrieved August 16, 2005.

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Kansas City Southern Lines. 2006-05-05. ((Pitcher, Charles; Manager of DOT Compliance, Kansas City Southern Railway)) . Reprinted by the Kansas City Southern Historical Society. https://web.archive.org/web/20060413155650/http://www.kcshs.org/schedule/subs/images/history/kcs_hist.htm. 13 April 2006 . live.
2. Web site: July 2, 1913 – Beginning of the End for Steam Locomotives. This Week in Petroleum History. American Oil & Gas Historical Society. 2014-07-06. 2014-07-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20140714163416/http://aoghs.org/this-week-in-petroleum-history/june-30-july-6/. 2014-07-14. dead.
3. News: Sleeping Homecomers Victims of Rear-end Collision . . September 3, 1913 . December 21, 2013 .
4. Casper Star-Tribune (June 22, 2005), BP Amoco Timeline. Retrieved June 22, 2005.
5. Book: Defrance, Jacques. Le matériel moteur SNCF. 1960.
6. Book: Richardson, Matthew. The Penguin Book of Firsts. 2001. Penguin Books India. New Delhi. 0-14-302771-9. 280.
7. Book: Balkwill, Richard. Marshall, John. John Marshall (railway historian). The Guinness Book of Railway Facts and Feats. 6th. Enfield. Guinness Publishing. 1993. 0-85112-707-X.
8. Book: Robertson, Patrick. Film Facts. London. Aurum. 2001. 1-85410-654-6.
9. Association of American Railroads (May 19, 2005), Railroads Set Another Employee Safety Record in 2004. E. H. Harriman Memorial Awards Honors Outstanding Performance in Rail Safety . Retrieved January 11, 2006.
10. Book: Marshall, John. Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers. 2nd. Oxford. Railway and Canal Historical Society. 2003. 0-901461-22-9. John Marshall (railway historian).
11. (April 27, 2004), Herbert William Garratt. Retrieved February 9, 2005.