1903 in rail transport
Encyclopedia
January events
- January 20 – The Grand Trunk Western RailroadGrand Trunk Western RailroadThe Grand Trunk Western Railroad is an important subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway , constituting the majority of CN's Chicago Division ....
opens a passenger depot in Lansing, MichiganLansing, MichiganLansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...
. - January 28 – Esmond Train Wreck: fourteen people are killed when the Crescent City Express (No. 8, bound for Benson, ArizonaBenson, Arizona-Transportation:Benson Airport is located 3 miles north west of the city.Benson is served by Interstate 10 to the north, which travels directly to downtown Tucson....
) collides head-on with the bound Pacific Coast Express (No. 7, bound for TucsonTucson, ArizonaTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
).
February events
- February 12 – North British Locomotive CompanyNorth British Locomotive CompanyThe North British Locomotive Company was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp Stewart and Company , Neilson, Reid and Company and Dübs and Company , creating the largest locomotive manufacturing company in Europe.Its main factories were...
established as a locomotiveLocomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
builder in GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, by merger of Dübs and CompanyDûbs and CompanyDübs & Co. was a locomotive works in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Henry Dübs in 1863 and based at the Queens Park Works in Polmadie. In 1903 it became part of the North British Locomotive Company.-Preserved locomotives:...
, Neilson, Reid and Company, and Sharp Stewart and Company.
April events
- April 7 – Apalachicola Northern Railroad, later to become AN RailwayAN RailwayThe AN Railway is one of several shortline railroad companies owned by the Genesee & Wyoming parent company. It operates between Port Saint Joe, Florida and a connection with CSX's Pensacola & Atlantic and Tallahassee Subdivisions at Chattahoochee, Florida, with a short spur to Apalachicola, Florida...
, is chartered.
May events
- May 3 – The Mersey RailwayMersey RailwayThe Mersey Railway connected Liverpool and Birkenhead, England, via the Mersey Railway Tunnel under the River Mersey. Opened in 1886, it was the second oldest urban underground railway network in the world. The railway contained the first tunnel built under the River Mersey. It was constructed by...
, operating between BirkenheadBirkenheadBirkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
and LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
by tunnel beneath the River MerseyRiver MerseyThe River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, converts from steam to electric traction. - May 13 – The Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley RailroadFremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley RailroadThe Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad , sometimes called "the Elkhorn," was an American railroad established in 1869 in Nebraska.-About:...
(later to become part of Chicago and North Western RailwayChicago and North Western RailwayThe Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...
) begins passenger train service to Casper, WyomingCasper, WyomingCasper is the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States.. Casper is the second-largest city in Wyoming , according to the 2010 census, with a population of 55,316...
. - May 25 – The Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley RailroadLackawanna and Wyoming Valley RailroadThe Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad, more commonly known as the Laurel Line, was a Pennsylvania third rail electric interurban streetcar line which operated commuter train service from 1903 to 1952, and freight service until 1976.-History:...
opens, becoming the first railroad in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to use an electrified third railThird railA third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
to power its trains.
July events
- July 1 – Opening of the Albula line of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB)RhBThe Rhaetian Railway is a Swiss transport company, owning the largest network of all the private railways in Switzerland. The company operates most of the railways in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as the Swiss federal railway company SBB-CFF-FFS extend only a few kilometres over the cantonal...
(metre gauge) in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, passing through the Albula Tunnel, the highest of the principal AlpineAlpsThe Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
tunnels at 1370 m. - July 13 – Danbury Union Station in Danbury, ConnecticutDanbury, ConnecticutDanbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....
, on the New York, New Haven and Hartford RailroadNew York, New Haven and Hartford RailroadThe New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , was a railroad that operated in the northeast United States from 1872 to 1968 which served the states of Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts...
, opens. - July 27
- Construction begins on the Baghdad RailwayBaghdad RailwayThe Baghdad Railway , was built from 1903 to 1940 to connect Berlin with the Ottoman Empire city of Baghdad with a line through modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq....
with the 200 kilometres (124.3 mi) segment between KonyaKonyaKonya is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Konya Province had a population of 1,036,027 as of 2010, making the city seventh most populous in Turkey.-Etymology:...
and Bulgurlu in the Ottoman EmpireOttoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(present day TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
). - Glasgow St Enoch rail accidentGlasgow St Enoch rail accidentThe Glasgow St Enoch rail accident occurred on 27 July 1903. A train arriving at the St Enoch terminal station failed to stop in time and collided heavily with the buffer stop, sustaining severe damage. Sixteen people were killed and 27 injured...
, Scotland: sixteen killed when a train crashes into the buffers.
- Construction begins on the Baghdad Railway
August events
- August 10 – Paris Metro train fireParis Metro train fireThe disastrous Paris Métro train fire occurred on the evening of August 10, 1903, on what was then Line 2 Nord of the system and is now Line 2...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
: electric fire on Paris MétroParis MétroThe Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
at Couronnes; 84 killed. - August 17 – Great Western RailwayGreat Western RailwayThe Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
of EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
becomes the first British railway company to operate its own "road motor servicesGWR road motor servicesThe Great Western Railway road motor services operated from 1903 to 1933, both as a feeder to their train services, and as a cheaper alternative to building new railways in rural areas...
" (i.e. busBusA bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es), between HelstonHelstonHelston is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately 12 miles east of Penzance and nine miles southwest of Falmouth. Helston is the most southerly town in the UK and is around further south than...
and The LizardThe LizardThe Lizard is a peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at ....
in CornwallCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
.
September events
- September 27 – Wreck of the Old 97Wreck of the Old 97Old 97 was a Southern Railway train officially known as the Fast Mail. It ran from Washington DC to Atlanta, Georgia. On September 27, 1903 while en route from Monroe, Virginia, to Spencer, North Carolina, the train derailed at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia...
, Danville, VirginiaDanville, VirginiaDanville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...
, United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
: A southbound Southern RailwaySouthern Railway (US)The Southern Railway is a former United States railroad. It was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894...
passenger train derails on a trestle in Danville; eleven people are killed.
October events
- October – Experimental electric trains, built by AEG and Siemens & Halske, reach 210.2 km/h (130.6 mph) between Marienfelde and ZossenZossenZossen is a German town in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, south of Berlin, and next to the B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 2003 to form the city.-Geography:...
in GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. - October 1 – The first railway in NorwayRail transport in NorwayThe Norwegian railway system comprises 4,087 km of track of which 2,622 km is electrified and 242 km double track. There are 696 tunnels and 2760 bridges....
rebuilt to double track, from BrynBryn railway station (Oslo)Bryn railway station is a stop east of downtown Oslo, Norway on the old Hovedbanen railway line. It was opened in 1858, four years after the line was opened. It is the first station to the east from Oslo S, the next station is Alna. It is 3.89 km from Oslo S, and at an altitude of 78.3 m...
to LillestrømLillestrøm StationLillestrøm Station is a railway station located at Lillestrøm in Skedsmo, Norway. The station serves as the main transportation hub of the eastern parts of Greater Oslo and all trains east of Oslo stop at Lillestrøm...
on the HovedbanenHovedbanenThe Hoved Line is a railway line in Norway which runs between Oslo and Eidsvoll. The line is owned by the Norwegian National Rail Administration.-History:...
, is opened. - October 21 – Howard ElliottHoward ElliottHoward Elliott was president of Northern Pacific Railway 1903-1913, and president of New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad beginning in 1913.-Biography:...
succeeds Charles Sanger MellenCharles Sanger MellenCharles Sanger Mellen was an American railroad man whose career culminated in the presidencies of the Northern Pacific Railway 1897-1903 and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad 1903-1913.- Railroad Man :...
as president of Northern Pacific RailwayNorthern Pacific RailwayThe Northern Pacific Railway was a railway that operated in the west along the Canadian border of the United States. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in...
. - October 31 – The Purdue WreckPurdue WreckThe Purdue Wreck was a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, Indiana, on October 31, 1903, that killed 17 people, including 14 players on the Purdue University football team.Two special trains operated by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St...
, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA: A Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad football special carrying the Purdue UniversityPurdue UniversityPurdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
football team and fans to the annual game with Indiana UniversityIndiana UniversityIndiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
collides with a coal train. Fourteen of the team and three other passengers are killed.
November events
- November 9 – The gaugeRail gaugeTrack gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers...
Kalka-Shimla RailwayKalka-Shimla RailwayThe Kalka–Shimla Railway is a narrow gauge railway in North-West India travelling along a mostly mountainous route from Kalka to Shimla. It is known for breathtaking views of the hills and surrounding villages.- History :...
opens in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Unknown date events
- The British Engineering Standards CommitteeBSI GroupBSI Group, also known in its home market as the British Standards Institution , is a multinational business services provider whose principal activity is the production of standards and the supply of standards-related services.- History :...
draws up specifications for eight standard steam locomotiveSteam locomotiveA steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
designs for the broad gaugeBroad gaugeBroad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
Indian RailwaysIndian RailwaysIndian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
. - Southern Pacific RailroadSouthern Pacific RailroadThe Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
gains 50% control of the Pacific Electric system in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. - The provisions of the US Railroad Safety Appliance Act, enacted in 1893, are extended to include all railroad cars whether or not the cars themselves are used in interchange service.
- Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RailwayAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RailwayThe Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...
introduces the first 2-10-22-10-2Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-10-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle, usually in a trailing truck...
compound locomotives (built by Baldwin Locomotive WorksBaldwin Locomotive WorksThe Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...
) into service. - E. H. HarrimanE. H. HarrimanEdward Henry Harriman was an American railroad executive.-Early years:Harriman was born in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman, an Episcopal clergyman, and Cornelia Neilson...
becomes president of the Union Pacific RailroadUnion Pacific RailroadThe Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
. - George WhaleGeorge WhaleGeorge Whale was a British locomotive engineer who worked for the London and North Western Railway .Whale was born in Bocking, Essex. In 1858 he entered Wolverton Works under James Edward McConnell, and from 1862 under John Ramsbottom. In 1865 he entered the drawing office at Crewe Works, and in...
succeeds Francis William Webb as Chief Mechanical EngineerChief Mechanical EngineerChief Mechanical Engineer and Locomotive Superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotives and rolling stock...
of the London and North Western RailwayLondon and North Western RailwayThe London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
.
April births
- April 10 – Edward T. ReidyEdward T. ReidyEdward T. Reidy was an American railroad executive; he led the Chicago Great Western Railway between 1957 and its merger with the Chicago and North Western Railway in 1968...
, last president of Chicago Great Western RailwayChicago Great Western RailwayThe Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad...
1957-1968.
March deaths
- March 29 – Gustavus Franklin SwiftGustavus Franklin SwiftGustavus Franklin Swift founded a meat-packing empire in the Midwest during the late 19th century, over which he presided until his death...
, founder of Swift and Company which pioneered the use of refrigerator carRefrigerator carA refrigerator car is a refrigerated boxcar , a piece of railroad rolling stock designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures. Refrigerator cars differ from simple insulated boxcars and ventilated boxcars , neither of which are fitted with cooling apparatus...
s in late 19th century AmericaUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(b. 1839)
July deaths
- July 27 – Frederick J. KimballFrederick J. KimballFrederick James Kimball was a civil engineer. He was an early president of the Norfolk and Western Railway and helped develop the Pocahontas coalfields in Virginia and West Virginia....
, AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
civil engineerCivil engineerA civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
who was instrumental in the formation of Norfolk and Western (b. 1844).
Unknown date deaths
- J. Elfreth WatkinsJ. Elfreth WatkinsJohn Elfreth Watkins was a civil engineer working for American railroads of the 19th century. He played a key role in the preservation of the John Bull steam locomotive and its subsequent public displays by the Smithsonian Institution....
, railroad civil engineerCivil engineerA civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and first curator for the Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
's railroad artifacts including John BullJohn Bull (locomotive)John Bull is a British-built railroad steam locomotive that operated in the United States. It was operated for the first time on September 15, 1831, and it became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operated it in 1981...
.