1951 in rail transport
Encyclopedia
January events
- January - Fairbanks-MorseFairbanks-MorseFairbanks Morse and Company was a manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, locomotives and industrial supplies until it was merged in 1958...
and Canadian Locomotive CompanyCanadian Locomotive CompanyThe Canadian Locomotive Company, commonly referred to as CLC, was a Canadian manufacturer of railway locomotives located in Kingston, Ontario. Its works were located on Ontario Street and Gore Street on Kingston's waterfront....
introduce the H-16-66FM H-16-66-External links:* *...
diesel locomotiveDiesel locomotiveA diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
. - January 11 - The San Diego and Arizona Eastern RailwaySan Diego and Arizona Eastern RailwayThe San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway is a short-line American railroad originally founded in 1906 as the San Diego and Arizona Railway by sugar heir, developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels...
discontinues passenger train service. - January 20 - Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian Pacific RailwayThe Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
's eastbound The Dominion passenger train hits a truck at a level crossingLevel crossingA level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...
in OttawaOttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
; most of the train remains on the rails, but the engineer is fatally burned in the derailment.
February events
- February 6 - The Woodbridge train wreckWoodbridge train wreckThe Woodbridge train wreck occurred on February 6, 1951 in Woodbridge, New Jersey when a train derailed crossing a temporary wooden trestle, killing 85 people...
, The Broker, a Pennsylvania RailroadPennsylvania RailroadThe Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New JerseyWoodbridge Township, New Jersey-Communities:Many distinct communities exist within Woodbridge Township. Several of these communities have their own ZIP codes, and many are listed by the United States Census Bureau as census-designated places, but they are all unincorporated areas and neighborhoods within the Township that,...
killing 85 people and injuring over 500 more. - February 25 - The Chicago Transit AuthorityChicago Transit AuthorityChicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
's Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway (3.7 miles/6.0 km), Chicago's second subway route, is placed in operation. Milwaukee 'L' trains are routed into the subway between Division & Milwaukee and the Central Business District, using St. LouisSt. Louis Car CompanyThe St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887–1973, based in St. Louis, Missouri.-History:...
-built 6000-Series rapid transit cars.
April events
- April 14 - Southern Railway (India)Southern Railway (India)The Southern Railway is the earliest of the 16 zones of the Indian Railways created in independent India. It was created on April 14, 1951 by merging three state railways namely Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway, and the Mysore State Railway. The South Indian Railway...
created as the first zone of 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....
by merger of South Indian Railway, Madras and Southern Mahratta RailwayMadras and Southern Mahratta RailwayThe Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway was a railway company that operated in southern India. It was founded on January 1, 1908, by merging the Madras Railway and the Southern Mahratta Railway. Initially, its headquarters was at Royapuram in Madras but later shifted to a newly constructed...
and Mysore State Railway. - April 24 - Sakuragichō train fireSakuragichō train fireThe occurred on April 24, 1951, when a 63 series Keihin Railway train approaching Sakuragichō Station in Yokohama hit a loose overhead wire causing a short circuit and starting a fire which killed 106 people and injured 92.-Accident:...
in Japan kills 106.
May events
- May 3 - General Motors Electro-Motive Division produces its first six-axle freight diesel locomotiveDiesel locomotiveA diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
, an SD7EMD SD7An EMD SD7 is a 6-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between February 1952 and November 1953. Power was provided by an EMD 567B 16-cylinder engine which generated ....
. It tours as demonstrator number 990 before being sold to the 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....
, which numbers it 1518. It is preserved at the Illinois Railway MuseumIllinois Railway MuseumThe Illinois Railway Museum is the largest railroad museum in the United States and is located in Union, Illinois, northwest of Chicago...
. - May 14 - Talyllyn RailwayTalyllyn RailwayThe Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge preserved railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain...
(WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
) reopened by Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society, generally reckoned to be the first such voluntary body to operate a railway.
June events
- June 7 - A commuter train collides with a truck carrying gasoline at a level crossing at Nova IguacuNova IguaçuNova Iguaçu is a city in southeast Brazil in the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro state. It was the state's second largest city until Mesquita was split off, and now is the fourth largest after São Gonçalo and Duque de Caxias. It lies northwest of the city of Rio de Janeiro, on the...
in northwestern Rio de JaneiroRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, killing at least 54.
July events
- July 22 - At Tatranská LomnicaTatranská Lomnica railway stationTatranská Lomnica railway station is a break-of-gauge junction station in the High Tatras. It serves the settlement of Tatranská Lomnica, in the Prešov Region, northeastern Slovakia....
, CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, in the Tatra MountainsTatra MountainsThe Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra , are a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland, and are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains...
, two ČSD passenger cars collide; 19 are killed.
August events
- The direction on station Finlyandsky Rail Terminal to Zelenogorsk stationZelenogorskZelenogorsk may refer to one of the following:*Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, a town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia*Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, a municipal town in Russia under jurisdiction of Saint Petersburg...
in Saint Petersburg Railway Division of the Oktyabrskaya RailwayOktyabrskaya RailwayThe broad gauge Oktyabrskaya Railway or October Railway , which forms part of RZD, is the oldest railway in Russia, located in the north-west of the country. It stretches from Moscow's Leningrad Terminal in the south to Murmansk beyond the Arctic Circle in the north. The total length of the lines...
, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
has been electrified. In 1 hour and 30 minutes electric power dispatcher gave command to bring the current in the contact network. In 1 hour 50 minutes en route to a trial trip off the first electric train. - August 23 - The Cangkring (near CirebonCirebonCirebon is a port city on the north coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is located in the province of West Java near the provincial border with Central Java, approximately 297 km east of Jakarta, at .The seat of a former Sultanate, the city's West and Central Java border location have...
, IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
) train stationTrain stationA train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
is destroyed by fireFireFire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
. - August 24 – GM1, the first mainline diesel-electric locomotive built in AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, begins road trials prior to entering service with Commonwealth RailwaysCommonwealth RailwaysThe Commonwealth Railways were established in 1912, as part of a government department, currently called the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, by the Government of Australia to construct the missing link in the east-west transcontinental railway and...
on September 20. The locomotive, built by Clyde EngineeringClyde EngineeringClyde Engineering was the name of part of the business now known as Downer EDI Rail. Clyde Engineering were involved in the construction of railway locomotives and rolling stock, as well as larger scale engineering projects on behalf of the governments of Australia...
of Granville, New South WalesGranville, New South WalesGranville, is a suburb in western Sydney, Australia. Granville is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta. A small part in the north-west is located in the Local Government Area of the City of Holroyd.South Granville is a...
, is adapted by Fred Shea from the EMD F7EMD F7The EMD F7 was a Diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and General Motors Diesel . It succeeded the F3 model in GM-EMD's F-unit sequence, and was replaced in turn by the F9. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La...
design with A1A-A1A bogieBogieA bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
configuration. - August 26 - Railroad operations across CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
are standardized with the introduction of the Uniform Code of Operating Rules. - August 28 - The last mainline train leaves BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, 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...
's, Lehrter Bahnhof headed for the WustermarkWustermarkWustermark is a municipality of the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany.-History:It was established in 2002 through a merger of the five villages Buchow-Karpzow, Elstal, Hoppenrade, Priort and Wustermark....
and NauenNauenNauen is a town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 38 km west of Berlin and 26 km northwest of Potsdam.-History:...
.
September events
- September 6 - Lehigh Valley Transit Company announces replacement of its Philadelphia Division operations by buses effective the next day.
- September 12 - Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation brings its last railroad 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...
out of the Lima, OhioLima, OhioLima is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwestern Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton and south-southwest of Toledo....
, factory, a 2500 hp transfer diesel, Pennsylvania RailroadPennsylvania RailroadThe Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
number 5683. - September 21 - A rail crash in Weedon in England kills 15 people.
October events
- October 26 - Quebec Railway Light and Power Company sells its Montmorency division, 26 miles (41.8 km) of track between Quebec CityQuebec CityQuebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
and St. Joachim, to Canadian National RailwayCanadian National RailwayThe Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....
.
November events
- November 5 - Western Railway (India)Western Railway (India)The Western Railway is one of the 16 zones of Indian Railways, and is among the busiest railway networks in India. The major railway routes of Indian Railways which come under Western Railways are: Ratlam - Mumbai Central, Surat - Mumbai, Surat - Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad - Vadodara and Palanpur -...
created as a zone of 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....
by merger of the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India RailwayBombay, Baroda, and Central India RailwayThe Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway was a company incorporated in 1855 to undertake the task of constructing a railway line between Bombay and Vadodara in India. BB&CI completed the work in 1864...
with the Saurashtra, RajputanaRajputanaRājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
and JaipurJaipurJaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
railways; Central Railway created by merger of the Great Indian Peninsular RailwayGreat Indian Peninsular RailwayThe Great Indian Peninsula Railway was a predecessor of the Indian Central Railway, whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Bombay . The Great Indian Peninsula Railway was incorporated on August 1, 1849 by an act of the British Parliament. It had a share capital of 50,000 pounds...
with local state railways.
December events
- December 17 - The Rock Island Railroad converts all of its Chicago-area commuter trains to diesel locomotiveDiesel locomotiveA diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
power. Seventeen new units replace the 23 Pacific4-6-24-6-2, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle .These locomotives are also known as Pacifics...
type 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...
s previously used. - December 31 - Common-carrier rail service on CyprusCyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
ends.
Unknown date events
- 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....
subsidiary Sud Pacifico de Mexico is sold to the MexicanMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
government. - Train service ends on Ferrocarril MexicanoMexican RailwayThe Mexican Railway was one of the primary pre-nationalization railways of Mexico. Incorporated in London in September 1864 as the Imperial Mexican Railway to complete an earlier project, it was renamed in July 1867 after the Second French Empire withdrew from Mexico...
's narrow gaugeNarrow gaugeA narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
CórdobaCórdoba, VeracruzCórdoba, officially known as Heroica Córdoba, is a city and the seat of the municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It was founded in 1618....
branch. - Armand Mercier steps down from the presidency of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the 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....
. - 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...
's streamlinedStreamlinerA streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...
CometComet (train)The Comet was a diesel electric streamliner built in 1935 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Company...
passenger trainset (built in 1935) is retired from revenue service and scrapped. - Earnest E. Norris is succeeded by Harry A. deButtsHarry A. deButtsHarry Ashby deButts was a former president of Southern Railway in the United States. He was succeeded by D. William Brosnan in 1962....
as president of the 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...
.
March deaths
- March 2 - Edgar Alcock, general manager and chairman of Hunslet Engine CompanyHunslet Engine CompanyThe Hunslet Engine Company is a British locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager.In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for...
(b. 1877).
July deaths
- July 10 - Charles E. JohnstonCharles E. JohnstonCharles E. Johnston was the eighth president of Kansas City Southern Railway.-References:* Kansas City Southern Historical Society, . Retrieved August 15, 2005....
, president of Kansas City Southern RailwayKansas City Southern RailwayThe Kansas City Southern Railway , owned by Kansas City Southern Industries, is the smallest and second-oldest Class I railroad company still in operation. KCS was founded in 1887 and is currently operating in a region consisting of ten central U.S. states...
1928-1938 (b. 1881).