1952 in rail transport
Encyclopedia
January events
- January 13 - 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....
’s City of San FranciscoCity of San FranciscoThe City of San Francisco was a streamlined passenger train operated jointly by the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the Union Pacific Railroad...
is stalled in snow on Donner PassDonner PassDonner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, located above Donner Lake about nine miles west of Truckee, California. It has a steep approach from the east and a gradual approach from the west....
. The train's passengers remain stranded in the train until January 16.
April events
- April 14 - 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....
divisional organisation completed by formation of the Eastern RailwayEastern Railway (India)The Eastern Railway is one of the 17 zones of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is at Fairley Place, Kolkata, and comprises four divisions: Howrah, Malda, Sealdah, and Asansol. These are the financial departments and each has an assistant divisional financial manager , divisional railway...
, created by amalgamating three lower divisions of the East Indian Railway (Howrah, Asansol and Danapur), the entire Bengal Nagpur Railway and the Sealdah division of the erstwhile Bengal Assam RailwayBengal Assam RailwayThe origin of the Bengal Assam Railway, a railway system operated in India between 1942-47, lies in the Assam Bengal Railway, which was conceived in the late eighties of the nineteenth century, when railways had come to expand in different parts of the subcontinent, with the objective of developing...
; the Northern RailwayNorthern Railway (India)The Northern Railways is one of the 16 zones and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is in Delhi at New Delhi Railway Station....
, created from remaining divisions of the EIR, the Eastern Punjab Railway and others; and the North Eastern RailwayNorth Eastern Railway (India)The North Eastern Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Gorakhpur and comprises Lucknow and Varanasi divisions as well as reorganized Izzatnagar division....
created by merger of the Oudh and Tirhut RailwayOudh and Tirhut RailwayThe Oudh and Tirhut Railway was a Railway company operated in India. On January 1, 1943, the Bengal and North Western Railway and the Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway were acquired by the Government of India and they were amalgamated with the Tirhut Railway, the Mashrak-Thawe Extension and the...
and the Assam RailwayBengal Assam RailwayThe origin of the Bengal Assam Railway, a railway system operated in India between 1942-47, lies in the Assam Bengal Railway, which was conceived in the late eighties of the nineteenth century, when railways had come to expand in different parts of the subcontinent, with the objective of developing...
.
July events
- July 6 - The last tramTramA tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
(streetcar) runs in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 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...
. - July 21 - An earthquakeEarthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
measuring 7.5 on the Richter scaleRichter magnitude scaleThe expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....
hits just north of Tehachapi, CaliforniaTehachapi, CaliforniaTehachapi is a city incorporated in 1909 located in the Tehachapi Mountains between Bakersfield and Mojave in Kern County, California. Tehachapi is located east-southeast of Bakersfield, at an elevation of...
. Tunnels 3 through 8 are all damaged, and no traffic moves on 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....
's Tehachapi LoopTehachapi LoopThe Tehachapi Loop is a long 'spiral', or helix, on The Union Pacific Railroad through Tehachapi Pass, in south central California. The railroad line connects Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley to Mojave in the Antelope Valley. The loop takes its name from the circuitous route it takes, in...
for 25 days.
September events
- September 6 - The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad car ferryTrain ferryA train ferry is a ship designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries are sometimes referred to as "car ferries", as...
Badger is launched. It is the last coal-fired, passenger-carrying steamship built in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and it is still in use for automobile travel.
October events
- October 8 - Three trains are involved in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crashHarrow and Wealdstone rail crashThe Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash was a major railway disaster and collision on the British railway system on 8 October 1952.The accident took place from central London...
in 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...
, a crash that kills 112 and injures 340. - October 17 - British RailBritish RailBritish Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways initiates trial of a new Automatic Warning SystemAutomatic Warning SystemThe Automatic Warning System is a form of limited cab signalling and train protection system introduced in 1956 in the United Kingdom to help train drivers observe and obey signals. It was based on a 1930 system developed by Alfred Ernest Hudd and marketed as the "Strowger-Hudd" system...
(Automatic Train ControlAutomatic Train ControlAutomatic Train Control is a train protection system for railways, ensuring the safe and smooth operation of trains on ATC-enabled lines. Its main advantages include making possible the use of cab signalling instead of track-side signals and the use of smooth deceleration patterns in lieu of the...
).
November events
- November 1 - The Pacific Great Eastern Railway opens its branch from Quesnel, British ColumbiaQuesnel, British Columbia-Demographics:Quesnel had a population of 9,326 people in 2006, which was a decrease of 7.1% from the 2001 census count. The median household income in 2005 for Quesnel was $54,044, which is slightly above the British Columbia provincial average of $52,709....
, to a nearby junction with the 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 20 - Brush Bagnall (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...
) formally hand over first of batch of class M1M1 (locomotive)The M1 locomotive was a class of locomotives, used by Sri Lanka Railways. This locomotive was manufactured by Brush Bagnall locomotive industries. The locomotives weighed 88 tons had a 1000hp Mirlees V12 JS12VT four stroke engine...
A1A-A1A diesel-electric locomotives for Ceylon Government RailwaySri Lanka RailwaysSri Lanka Railway Department, branded "Sri Lanka Railways", is a key department of the Sri Lankan Government under the Ministry of Transport with a history that begins in 1858...
, its first mainline diesels.
December events
- December 1 - 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...
ushers in the modern intermodal freight transportIntermodal freight transportIntermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation , without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damages and...
era with the introduction of Trailer On Flat Car service.
Unknown date events
- Last standard gaugeStandard gaugeThe standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
compound locomotiveCompound locomotiveA compound engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure cylinder, then having given up heat and losing pressure, it exhausts directly into one or more larger...
s built: Norfolk and Western RailwayNorfolk and Western RailwayThe Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....
2-8-8-22-8-8-2.A 2-8-8-2, in the Whyte notation for describing steam locomotive wheel arrangements, is an articulated locomotive with a two-wheel leading truck, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a two-wheel trailing truck. The equivalent UIC classification is, refined to Mallet locomotives, D1...
Class Y6b MalletMallet locomotiveThe Mallet Locomotive is a type of articulated locomotive, invented by a Swiss engineer named Anatole Mallet ....
#2200 from its Roanoke ShopsRoanoke Shopsthumb|250px|[[Norfolk Southern]] Roanoke Shops in 2004.The Roanoke Shops of the Norfolk and Western Railway in Roanoke, Virginia were founded in 1881 as the Roanoke Machine Works. It came under the control of the railroad in 1883. Locomotive production started in 1884 and 152 locomotives were...
, the last conventional steam freight locomotive for road service constructed in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; and SNCFSNCFThe SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
Class 241P mixed-trafficMixed-traffic locomotiveA mixed-traffic locomotive is one designed to be capable of hauling both passenger trains and freight trains. The term is mostly used in the United Kingdom and those nations following British practice...
4-cylinder ChapelonAndré ChapelonAndré Chapelon was a noted French mechanical engineer and designer of advanced steam locomotives. Engineer of Ecole Centrale Paris, he was one of very few locomotive designers who brought a rigorous scientific method to their design, and he sought to apply up-to-date knowledge and theories in...
4-8-24-8-2Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-2 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle...
#241P-35 at Le CreusotLe CreusotLe Creusot is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.The inhabitants are known as Creusotins. Formerly a mining town, its economy is now dominated by metallurgical companies such as ArcelorMittal, Schneider Electric, and Alstom.Since the 1990s, the...
in 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...
. - Donald Russell takes over as president 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....
.