1954 in rail transport
Events
January
- January 3 – The last steam locomotive powered passenger train departs Washington Union Station; Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad engine number 622 Carter Braxton pulls the train, leaving at approximately 1:40 PM bound for Richmond, Virginia.
- January 8 – Southern Pacific Railroad's Sunset Limited becomes the first train to use the new New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal.
Part of the opening ceremony for the Marunouchi Line at Ikebukuro Station.
- January 20 – The Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line, the second line in the system and the first built after World War II, is opened between Ikebukuro and Ochanomizu stations.
- January 24 – Cleveland, Ohio, streetcars make their last revenue run.
- January – General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD F9 and GP9.
February
- February 21 – An SNCF electric train hits 151 mph (243 km/h) in tests, setting a world’s record.
- February – General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD FP9.
March
- March 30 – Yonge subway, the first segment of the Toronto subway and the first underground rapid transit line in Canada, begins operation.[1][2]
April
- April 20 – The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road") opens a new station in Tacoma, Washington.
- April 30 – Last day of steam locomotive operations and passenger train service on the Clinchfield Railroad.
May
- May – General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD E9.
June
- June 6 – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway introduces the San Francisco Chief passenger train between Chicago and San Francisco.
- June 13 – Last day of steam locomotive operation on the Maine Central Railroad.[3]
- June 14 – New York Central management loses a proxy fight for control of the railroad to Robert Ralph Young and his Alleghany Corporation.
- June – General Electric delivers the first diesel-electric locomotives built for the narrow gauge White Pass and Yukon Route.[4]
July
- July 2 – SNCF electrifies first section of Valenciennes–Thionville line, the first non-experimental 25 kV AC railway electrification.
- July 4 – Budd delivers the first Château series car, Château Bienville, to Canadian Pacific Railway in Montreal.
- July – New Zealand Railways Department introduces DF class (built by English Electric) into service, the country's first mainline diesel-electric locomotives.[5]
August
- August 7 – The last streetcars operate on the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
October
- October 16 – The Southern Pacific dieselizes its 3 foot (914 mm) gauge Keeler branch.
- October 20 – To commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Horseshoe Curve, the Sylvania Electric Products Corporation sponsors a night photograph of the Curve using more than 6500 flashbulbs.
November
- November 29 – The first dome cars built by Budd Company enter revenue service on Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway's North Coast Limited.
December
- December – Louisville and Nashville Railroad and Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway open the new Radnor Yard in Nashville, Tennessee.
- December – Pullman-Standard builds the first bilevel commuter coaches for the Southern Pacific Railroad to use in the south San Francisco Bay Area.
- December – The last steam locomotive on the Southern Railway (U.S.) is retired from standby service.
Unknown date
- Circular Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro completed.
- American Car and Foundry officially changes its name to ACF Industries, Inc.
- Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway divests itself of the Grand Canyon Hotel and other buildings at the north end of the Grand Canyon Railway.
- Netherlands Railway Museum moves to the former Maliebaan station.
Deaths
January deaths
- January 5 – Death Valley Scotty (born Walter Edward Scott; pictured), con man who chartered the Scott Special record-breaking run on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1905, dies (born 1872).
December deaths
- December 15 – Ernest Lemon, Chief Mechanical Engineer (1931–1932) and later Vice President of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (born 1884).
References
- Bianchi, Curt (May 1995), "By steam to the Grand Canyon", Trains Magazine, p. 38–45.
- Horseshoe Curve Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, "Under the Wire", The Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway: 1891–1954. Retrieved August 7, 2005.
- Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This month in railroad history – November. Retrieved November 28, 2005.
- "Significant dates in Canadian railway history". Colin Churcher's Railway Pages. March 17, 2006. Archived from the original on October 23, 2006. Retrieved March 29, 2006.
- City of Toronto (2006). "Toronto Transit Commission – History". Retrieved March 29, 2006.
- Johnson, Ron (1985). The Best of Maine Railroads. Portland Litho. p. 112.
- Martin, Cy (1974). Gold Rush Narrow Gauge (2nd ed.). Corona del Mar, California: Trans-Anglo Books. p. 64. ISBN 0-87046-026-9.
- "DF 1501". Diesel Traction Group Inc. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2010.
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