1903 in rail transport

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1902, 1903, 1904

Years in rail transport

1902 in rail transport 1903 in rail transport 1904 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1903.

Contents 1 Events 1.1 January events 1.2 April events 1.3 May events 1.4 July events 1.5 August events 1.6 September events 1.7 October events 1.8 November events 1.9 Unknown date events 2 Births 2.1 April births 3 Deaths 3.1 March deaths 3.2 July deaths 3.3 Unknown date deaths 4 References

[edit] Events

[edit] January events

• January 20 - The Grand Trunk Western Railroad opens a passenger depot in Lansing, Michigan.

[edit] April events

• April 7 - Apalachicola Northern Railroad, later to become AN Railway, is chartered.

[edit] May events

• May 3 - The Mersey Railway, operating between Birkenhead and Liverpool by tunnel beneath the River Mersey, England, converts from steam to electric traction.^[1]
• May 13 - The Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad (later to become part of Chicago and North Western Railway) begins passenger train service to Casper, Wyoming. [1]
• May 25 - The Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad opens, becoming the first railroad in the United States to use an electrified third rail to power its trains.

[edit] July events

• July 1 - Opening of the Albula line of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) (metre gauge) in Switzerland, passing through the Albula Tunnel, the highest of the principal Alpine tunnels at 1370 m.^[2]
• July 13 - Danbury Union Station in Danbury, Connecticut, on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, opens.
• July 27 - Construction begins on the Baghdad Railway with the 200 km segment between Konya and Bulgurlu in the Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey).

[edit] August events

• August 10 - Paris Metro train fire, France: fire on Paris Métro, 84 killed.
• August 17 - Great Western Railway of England becomes the first British railway company to operate its own "road motor services" (i.e. buses), between Helston and The Lizard in Cornwall.^[3]

[edit] September events

• September 27 - Wreck of the Old 97, Danville, Virginia, United States: A southbound Southern Railway passenger train derails on a trestle in Danville; 11 people are killed.

[edit] October events

• October - Experimental electric trains, built by AEG and Siemens & Halske, reach 210.2 km/h (130.6 mph) between Marienfelde and Zossen in Germany.
• October 1 - The first railway in Norway is rebuilt to double track, from Bryn to Lillestrøm on Hovedbanen, is opened.^[4]
• October 21 - Howard Elliott succeeds Charles Sanger Mellen as president of Northern Pacific Railway.^[5]

[edit] November events

• November 9 - The 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge Kalka-Shimla Railway opens in India.

[edit] Unknown date events

• Southern Pacific Railroad gains 50% control of the Pacific Electric system in Los Angeles, 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.
• E. H. Harriman becomes president of the Union Pacific Railroad.
• George Whale succeeds Francis William Webb as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Western Railway.

[edit] Births

[edit] April births

• April 10 - Edward T. Reidy, last president of Chicago Great Western Railway 1957-1968.

[edit] Deaths

[edit] March deaths

• March 29 - Gustavus Franklin Swift, founder of Swift and Company which pioneered the use of refrigerator cars in late 19th century America (b. 1839)

[edit] July deaths

• July 27 - Frederick J. Kimball, American civil engineer who was instrumental in the formation of Norfolk and Western (b. 1844).

[edit] Unknown date deaths

• J. Elfreth Watkins, railroad civil engineer and first curator for the Smithsonian Institution's railroad artifacts including John Bull.

[edit] References

• Casper Star-Tribune (June 22, 2005), BP Amoco Timeline. Retrieved June 22, 2005.
• Gulder, Bill, A Brief History of the Danbury Railway Museum. Retrieved July 12, 2005.
• Kalka-Shimla Railway Northern Railways of India^{[dead link – Kalka-Shimla Railway history]}
• (December 1, 2004), Trains of Turkey: Baghdad Railway. Retrieved July 22, 2005.
• Siemens experimental high-speed electric train

1. ^ Gahan, John W. (1983). The Line Beneath the Liners – a hundred years of Mersey Railway sights and sounds. Birkenhead: Countyvise. ISBN 0-907768-40-7. 
2. ^ Marshall, John (1989). The Guinness Railway Book. Enfield: Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-359-7. 
3. ^ Cummings, John (1980). Railway Motor Buses and Bus Services in the British Isles 1902-1933, volume 2. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0-86095-050-5. 
4. ^ Norsk Jernbaneklubb (1994). Banedata '94 (in Norwegian). ISBN 8290286155. 
5. ^ Railway Age Gazette (August 1, 1913) pp. 177-8.