May 6 in rail transport

Events

19th century

* 1856 – The newly constructed sidewheeler "Effie Afton" runs into one of the supports for the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River, causing a fire that destroys the bridge just two weeks after it had opened. [Willard, John; Quad City Times (January 31 2006), " [http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2006/01/31/features/celebrate/doc43dee8a37fa3d711745830.txt Dinner marks 150th birthday of the first railroad crossing on the Mississippi] ". Retrieved January 31 2006.]
* 1862 – The bill that would become the Pacific Railroad Act authorizing construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad is passed by the United States House of Representatives.

20th century

* 1983 – The last Georgia Railroad mixed train is operated by the Seaboard System Railroad.
* 1994 – The Channel Tunnel linking England and France officially opens.

Births

* 1881 – Victor V. Boatner, president of Peoria and Pekin Union Railway 1921-, Chicago Great Western Railway 1929-1931 (d. 1950).

Deaths

References