1900 in rail transport

Events

January events

* January 1 – The Pere Marquette Railroad is incorporated and created from the merger of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad and Chicago and West Michigan Railway.

February events

* February 12 – The Escanaba and Lake Superior Railway is reorganized through bankruptcy proceedings as the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad. [Duchaine, William (December 27, 1950), " [http://www.elsrr.com/ELS%20History.htm History of Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad] ". Retrieved February 12, 2006.]

March events

* March 24 – Mayor of New York Robert A. Van Wyck turns the first shovel of dirt in groundbreaking ceremonies for the first subway line in the city. [Rivanna Chapter National Railway Historical Society, " [http://avenue.org/nrhs/histmar.htm This Month in Railroad History: March] ". Retrieved March 24, 2006.]
* March 30 – The Cape Breton Electric Tramway and Power Company in Nova Scotia, Canada, is incorporated. [cite web| author=Smith, Ivan| url=http://www.trainweb.org/canadianrailways/articles/SignificantDatesInNSRailwayHistoryPart3.html| title=Significant Dates in Nova Scotia's Railway History (1900 - 1949)| work=The Railways of Canada Archives| year=1998| accessyear=2006| accessmonthday=March 29 ]
* March 30 – The Newark, Somerset and Straitsville Railroad is reorganized as the Ohio Midland Railroad. [cite web| author=Morris, J. C., Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs, Ohio| url=http://www.railsandtrails.com/ohiorailwayreport/1902/1900.html| title=Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs: Part II, History of the Railroads of Ohio| date=December 31, 1902| accessyear=2006| accessmonthday=March 29 ]

April events

* April 26 – A defective chimney on a house in Hull starts the Great Hull-Ottawa fire; among the items destroyed are nearly 200 freight cars and the Canadian Pacific Railway station and freight house. The resulting shortage of lumber for reconstruction forces Canada Atlantic Railway to temporarily halt production on new railroad cars at the company shops in Ottawa. [cite web| url=http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/ottawa.htm| title=Significant dates in Ottawa railway history| work=Colin Churcher's Railway Pages| date=April 23, 2006| accessyear=2006| accessmonthday=April 26 ]
* April 30 – Illinois Central engineer Casey Jones crashes his train just north of Vaughan, Mississippi, and earns a spot in American folklore.

May events

* May – The Santa Fe and San Joaquin Valley Railway begins operations between Bakersfield and San Francisco, California.Santa Fe Railroad (1945), "Along Your Way", Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.]
* May 24 – Nottingham Victoria railway station opens in Nottingham, England.
* May 31 – The Northwestern Elevated Railway, built by infamous traction magnate Charles Tyson Yerkes, begins operations between the Loop in downtown Chicago and Wilson and Broadway Avenues in Uptown on the North Side.

June events

* June 22 – A train at the Grand Falls in New Brunswick, Canada, falls through the bridge into the Saint John River.
* June 27 – Official opening of the Central London Railway, core of the Central Line of the London Underground, the third deep-level electrified "tube" railway in the city. [cite book| author=Gillham, J. C.|title=The Age of the Electric Train: Electric Trains in Britain since 1883| year=1988| publisher=Ian Allan| location=London| isbn=0-7110-1392-6 ]

July events

* July 19 – The first section of the Paris Métro opens.
* July 29 – Construction is completed on the White Pass and Yukon Route between Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, and Skagway, Alaska, United States.

August events

* August 14 – Charles Hayes succeeds Collis P. Huntington as president of the Southern Pacific Railroad after Huntington's death.
* August 15 – Regular service begins between Skagway, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon, on the White Pass and Yukon Railway. [(April 3, 2005), " [http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/candate.htm Significant dates in Canadian railway history] ". Retrieved August 15, 2005.]

eptember events

* September 22 – Harry C. Grant and Joshua Lionel Cowen file incorporation papers in New York creating toy train manufacturer Lionel.

December events

* December 18 – The Upper Ferntree Gully – Gembrook narrow gauge railway in Victoria, Australia, opens for traffic. It is now preserved, operating as the Puffing Billy Railway.
* December 31 – Southern Pacific completes construction of the Coast Line from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area, eliminating the need to operate through the San Joaquin Valley. The line is presently (2007) owned by Union Pacific, and is the operation line of Amtrak's (Formerly Southern Pacific's) "Coast Starlight".

Unknown date events

* The Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie Railroad is renamed Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad.
* The Boston and Albany Railroad becomes a subsidiary railroad of the New York Central.
* Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway gains control of Colorado Midland and begins operating it as a subsidiary railroad.

Births

January births

* January 3 – C.L. Dellums, cofounder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (d. 1989)

Deaths

April deaths

* April 20 – Andrew Barclay, Scottish steam locomotive builder (b. 1814). [cite web|url=http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/people/famousfirst394.html| title=Overview of Andrew Barclay| accessyear=2005| accessmonthday=February 9] [cite book| last=Wear| first=Russell| title=The Locomotive Builders of Kilmarnock| year=1977| publisher=Industrial Railway Society| isbn=0-902888-81-1]

August deaths

* August 13 – Collis P. Huntington, a member of The Big Four group of financiers in California (b. 1821)

November deaths

* November 12 – Henry Villard, president of Northern Pacific Railway 1881-1884, dies (b. 1835).

Unknown date deaths

* Cyrus K. Holliday, cofounder of Topeka, Kansas, and first president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (b. 1826). [cite book| author=Waters, Lawrence Leslie| year=1950| title=Steel Trails to Santa Fe| publisher=University of Kansas Press| location=Lawrence, Kansas]
* Robert S. Hughes, president of Rogers Locomotive Company 1893-1900.

References