1903 in rail transport

Events

January events

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

April events

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

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. [cite book|author=Gahan, John W.|title=The Line Beneath the Liners – a hundred years of Mersey Railway sights and sounds|date=1983|publisher=Countyvise|location=Birkenhead|isbn=0-907768-40-7]
* 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. [http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/06/22/news/casper/a2e0ab59d0ef19c0872570270020fd84.txt]
* 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.

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. [cite book|last=Marshall|first=John|title=The Guinness Railway Book|year=1989|publisher=Guinness|location=Enfield|isbn=0-85112-359-7]
* 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).

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. [cite book|last=Cummings|first=John|title=Railway Motor Buses and Bus Services in the British Isles 1902-1933, volume 2|publisher=Oxford Publishing Company|date=1980|location=Oxford|isbn=0-86095-050-5]

eptember 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.

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. [cite book |author=Norsk Jernbaneklubb |title=Banedata '94 |isbn=8290286155 |date=1994 |language=Norwegian]
* October 21 - Howard Elliott succeeds Charles Sanger Mellen as president of Northern Pacific Railway. [Railway Age Gazette (August 1, 1913) pp. 177-8.]

November events

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

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.

Births

April births

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

Deaths

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)

July deaths

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

Unknown date deaths

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

References

* Casper Star-Tribune (June 22 2005), " [http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/06/22/news/casper/a2e0ab59d0ef19c0872570270020fd84.txt BP Amoco Timeline] ". Retrieved June 22, 2005.
* Gulder, Bill, " [http://www.danbury.org/drm/history/DRM-history-1.html A Brief History of the Danbury Railway Museum] ". Retrieved July 12 2005.
* [http://www.ksr100.com/History.asp Kalka-Shimla Railway Northern Railways of India] dead link|date=January 2008|url=http://www.ksr100.com/History.asp Kalka-Shimla Railway
* (December 1 2004), " [http://www.trainsofturkey.com/w/pmwiki.php/History/CIOB Trains of Turkey: Baghdad Railway] ". Retrieved July 22 2005.
* " [http://w4.siemens.de/archiv/en/innovationen/verkehr/schnellbahn.html Siemens experimental high-speed electric train] "