1909 in rail transport

Events

January events

* January 26 - The Jamestown, Franklin and Clearfield Railroad, a predecessor of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, is formed from the merger of four smaller railroads in Pennsylvania. [New York Central Railroad (1913), " [http://www.s363.com/dkny/lsms.html New York Central Railroad System: Annual Report 1913 - History of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern] ". Retrieved January 25 2006.]
* January 29 - The final spike is driven in the construction of the Virginian Railway at Glen Lyn, Virginia.

March events

* March 7 - The Winona Interurban Electric Railway (Indiana) is forced by its major creditor to begin operations on Sundays, a move resisted by its Sabbatarian founders, including H.J. Heinz and J. M. Studebaker. [cite book|author=Hilton, G. W.|coauthors=Due, J. F.|title=The Electric Interurban Railways in America|date=1960|publisher=Stanford University Press]

April events

* April 1 – Great Central Railway places turbine steamships on its Grimsby-Rotterdam service.
* April 4 – Passenger service begins on the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railroad (predecessor of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad) between Hammond, Indiana, and Pullman, Illinois.cite web| url=http://www.post-trib.com/news/1026442,SSHISTORY629.article| title=South Shore Railroad history| date=2008-06-29| work=Chicago Post-Tribune| accessdate=2008-06-30| ]
* April 12 – Gary, Indiana, United States: a westbound Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railroad train runs past a meet point and causes a head-on collision with an eastbound train, killing twelve.

May events

* May 17 - Firemen on the Georgia Railroad strike to protest the hiring of African-Americans.

June events

* June - George Whale retires as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Western Railway; he is succeeded by Charles Bowen-Cooke.
* June 19 - Shadyside, Indiana, United States: an eastbound Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad train runs past a meet point and causes a head-on collision with a westbound train.

August events

* August 30 - Great Western Railway begins using its Fishguard terminus in Wales for boat trains in connection with the Cunard steamships on Atlantic routes as a first port of call.
* August - Canadian Pacific Railway opens the Spiral Tunnels to traffic on the line through Kicking Horse Pass.

eptember events

* September - Robert S. Lovett succeeds E. H. Harriman as president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Lovett also assumes the position of Chairman of the Executive Committee for the railroad.

October events

* October 9 - The Alaska Northern Railroad Company (a predecessor of the Alaska Railroad) purchases the assets of the bankrupt Alaska Central Railway and subsequently extends the line northward another 34 km (21 miles).

November events

* November 1 - A Golden Spike ceremony is held on the Western Pacific Railroad. As no company officials were present, the local track foreman drove the last spike, the track crew shouted “Hooray!” and two women walking by with their children kissed each other.
* November 3 - The Lethbridge Viaduct, one of the largest railway structures in Canada on the Canadian Pacific Railway near Lethbridge, Alberta, opens.
* November 10 - Louis Brennan successfully demonstrates his gyroscopically-balanced monorail system, which he designed for military use and patented in 1903, at Gillingham, England. [cite web|author=The Monorail Society|url=http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/History.html|title=Monorails in History|accessdate=2005-11-08]

December events

* 1 December - The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway publicly inaugurates England's first suburban surface railway electrification system on its South London line, known as the "Elevated Electric" (overhead wire 6.7 kV a.c. at 25 Hz). [cite book|author=Turner, John Howard|title=The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, III: Completion and Maturity|year=1979|publisher=Batsford|location=London|isbn=0-7134-1389-1]
* 20 December - Henry Fowler is appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway, succeeding Richard Deeley.

Unknown date events

* The Nickel Plate Road begins a massive grade separation project in Cleveland, Ohio, to eliminate street grade crossings on the railroad's mainline in the city.
* Albert Hunt invents the wigwag grade crossing protection signal for the Pacific Electric in Los Angeles, California.
* Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester, England build the first Garratt articulated steam locomotives to the design of Herbert William Garratt, the K Class for the Tasmanian Government Railways’ North East Dundas Tramway. [cite web|title=K1: the world’s first Garratt|url=http://whr.bangor.ac.uk/k1.htm|accessdate=2007-07-15]
* Opening of the Jingzhang railway connecting Beijing with Zhangjiakou, first section of the Jingbao railway in northwestern China and the first railway designed and built by Chinese. [cite web| url=http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%AC%E5%8C%85%E9%93%81%E8%B7%AF| title=京包铁路| language=Chinese| ]

Births

Deaths

March deaths

* March 13 - William Jackson Palmer, builder of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (b. 1836).

May deaths

* May 19 - Henry H. Rogers, American financier who helped finance and build the Virginian Railway (b. 1840).

July deaths

* July 23 - Ernest F. Cambier, Belgian colonial pioneer who established the first Congo railway (b. 1844). [cite web|work=Brainymedia.com|date=2005|url=http://www.brainyhistory.com/daysdeath/death_july_23.html|title=July 23 Deaths in History|accessdate=2005-07-19]

September deaths

* September 9 - E. H. Harriman, executive in charge of both the Union Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad (b. 1848).

References