1953 in rail transport

Events

January events

* January 15 - The brakes fail on Pennsylvania Railroad's westbound "Federal Express" passenger train; the train barrels through the end of track barriers and stationmaster's office at Union Station in Washington, DC, but nobody is killed in the accident.

March events

* March - Union Pacific Railroad removes the streamliner trainset M-10003 from revenue service.

April events

* April 12 - Last run of the "Orange Blossom Special" passenger train in United States.

May events

* May 30 - The Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway runs its last passenger trains.

June events

* June 5 - The last steam locomotive runs on the Lackawanna Railroad.
* June 9 - Chesapeake and Ohio Railway 2-6-6-6 “Allegheny” number 1642 suffers a boiler explosion. All three head-end crew members are killed when the cab is blown in one piece 200 feet (60 m) in the air and 300 yards (275 m) off the mainline into the adjacent river. The boiler is blown off the running gear and flips end for end, coming to rest 600 feet (180 m) ahead of the train. The blast is blamed on a faulty feedwater injector and/or cold water pump.
* June 15 - The New York City Transit Authority is created.
* June 16 - The last steam powered through passenger train runs on the Canada Southern.
* June 16 - New York Central Railroad ends steam locomotive operation on the former Michigan Central Railroad with a train pulled by 4-6-4 number 5434. [http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1950s/TimeLine1950sBackUp.htm]
* June 22 - At the Annual Association of American Railroads railroad show the first Fairbanks-Morse Train Master diesel locomotives and Airslide covered hoppers are displayed, but for the first time no new steam locomotives are shown.
* June 26 - The Rutland Railroad becomes freight-only.

July events

* July 2 - Baltimore’s Museum of Transportation opens.
* July 13 - Last day of steam locomotive operations on the Cotton Belt and Lackawanna Railroads.
* July 25 - The New York City Subway begins using tokens for passenger fares.

August events

* August 13 - The Chicago and North Western Railway begins Trailer-On-Flat-Car (TOFC, or "piggyback") service. The first route is an overnight service between Chicago and Green Bay, Wisconsin. At the start, two semi-truck trailers and a single fifty foot flat car are adequate to meet the demand.

November events

* November 9 - Canadian National Railway extends the line from Lynn Lake to Sherridon, Manitoba.
* November 9 - Canadian Pacific Railway introduces Budd Rail Diesel Car service, "Dayliners", for lighter passenger train duties on some branch lines.
* November 16 - New York Central Railroad's electric locomotive operations end at Cleveland Union Terminal.

December events

* December 14 - Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway discontinues extra-fare charges on the "El Capitan" passenger train between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.
* December 19 - An electric passenger train of the New South Wales Railways run into the rear of another electric train, causing the Sydenham Rail Disaster. Five people die and 748 are injured.
* December 24 - An express train in the Czech Republic whose crew fell asleep after several bottles of wine hits a commuter train at a station, killing 106 in the Šakvice train disaster.
* December 24 - 151 people die in the Tangiwai disaster, when the Tangiwai Railway Bridge over the Whangaehu River collapses as the overnight express train between Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand, passes over it; the bridge supports had been weakened by a lahar (a volcanic ash and debris filled flash flood) a few minutes before the train passed.
* December 29 - The last electric locomotive runs through the Detroit River Tunnel. It is replaced by diesel locomotives.

Unknown date events

* The first Trailer-On-Flat-Car (TOFC, or "piggyback") equipment enters service on the Southern Pacific Railroad.
* John W. Barriger III steps down from the presidency of the Monon Railroad.
* Fairbanks-Morse and Canadian Locomotive Company introduce the H-24-66 model Train Master, at the time the most powerful single-engine diesel locomotive available.
* After Stalin's death, construction work ceases on the ill-fated Salekhard-Igarka Railway in Siberian Arctic.

Births

Deaths

May deaths

* May 30 - Sam Fay, General manager of the Great Central Railway, 1902-1922, dies in Hampshire, England (b. 1856). [cite book|author=Dow, George|title=Great Central, Vol. 3: Fay sets the pace 1900-1922|publisher=Locomotive Publishing Co|location=London|year=1965]

References

* Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (August 16 2005), " [http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/candate.htm Significant dates in Canadian railway history] ". Retrieved November 8 2005.
* " [http://www.rosshorwood.com/RailSiteLinksFiles/JohnBarriger.html John W. Barriger; Rail historian and railfan] ". Retrieved February 22 2005.
* MichiganRailroads.com (2005), " [http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1950s/TimeLine1950sBackUp.htm Railroad History Timeline, 1950-1959] ". Retrieved June 13 2005
* New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority, " [http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/facts/ffhist.htm New York City Transit - History and Chronology] ". Retrieved July 22 2005.
* White, John H., Jr. (Spring 1986), America's most noteworthy railroaders, "Railroad History", Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, 154, p. 9-15.