1901 in rail transport

Events

January events

* January 3 - The St. Louis Southwestern Railway purchases the Stuttgart and Arkansas River Railroad in Arkansas. [cite web|author=Beck, Wayne. "Cotton Belt News"|date=1957|url=http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/8199/c_belt.html|title=The History of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway|accessdate=2005-08-06]

February events

* February - The Canadian Locomotive Company is formed from the assets of the bankrupt Canadian Locomotive and Engine Company.
* February 2 - The body of Queen Victoria is conveyed by the London & South Western, London, Brighton & South Coast and Great Western Railways from Gosport via London to Windsor, England for her funeral. [cite book|author=Keat, Peter J.|title= Goodbye to Victoria, the Last Queen Empress – the story of Queen Victoria's funeral train|date=2001|publisher=Oakwood Press|location=Usk|isbn=0-85361-569-1]

April events

* April 1 - The West Highland Railway, operated by the North British Railway, is opened throughout to Mallaig on the west coast of Scotland. [cite book|author=Thomas, John|title=The West Highland Railway|date=1965|publisher=David & Charles|location=Dawlish]

May events

* May - Frederick D. Underwood succeeds Eben B. Thomas as president of the Erie Railroad. [cite web|url=http://erierr.railfan.net/eriepres.html|title=Erie Railroad presidents|accessdate=2005-03-15]

April events

* April 1 - Atlantic Coast Line Railroad acquires the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad in North Carolina.
* April 11 - The Ōu South Line in Japan opens between Yonezawa and Yamagata.

June events

* June 14 - The Atlantic City Railroad (predecessor of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines) is incorporated from the merger of the Camden County Railroad, Ocean City Railroad and Seacoast Railroad.
* June 24 - The American Locomotive Company (ALCO) is formed through the merger of eight smaller American steam locomotive manufacturers.

July events

* July 25 - The Hull Electric Railway officially begins regular service over the Interprovincial Bridge between Ottawa and Aylmer. [cite web|date=December 3 2004|url=http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/street.htm|title=Significant dates in Ottawa/Hull street and light railway history|accessdate=2005-07-22]

August events

* August 5 - Queenscliff Junction, in Victoria, Australia, is closed. [cite web|url=http://www.bpr.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=64|title=History of the Geelong–Queenscliff Railway|accessdate=2005-08-04]

eptember events

* September 17 - Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF), having purchased the Santa Fe and Grand Canyon Railway and renamed it to the Grand Canyon Railway, begins to operate a passenger train service over its new subsidiary railroad between Williams, Arizona, and the south rim of the Grand Canyon as a destination for ATSF's customers. [cite journal|author=Bianchi, Curt|date=May 1995|title=By steam to the Grand Canyon|journal=Trains Magazine|pages=p. 38–45]

October events

* October 13 - The London and South Western Railway in England completes experimental installation at Grateley on its West of England main line of automatic semaphore signals controlled by track circuits and pneumatics, the first such scheme in the United Kingdom. [cite book|author=Pryer, G. A.|title=A pictorial record of Southern Signals|year=1977|publisher=Oxford Publishing Co|location=Oxford|isbn=0-902888-81-1] [cite book|author=Kichenside, Geoffrey|coauthors=Williams, Alan|title=Two centuries of Railway Signalling|year=1998|publisher=Oxford Publishing Co|location=Sparkford|isbn=0-86093-541-8] [cite news|last=Left|first=Sarah|title=Key dates in Britain's railway history|work=The Guardian Unlimited|date=15 January 2002|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/transport/Story/0,2763,633951,00.html]

November events

* November 7 - Memphis, Helena and Louisiana Railroad, a predecessor of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad, is organized in Arkansas. [cite web|author=Missouri Pacific Historical Society|date=2005|url=http://mopac.org/history_stlims.asp|title=St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern (SLIMS)|accessdate=2005-11-07]

December events

* December 2 – The Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway is incorporated. [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| ]
* December 3 – The convert|3.5|km|sing=on first part of the Trondheim Tramway in Trondheim, Norway is opened. [cite book |last=Aspenberg|first=Nils Carl|title=På meterspor i Nidaros|year=1995|publisher=Baneforlaget|location=Oslo|pages=6]
* December 12 – Pennsylvania Railroad president Alexander Cassatt announces the railroad's plan to enter New York City — to tunnel under the Hudson River and to build a grand station on the West Side of Manhattan, a station that would become Pennsylvania Station.
* December 21 – "Last spike" ceremony for the Uganda Railway (metre gauge), completed from Mombasa to Port Florence (Kisumu) on the shore of Lake Victoria. [cite book|author=Miller, Charles|title=The Lunatic Express|date=1971|publisher=Macdonald|location=New York]

Unknown date events

* E. H. Harriman succeeds Charles Hayes as president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
* Jacob S. Rogers, still the primary shareholder, closes Rogers Locomotive Company, but then reopens the company as Rogers Locomotive Works after the ALCO merger.
* American Car and Foundry (ACF) acquires Jackson and Sharp Company and Common Sense Bolster Company.
* George Frederick Baer becomes president of Reading Company.
* The Lake Shore Electric Railway is formed through the merger of the Lorain and Cleveland Railway, Sandusky and Interurban Railway and Toledo, Fremont and Norwalk Railway.

Births

December births

* December 11 - Donald Gordon, president of Canadian National Railway 1950-1966, is born (d. 1969).

Deaths

January deaths

* January 6 - Philip Armour, founder of Armour and Company meatpackers and subsidiary Armour Refrigerator Line refrigerator car operators (b. 1832).

February deaths

* February 9 - Fred Harvey, restaurateur who founded the Harvey House chain of restaurants and hotels to serve passengers of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (b. 1835).

Unknown date deaths

* Jacob S. Rogers, son of Thomas Rogers and second president of Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works.

References