Harman Patil (Editor)

1938 in rail transport

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1938 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1938.

Contents

January

  • January 1 – Creation of the following European railway networks under government control:
  • SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français), bringing the principal railway companies of France together.
  • NS (Nederlandsche Spoorwegen), merging the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HSM) and the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen (SS) in the Netherlands.

    • February

  • February 22 – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway introduces the El Capitan passenger train between Chicago and Los Angeles.
  • February 26 – A second all-lightweight trainset enters service on the Super Chief.

    • March

  • March 18 – Bundesbahn Österreich (BBÖ, Federal Railway of Austria) integrated into Deutsche Reichsbahn.
  • March 27 – Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway inaugurates the San Diegan passenger train between Los Angeles and San Diego.

    • May

  • May 15
  • The Lake Shore Electric Railway in Ohio ceases operations.
  • Inauguration of a major Nederlandse Spoorwegen electrification scheme in the central Netherlands, centred on Utrecht.

    • June

  • June 15 – New York Central Railroad introduces an all-streamlined consist on the 20th Century Limited and also introduces the New England States passenger train between Chicago and Boston.
  • June 16 – The Pike's Peak Cog Railway in Colorado operates gasoline-powered railcar number 7, the first rack railcar in the world, for the first time.
  • June 19 – Custer Creek train wreck kills at least 47 near Saugus, Montana. A bridge, weakened by a flash flood, collapses under the Milwaukee Road's Olympian plunging the locomotive and seven lead cars into the rain-swollen creek. It remains the worse rail disaster in Montana history.
  • June 30 – London Underground 1938 Stock enters public service, on Northern line.

    • July

  • July 3 – The London and North Eastern Railway 4-6-2 Mallard reaches a speed of 126 mph (203 km/h), the highest certified speed for a steam locomotive.
  • July 31 – The Pennsylvania Railroad, in its public timetable issued today, boasts that “19% of all passengers are carried on the Pennsylvania Railroad.”

    • October

  • October – Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the EMC E4.

    • November

  • November 1 – Passenger service ends on the Maine narrow gauge Monson Railroad.

    • December

  • December 13 – The Reading Railroad's Crusader passenger train is introduced.
  • December 15
  • The first diesel locomotives in the southeast United States, EMC E4s, appear on the Orange Blossom Special.
  • The second section of the Itō Line, connecting Ajiro to Itō in Japan, opens.
  • December 23 – Jean Renoir's film of La Bête Humaine released in France.

    • Unknown date

  • Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited is completely re-equipped based on an industrial design by Raymond Loewy.
  • Overhead wire on the Pennsylvania Railroad's mainline from New York City reaches Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
  • Overhead wire on the newly formed SNCF system between Tours and Bordeaux in France completes electrification from Paris to the Spanish frontier.
  • The first passenger car equipped with fluorescent lights is operated on the New York Central Railroad.

    • January births

  • January 11 – Alastair Morton, chief executive of Eurotunnel 1987-1996, chairman of Strategic Rail Authority 1999-2001, is born (d. 2004).

    • Unknown date births

  • John H. Kuehl, editor of Private Varnish magazine, passenger car historian and photographer (died 2005).

    • February deaths

  • February 2 - Frederick William Vanderbilt, director of the New York Central system (born 1856).
  • February 9 - Arturo Caprotti, Italian inventor of Caprotti valve gear for steam locomotives (born 1881).

    • October deaths

  • October 16 - Sir Henry Fowler, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway 1909–1923 and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1925–1931 (born 1870).

    • December deaths

  • December 1 - David Blyth Hanna, first president of Canadian National Railway (born 1858).

    • References

    1938 in rail transport Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA