1915 in rail transport
Encyclopedia
January events
- January 1 – The Ilford rail crash in England kills 10.
- January 15 – The final spike is driven on the transcontinental Canadian Northern RailwayCanadian Northern RailwayThe Canadian Northern Railway is a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its demise in 1923, when it was merged into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.-Manitoba beginnings:CNoR had its start in...
at Basque, British ColumbiaBasque, British ColumbiaBasque, British Columbia, is located in the province of British Columbia, Canada, near the village of Ashcroft. It is the post office and whistlestop-crossing on the historic Basque Ranch, one of the earliest ranches in the Interior of British Columbia...
.
March events
- March 7 – San Diego's Union StationUnion Station (San Diego)Union Station in San Diego, California, also known as the Santa Fe Depot, is a train station built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to replace the small Victorian-style structure erected in 1887 for the California Southern Railroad Company. The Spanish Colonial Revival style station is...
officially opens, ushering in a new era of rail transport for the City. - March 15 – The Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway, later known as the Monon Railroad, acquires control of the Chicago and Wabash Valley Railroad.
May events
- May 8 – Schwyzer Strassenbahnen (SStB) opens connecting IbachIbachIbach is a town in the district of Waldshut in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, SchwyzSchwyzThe town of is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.The Federal Charter of 1291 or Bundesbrief, the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the Bundesbriefmuseum.-History of the toponym:...
, and Brunnen Schifflände, SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. - May 22 – In the Quintinshill rail crashQuintinshill rail crashThe Quintinshill rail disaster occurred on 22 May 1915 in Scotland near Gretna Green at Quintinshill, an intermediate signal box with sidings on each side on the Caledonian Railway Main Line . The crash involved five trains and killed 226 people...
, four trains including a troop train collide, the accident and ensuing fire causing 227 fatalities and injuring 246 people at Quintinshill, Gretna GreenGretna GreenGretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland famous for runaway weddings. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, near the mouth of the River Esk and was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green has a railway station serving...
, ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
; the accident is blamed on negligence by the signalmen during a shift change at a busy junction.
August events
- August 1 – Estación RetiroEstación RetiroRetiro Station is a large railway terminus in the Buenos Aires central business district in Argentina, located in the district of Retiro, opposite Plaza San Martín, a large public square....
in Buenos AiresBuenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, opens. - August 14 – A rail crash in Weedon kills 10 people.
- August 28 – The first train operates over the regauged Ravenglass and Eskdale RailwayRavenglass and Eskdale RailwayThe Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a minimum gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District...
using gaugeRail gaugeTrack gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers...
equipment.
September events
- September 14 – The funeral train for William Cornelius Van HorneWilliam Cornelius Van HorneSir William Cornelius Van Horne, KCMG was a pioneering Canadian railway executive.-Life and career:Born in 1843 in rural Illinois, he moved with his family to Joliet, Illinois when he was eight years old...
departs Windsor StationWindsor Station (Montreal)Windsor Station is a former train station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, formerly serving as the city's Canadian Pacific Railway Station.Windsor Station was the Canadian Pacific Railway's headquarters built between 1887 and 1889. The Romanesque Revival building was designed by New York architect...
in MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
at 11:00 AM bound for Joliet, IllinoisJoliet, IllinoisJoliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...
; the train is pulled by CPCanadian Pacific RailwayThe Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
4-6-24-6-24-6-2, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle .These locomotives are also known as Pacifics...
number 2213.
October events
- October 1 – Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RailwayAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RailwayThe Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...
introduces the NavajoNavajo (passenger train)The Navajo was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The economy train entered daily service between Chicago-Los Angeles-San Francisco as train Nos...
passenger train in San FranciscoSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
-Los AngelesLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
-Chicago service as a replacement for the Tourist Flyer.
December events
- December 16 – William Kissam VanderbiltWilliam Kissam VanderbiltWilliam Kissam Vanderbilt was a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. He managed railroads and was a horse breeder.-Biography:...
is found to be in violation of antitrust laws in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
because the New York Central owns a controlling interest in the Nickel Plate Road, both of which Vanderbilt owned. - December 17 – The St Bedes Junction rail crashSt Bedes Junction rail crashSt. Bedes Junction lies between Jarrow and Bede Metro stations on what was the North Eastern Railway line between Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and South Shields. From the junction a mineral line descends on a gradient of 1 in 100 to Tyne Dock Bottom...
in England kills 19 people.
December births
- December 10 – William N. Deramus IIIWilliam N. Deramus IIIWilliam Neal Deramus III was an American railroad executive; he led the Chicago Great Western Railway , the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, and the Kansas City Southern Railway through periods of great change in the railroad industry.Deramus graduated from the University of Michigan in 1936 and...
, president of Chicago Great Western RailwayChicago Great Western RailwayThe Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad...
1949-1957, Missouri-Kansas-Texas RailroadMissouri-Kansas-Texas RailroadThe Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad was incorporated May 23, 1870. In its earliest days the MKT was commonly referred to as "the K-T", which was its stock exchange symbol; this common designation soon evolved into "the Katy"....
1957-1961, Kansas City Southern RailwayKansas City Southern RailwayThe Kansas City Southern Railway , owned by Kansas City Southern Industries, is the smallest and second-oldest Class I railroad company still in operation. KCS was founded in 1887 and is currently operating in a region consisting of ten central U.S. states...
1961-1973, is born (d. 1989).
Unknown date births
- Carl FallbergCarl FallbergCarl Robert Fallberg was a cartoonist and artist who created animated feature films and T.V. cartoons for Disney Studios, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Brothers...
, cartoonist who created Fiddletown & Copperopolis (d. 1996).
May deaths
- May 20 – Charles Francis Adams, Jr.Charles Francis Adams, Jr.Charles Francis Adams II was a member of the prominent Adams family, and son of Charles Francis Adams, Sr. He served as a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War...
, president of the Union Pacific RailroadUnion Pacific RailroadThe Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
1884–1890 (b. 1835).
September deaths
- September 11 – William Cornelius Van HorneWilliam Cornelius Van HorneSir William Cornelius Van Horne, KCMG was a pioneering Canadian railway executive.-Life and career:Born in 1843 in rural Illinois, he moved with his family to Joliet, Illinois when he was eight years old...
, oversaw the major construction of the Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian Pacific RailwayThe Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
, youngest superintendent of Illinois Central RailroadIllinois Central RailroadThe Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...
(b. 1843).