1953 in rail transport
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.
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. [
1]
*
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
TOFC 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's 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.
* Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (
August 16 2005),
Significant dates in Canadian railway history. Retrieved
November 8 2005.
*
John W. Barriger; Rail historian and railfan. Retrieved
February 22 2005.
* MichiganRailroads.com (
2005),
Railroad History Timeline, 1950-1959. Retrieved
June 13 2005* New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority,
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.
