May 2010
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| All operations depend on favorable weather. | 1 Mayfest First train at 11:00 1888: First trials for the first electric freight locomotive. It was build by the Pullman Car Company for the Ansonia, Derby & Birmingham Electric Line. |
2 Mayfest First train at 11:00 1844: Elijah McCoy, who received more than 50 patents for his inventions, is born. It was from his inventions that we get the phrase, the real McCoy. |
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| 3 FPMRR closed. 1881: Patent #241,112 is issued to Leonides Woolley for the first electric locomotive headlight. |
4 First train at 11:00 1989: Canadian Pacific opens longest tunnel in Canada, the 9.1-mile Mt. McDonald Tunnel in Roger's Pass. |
5 First train at 11:00 1865: America's first recorded train robbery occurs when a group of unidentified men loot an overturned Ohio & Mississippi train at North Bend, Ohio, between St. Louis and Cincinnati. |
6 First train at 11:00 1960: Last steam operation on the Norfolk & Western Railroad. |
7 First train at 11:00 1964: Railroads begin eliminating fireman from locomotives. |
8 National Train Day First train at 11:00 1863: Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers founded. |
9 First train at 11:00 1901: The panic of 1901 begins as a result of a fight for between J.J. Hill/J. P. Morgan, Jacob Schiff and Edward H. Harriman for control of the Northern Pacific Railroad. |
| 10 FPMRR closed. 1869: Golden Spike Ceremony completes the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah. |
11 First train at 11:00 1893: New York Central's engine number 999 sets world speed record of 112.5 MPH near Batavia, NY. The record holds for over twelve years. |
12 First train at 11:00 1936: Maiden run of the Santa Fe Super Chief. |
13 First train at 11:00 1829: The Stourbridge Lion arrived in New York from England for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. |
14 First train at 11:00 1851: President Millard Fillmore is present for the opening of the first direct rail route from the Hudson River to Lake Erie on the New York & Erie RR connecting Piermont, NY, with Dunkirk, NY (on Lake Erie). It was built at 6-foot gauge, making it the both the broadest gauge in the US, and the longest mainline in the world. |
15 First train at 11:00 1907: Service over the entire length of the Yosemite Valley Railroad begins. |
16 First train at 11:00 1853: The Toronto, the first steam locomotive manufactured in Canada, makes its first run on the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Union Railway |
| 17 FPMRR closed. 1853: Ten railroad companies agree to form the nation's first important railroad merger, creating the New York Central Railroad System. |
18 First train at 11:00 1896: In Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds Louisiana's Jim Crow Law which required railroads to provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races. This separate, but equal doctrine remained in place for 58 years until reversed by the Court in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka. |
19 First train at 11:00 1974: Amtrak's Super Chief is renamed to the Southwest Limited. |
20 First train at 11:00 1830: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad publishes first railroad timetable. |
21 First train at 11:00 1932: To promote ticket sales, the Missouri Pacific Railroad runs the first Mystery Excursion from St. Louis. Passengers purchased tickets without knowing their destination until they arrived, which turned out to be Arcadia, MO. |
22 First train at 11:00 1868: The Great Train Robbery. Seven members of the Reno gang hold up an Indianapolis bound Jefferson, Madison & Indianapolis train at Marshfield, Indiana. The gang makes off with $98,000 from a safe in the express car. |
23 First train at 11:00 1870: First train to go coast to coast, the Pullman Hotel Express, departs Boston. |
| 24 FPMRR closed. 1830: Passenger and freight service opens on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad between Baltimore and Endicott's Mills, Maryland (13 miles). |
25 First train at 11:00 1865: First Bessemer steel rails manufactured in the U.S. at Chicago Rolling Mills. By the end of the century, steel rails had almost completely replaced iron. |
26 First train at 11:00 1934: Burlington's Pioneer Zephyr, the first streamlined diesel-electric train, makes non-stop run from Denver to Chicago in 13 hours, 5 minutes. It is the first train to run over 1000 miles nonstop. |
27 FPMRR closed to public until 14:00 for FWISD passengers. 1834: Jay Gould, US railroad executive, financier born. |
28 First train at 11:00 1869: Cheyenne Indians destroy a section of the Union Pacific Railroad near Fossil Creek, Kansas. |
29 First train at 11:00 1935: Milwaukee Road begins Hiawatha service between Chicago and St. Paul. On the Chicago to Milwaukee section these trains averaged 100 MPH. |
30 First train at 11:00 1953: Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway discontinues passenger service and converts from electric to diesel power. |
| 31 Memorial Day First train at 11:00 1969: Dallas becomes the largest U.S. city without passenger service with the last run of the Texas & Pacific Texas Eagle. |
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