1944 in rail transport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Years in rail transport |
|
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1944.
Contents |
[edit] Events
[edit] January events
- January 3: Torre del Bierzo rail disaster in Leon Province, Spain. More than 500 are killed.
[edit] March events
- March 3: Balvano train disaster, Balvano, Italy: A double-headed mixed train stalls in a tunnel. 521 are killed by carbon monoxide poisoning; five survive. 193 of the dead carrying no identification, most of them Black Marketeers, are buried in a mass grave at the site.
- March 19: The last steam locomotive purchased new by Southern Pacific Railroad, cab forward class AC-12 4-8-8-2 number 4294, enters service.[1]
[edit] April events
- April 1: Government of India takes over the Madras & Southern Mahratta and South Indian Railways.[2]
[edit] June events
- June 6 (D-Day): Normandy landings destroy the narrow gauge Chemins de Fer du Calvados.[3]
[edit] July events
- July: Normandy landings: Four British War Department diesel shunters are shipped by landing craft tank from England.[4]
- July 6: Troop train crash near Jellico, Tennessee, United States: Passenger train derails due to excessive speed on defective track. 35 killed, 99 injured; all U.S. Army soldiers en route to deployment.
[edit] September events
- September 8: Nickel Plate 765 is built by the Lima Locomotive Works.
[edit] October events
- October 1: Government of India takes over the Bengal Nagpur Railway.[2]
- October 16: The Baltimore & Ohio's last new steam locomotive #5594, Class T-3C rolls out of Mount Clare erecting shop in Baltimore.
[edit] November events
- November 7: Election day accident in Puerto Rico: a passenger train derails at Aguadilla due to excessive speed on a downhill grade; 16 are killed, 50 injured.
[edit] December events
- December: The Union Pacific Railroad takes delivery from Alco of Class FEF-3 4-8-4 #844, the road’s last new steam locomotive.[5]
[edit] Unknown date events
- United States builders begin deliveries of Russian locomotive class Ye 2-10-0s to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease. More than two thousand will be built from now until 1947 to this design, which originated during World War II.
- Charles Fairburn succeeds William Stanier as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway upon Stanier's retirement.
- Fred Gurley succeeds Edward Engel as president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
[edit] Births
[edit] June births
- June 11: Michael R. Haverty, president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1989–1995, president of the Kansas City Southern Railway 1995–present.[6]
[edit] Unknown date births
- E. Hunter Harrison, president of Illinois Central Railroad 1993–1998, Railroader of the Year 2002, president of Canadian National Railway 2003–present.
[edit] Deaths
[edit] January deaths
- January 8: William Kissam Vanderbilt II, heir to Cornelius Vanderbilt and president of the New York Central system (born 1878).
[edit] March deaths
- March 7: Richard Edward Lloyd Maunsell, Chief mechanical engineer of the Southern Railway (UK) 1923–1937 (born 1868).[7][8]
- March 21 - Hugo Lentz, Austrian inventor of a valve gear for steam engines (born 1859).[8]
[edit] June deaths
- June 19: Richard Deeley, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway 1909–1923 (born 1855).
[edit] References
- ^ Diebert, Timothy S.; Strapac, Joseph A. (1987). Southern Pacific Company Steam Locomotive Compendium. Shade Tree Books. ISBN 0-930742-12-5.
- ^ a b Saxena, R. P. (2008). "Indian Railway History Time Line". http://irse.bravehost.com/IRHTML.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ Organ, John (2002). Northern France Narrow Gauge. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-901706-75-3.
- ^ Tourret, R. (1976). War Department Locomotives. Allied Military Locomotives of the Second World War, Book I. Abingdon: Tourret Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 0-905878-00-0.
- ^ "Steam Locomotive No. 844". Union Pacific. http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/excurs/up844.shtml. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
- ^ Vantuono, William C. (January 2001). "Mike Haverty, Railroader of the Year". Archived from the original on 2004-12-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20041212212649/http://www.railwayage.com/jan01/railroader_2000.html. Retrieved 2005-03-25.
- ^ "Railway engineers - Richard Edward Lloyd Maunsell". February 26, 1999. Archived from the original on 2004-12-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20041216075843/http://www.hmilburn.easynet.co.uk/enthuse/engineers/southern/maunsell.htm. Retrieved 2005-02-10.
- ^ a b Marshall, John (2003). Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers (2nd ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901461-22-9.
