1938 in rail transport explained

Events

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.^[1]
• January 22  - The Pacific Electric Whittier Line is truncated to Walker.

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 6  - The Pacific Electric Walker Line is discontinued.^[2]
• 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.^[3]

May

• May 8 — President Manuel L. Quezon inaugurates regular services on the Main Line South of the Manila Railroad in Del Gallego, Camarines Sur. Trial runs already began five months prior.^[4]
• 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 1  - Pacific Electric's Owensmouth Line and San Fernando Line are truncated to Sherman Way.^[5]
• 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.^[6]
• 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.^[7]

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.^[8]

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.

Births

January births

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

Unknown date births

• John H. Kuehl, editor of Private Varnish magazine, passenger car historian and photographer (died 2005).^[9]

Deaths

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).^[10]

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).

Notes and References

1. Web site: Nederlandse Spoorwegen. 2011-06-12. 2011-12-27.
2. Web site: Whittier Line . Electric Rail Heritage Association . 17 September 2020.
3. Web site: Rivanna Chapter National Railway Historical Society. This Month in Railroad History: March. 27 March 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060417075629/http://avenue.org/nrhs/histmar.htm. 17 April 2006 . live.
4. Report of Survey of the Manila Railroad Company and the Preliminary Survey of Railroads for Mindanao. De Leuw, Cather & Company. Chicago. 1–12. Chapter I: Present Conditions. 1951.
5. Web site: San Fernando Valley Line . Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California . 8 September 2020.
6. Web site: Manitou & Pike's Peak Cog Railway. 2005. Cog Railway History. 2005-06-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20050701005316/http://www.cograilway.com/history.htm. 1 July 2005 . live.
7. Book: Croome, Desmond F.. Jackson, Alan A.. Rails through the Clay: a history of London's Tube railways. 2nd. Harrow Weald. Capital Transport. 1993. 1-85414-151-1. 258–62.
8. Book: Two Feet to the Quarries . Jones, Robert C. . Evergreen Press . 1998 . 0-9667264-0-5 . 93.
9. May 2005. Obituaries. Trains Magazine. 21.
10. Book: John Marshall (railway historian)

    . Marshall, John. Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers. 2nd. Oxford. Railway and Canal Historical Society. 2003. 0-901461-22-9. John Marshall (railway historian).