Portal:Trains/Anniversaries/October 8

1789 – John Ruggles (pictured), who was awarded U.S. patent 1 in 1836 for improved driving wheels, is born (d. 1874).
1895 – William Mahone, American civil engineer and Confederate Army Major General who built the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, a predecessor of the Norfolk and Western, dies (b. 1826).
1952 – Five minutes after beginning its journey at Perth, Scotland, the 8:15 AM express passenger train to Euston station, London, rear-ends the 7:31 train from Tring which was stopped at the Harrow and Wealdstone station; a short while later, the 8:00 express from Euston to Liverpool and Manchester runs into the wreckage on the parallel track. 112 passengers died in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash, and 340 more were injured.
2005 – Amtrak restores the City of New Orleans passenger service to New Orleans, Louisiana, following damages caused by hurricane Katrina.^[1]

References

^ "City of New Orleans rolls into Big Easy". Associated Press, reprinted by MSNBC. October 8, 2005. Retrieved October 9, 2006.