April 24 in rail transport

1837 – The Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn, the first major railway line to be built between important cities in Germany, begins passenger operations.
1900 – Illinois Central engineer Casey Jones crashes his train just north of Vaughan, Mississippi, and earns a spot in American folklore.

1937 – The New York City Subway's IND Queens Boulevard Line extension from the Union Turnpike-Kew Gardens station north to the 169th Street station opens.
1949 – Rail service on the San Diego Electric Railway comes to an end at 5:45 AM as Car number 446 pulls into the Adams Avenue car barn, making San Diego the first major Southwestern United States city to eliminate streetcars and convert to an all-bus transit system.
1955 – Canadian National Railway inaugurates the Super Continental passenger train between Montreal, Quebec / Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia. Also, Canadian Pacific Railway inaugurates The Canadian passenger train between Montreal, Quebec / Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Births

1879 – Oris Paxton Van Sweringen, American financier who, with his brother Mantis, controlled the Nickel Plate Road and other eastern US railroads (d. 1936).

1900 – Andrew Smith Hallidie, who developed the first practical cable car system for San Francisco, California (b. 1836).
1919 – Zhan Tianyou, Chief Engineer responsible for construction of the Imperial Peking-Kalgan Railway, the first railway constructed in China without foreign assistance (b. 1861).

fr:24 avril dans les chemins de fer