View source for 1953 in rail transport

{{Short description|none}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2020}}
{{Year in rail transport|prev=1952|curr=1953|next=1954|decade=1950}}

==Events==

===January events===
* January 15 - The brakes fail on [[Pennsylvania Railroad]]'s southbound ''[[Federal Express (passenger train)|Federal Express]]'' [[passenger train]]; the train barrels through the end of track barriers and stationmaster's office at [[Union Station (Washington, D.C.)]], but nobody is killed in the accident.

===March events===
* March - [[Union Pacific Railroad]] removes the [[streamliner]] trainset [[M-10003-6|M-10003]] from revenue service.
* March 5 - After [[Joseph Stalin]]'s death this day, construction work ceases on the ill-fated [[Salekhard-Igarka Railway]] in [[Siberia]]n Arctic.
* March 27 - [[1953 New York Central Railroad Accident|Three train accident on the New York Central]] near Conneaut, Ohio, kills 21 and injures 49.
* March 31 - The [[Staten Island Railway]] closes its [[North Shore Branch|North Shore]] and [[South Beach Branch]]es.

===April events===
* April - [[Fairbanks-Morse]] and [[Canadian Locomotive Company]] introduce the [[FM H-24-66|H-24-66]] model Train Master [[diesel locomotive]], at the time the most powerful single-engine diesel locomotive available.
* April 12 - Last run of the ''[[Orange Blossom Special (passenger train)|Orange Blossom Special]]'' [[passenger train]] in [[United States]].

===May events===
* May 30 - The [[Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway]] runs its last [[passenger train]]s.

=== June events ===
* June 5 - The last [[steam locomotive]] runs on the [[Lackawanna Railroad]].
* June 9 - [[Chesapeake and Ohio Railway]] [[2-6-6-6]] “Allegheny” number 1642 suffers a [[boiler]] explosion. All three head-end crew members are killed when the cab is blown in one piece {{convert|200|ft|m}} in the air and {{convert|300|yd|m}} off the mainline into the adjacent river. The boiler is blown off the running gear and flips end for end, coming to rest {{convert|600|ft|m}} ahead of the train. The blast is blamed on a faulty feedwater injector and/or cold water pump.
* June 15 - The [[New York City Transit Authority]] is created.
* June 16 - The last steam powered through [[passenger train]] runs on the [[Canada Southern Railway|Canada Southern]].
* June 16 - [[New York Central Railroad]] ends [[steam locomotive]] operation on the former [[Michigan Central Railroad]] with a train pulled by [[4-6-4]] number 5434.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1950s/TimeLine1950sBackUp.htm|title=RRHX - Railroad History Time Line - 1950's|date=May 22, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050522082041/http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1950s/TimeLine1950sBackUp.htm |archive-date=2005-05-22 }}</ref>
* June 17 &ndash; The [[Southern Railway (US)]] runs its last [[steam locomotive]] and the remaining steam locomotives on the line go into standby service.
* June 22 - At the Annual [[Association of American Railroads]] railroad show the first [[Fairbanks-Morse]] [[FM H-24-66|Train Master]] [[diesel locomotive]]s and Airslide [[covered hopper]]s are displayed, but for the first time no new [[steam locomotives]] are shown.
* June 26 - The [[Rutland Railroad]] becomes freight-only.

=== July events ===
* July 2 - [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]]’s Museum of Transportation opens.
* July 13 - Last day of [[steam locomotive]] operations on the [[Cotton Belt Railroad|Cotton Belt]] and [[Lackawanna Railroad|Lackawanna]] Railroads.
* July 25 - The [[New York City Subway]] begins using tokens for passenger fares.

===August events===
* August 8 - The northbound [[Royal Scot (train)|''Royal Scot'' train]] derails near [[Abington railway station|Abington]] in [[Scotland]] descending from [[Beattock Summit]] due to buckling of track caused by high temperature; 37 are injured.<ref>{{cite web|title=Accident at Abington on 8th August 1953|work=Railways Archive|url=https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventsummary.php?eventID=238|accessdate=2014-07-22}}</ref>
* August 13 - The [[Chicago and North Western Railway]] begins Trailer-On-Flat-Car (TOFC, or "[[Piggyback (transportation)|piggyback]]") service. The first route is an overnight service between [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]] and [[Green Bay, Wisconsin]]. At the start, two [[semi-truck]] trailers and a single fifty&nbsp;foot [[flat car]] are adequate to meet the demand.
* August 15 - The [[Irk Valley Junction rail crash]] in Manchester, England kills 10 people.

===September events===
* September 20 - The [[Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad]] ceases to operate into Chicago.

===October events===
* October - The [[North British Locomotive Company]] of [[Glasgow]], [[Scotland]], begins delivery of class 25 [[4-8-4#South Africa|4-8-4]] locomotives to [[South African Railways]] ({{RailGauge|3ft6in}} [[Narrow gauge|gauge]]), the largest rigid-frame [[steam locomotives]] built in the [[United Kingdom|UK]] (with condensing tenders, 234 [[long ton|ton]]s 7 [[hundredweight|cwt]] and 107 ft 6 in. over buffers).<ref>{{cite book|first=D. F.|last=Holland|title=Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, vol. 2|location=Newton Abbot|publisher=David & Charles|year=1972|isbn=0-7153-5427-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Murdoch|last=Nicolson|author2=O’Neill, Mark|title=Glasgow: locomotive builder to the World|location=Edinburgh|publisher=Polygon|year=1987|isbn=0-948275-46-4}}</ref>
* October 26
**Electric operation of the [[Waldenburgerbahn]] in [[Switzerland]] begins using 1500&nbsp;V DC and completely new rolling stock.
**Passenger service is discontinued on the [[Pacific Electric]] [[Santa Monica Air Line]].<ref name=ERHA>{{cite web|url=https://www.erha.org/pewal.htm|title=Pacific Electric Santa Monica Air Line|work=erha.org|accessdate=September 7, 2020}}</ref>

=== November events ===
* November 9
** [[Canadian National Railway]] extends the line from [[Lynn Lake, Manitoba|Lynn Lake]] to [[Sherridon, Manitoba]].
** [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] introduces [[Budd Rail Diesel Car]] service, "Dayliners", for lighter [[passenger train]] duties on some [[branch line]]s.
* November 15 - [[SNCF]] introduces [[25 kV AC railway electrification]] on the line between [[Aix-les-Bains]] and [[La Roche-sur-Foron]] in south-eastern France as part of its trials of different [[Railway electrification|railway electrification system]]s.
* November 16 - [[New York Central Railroad]]'s [[electric locomotive]] operations end at [[Cleveland Union Terminal]].

===December events===
* December 12 - [[Krauss-Maffei]] deliver first prototype [[DB Class V 200|Class V 200]] [[diesel-hydraulic]] express [[locomotive]] to [[Deutsche Bundesbahn]], [[Germany]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Neuhauss, Michael|author2=Krohberger, H-J|title=Die Baureihe V 200.0 / V 200.1|url=http://epoche-3.de/v200.html|work=Epoche 3|accessdate=2010-01-13|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20100205103528/http://epoche-3.de/v200.html|archivedate=2010-02-05|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* December 14 - [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] discontinues extra-fare charges on the ''[[El Capitan (passenger train)|El Capitan]]'' [[passenger train]] between [[Chicago, Illinois]], and [[Los Angeles, California]].
* December 19 - An electric [[passenger train]] of the [[Department of Railways New South Wales|New South Wales Railways]] runs into the rear of another electric train, causing the [[Sydenham Rail Disaster]]. Five people die and 748 are injured.
* December 24 - The Prague-Bratislava express train in the [[Czech Republic]] whose crew have fallen asleep after several bottles of wine hits a commuter train at a station, killing 106 in the [[Šakvice train disaster]].
* December 24 - 151 people die in the [[Tangiwai disaster]] in New Zealand when the Tangiwai Railway Bridge over the [[Whangaehu River]] collapses as the overnight express train between [[Wellington]] and [[Auckland]] passes over it; the bridge supports have been weakened by a [[lahar]] (a volcanic ash and debris filled flash flood) a few minutes earlier.
* December 29 - The last [[electric locomotive]] runs through the [[Detroit River Tunnel]]. It is replaced by [[diesel locomotive]]s.
* December - [[Norfolk and Western Railway]] turns out [[N&W class S1|class S1a]] [[0-8-0]] [[switcher]] #244 from its [[Roanoke Shops]], the last conventional [[steam locomotive]] built for a [[United States]] [[Class I railroad]].

===Unknown date events===
* The first Trailer-On-Flat-Car (TOFC, or "[[piggyback (transportation)|piggyback]]") equipment enters service on the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] in the United States.
* [[Baghdad Central Station]] is opened by [[Iraqi State Railways]].
* [[John W. Barriger III]] steps down from the presidency of the [[Monon Railroad]] in the United States.

==Births==
{{main|Deaths in 1953}}
{{Further|Category:1953 births}}

==Deaths==
===February deaths===
* February 14 – [[Richard Paul Wagner]], locomotive designer for [[Deutsche Reichsbahn]], 1922–1942, dies in Bavaria (born 1882).

===May deaths===
* May 30 – [[Sam Fay]], [[General manager]] of the [[Great Central Railway]], 1902–1922, dies in [[Hampshire]], [[England]] (born 1856).<ref>{{cite book|author=Dow, George|title=Great Central, Vol. 3: Fay sets the pace 1900-1922|publisher=Locomotive Publishing Co|location=London|year=1965}}</ref>

==References==
* Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (August 16, 2005), ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20061023182151/http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/candate.htm Significant dates in Canadian railway history]''. Retrieved November 8, 2005.
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20050301023222/http://www.rosshorwood.com/RailSiteLinksFiles/JohnBarriger.html John W. Barriger; Rail historian and railfan]''. Retrieved February 22, 2005.
* MichiganRailroads.com (2005), ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20050522082041/http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1950s/TimeLine1950sBackUp.htm Railroad History Timeline, 1950-1959]''. Retrieved June 13, 2005
* {{cite web|author=New York City Transit|year=2015|url=http://web.mta.info/nyct/facts/ffhist.htm|title=New York City Transit – History and Chronology|accessdate=2016-07-14 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106080642/http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/facts/ffhist.htm |archivedate=6 January 2010}}
* White, John H., Jr. (Spring 1986), America's most noteworthy railroaders, ''Railroad History'', Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, '''154''', p.&nbsp;9-15.
<references />

==Accidents==
{{1953 railway accidents|state=uncollapsed}}