This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1938.

[edit] Events

[edit] January events

• January 1 - Creation of SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français), bringing the principal railway companies of France together under government control.

[edit] February events

• February - A second all-lightweight trainset enters service on the Super Chief.

[edit] March events

• March 27 - Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway inaugurates San Diegan passenger train service between Los Angeles and San Diego.^[1]

[edit] May Events

• May 15 - The Lake Shore Electric Railway in Ohio ceases operations.

One of the NYC Hudsons fitted with the streamlined casing designed by Henry Dreyfuss

[edit] June events

• June 15 - New York Central Railroad introduces an all-streamlined consist on the 20th Century Limited.
• 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.^[2]

[edit] July events

• 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.

LNER No. 4468 Mallard as running in 1938

• July 31 - The Pennsylvania Railroad, in its public timetable issued today, boasts that “19% of all passengers are carried on the Pennsylvania Railroad.”

[edit] October events

• October - Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the EMC E4.

[edit] December events

• 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.

[edit] Unknown date events

• 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.
• The first passenger car equipped with fluorescent lights was operated on the New York Central Railroad.

[edit] Births

[edit] Unknown date births

• John H. Kuehl, editor of Private Varnish magazine, passenger car historian and photographer (d. 2005).^[3]

[edit] Deaths

[edit] February deaths

• February 2 - Frederick William Vanderbilt, director of the New York Central system (b. 1856).

[edit] 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 (b. 1870).

[edit] December deaths

• December 1 - David Blyth Hanna, first president of Canadian National Railway (b. 1858).

[edit] References