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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1939.

Events

January events

• January - Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the SW1.

EMD FT demonstrator set #103, the locomotive that sold US railroads on the freight-hauling diesel

February events

• February - Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the NW2.

March events

• March 8 – Edward Engel succeeds Samuel T. Bledsoe as president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway following Bledsoe's death.^[1][2]
• March – Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the EMC E3.

April events

• April 27 - Cecil B. DeMille’s movie Union Pacific, the story of the building of the transcontinental railroad, premieres in Union Pacific's home town of Omaha, Nebraska. During its production the studio used so many trains that a railroad operating permit was required from the Interstate Commerce Commission. After the premiere, a 15-car train of period equipment tours the country promoting the movie.
• April 30 - The first passenger train to be equipped with fluorescent lighting throughout, the General Pershing Zephyr of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, is placed in scheduled service between St. Louis and Kansas City.

May events

• May - Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and Santa Fe passenger trains in Los Angeles, California, are united into a single terminal as Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal is opened.
• May 17 - King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive at Wolfe's Cove, Quebec, to begin a tour of Canada; the tour train is pulled by Canadian Pacific Railway 4-6-4 locomotives 2850 and 2851, earning the class the name Royal Hudson.^[3]
• May 23 - Harvey C. Couch succeeds Charles E. Johnston as president of Kansas City Southern Railway.

June events

• June 1 - Mount McKinley Hotel opens, bringing tourists via the Alaska Railroad to the Denali area.
• June - Union Pacific Railroad retires the M-10001 streamliner trainset from City of Portland service, replacing it with the M-10002 trainset from the City of Los Angeles service.

July events

• July 16 - The world's first diesel-powered rack locomotive enters service on the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway.

August events

• August 11 - C. P. Couch succeeds his brother Harvey C. Couch as president of Kansas City Southern Railway.

September events

• September 1 - British Government takes control of railways as a wartime measure; start of a 4-day evacuation of children by rail from major cities (over 600,000 from London).^[4]

October events

• October - Charles E. Denney steps down from the presidency of the Erie Railroad.

November events

• November 25 - Electro-Motive Corporation's EMD FT 103, “The Diesel That Did It” according to David P. Morgan, begins an 83,764 mile barnstorming tour.
• November - Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the E6.
• November - Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the NW3.

December events

• December 1 - The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad inaugurates the Champion passenger train between New York, New York, and Miami, Florida.
• December 22 - Genthin, Germany: collision when train D180 drives into previous but delayed and overcrowded train D10 from Berlin to Cologne. 278 killed, 453 injured, one of the most serious train accidents in Germany.
• December 29 - The Pioneer Zephyr streamliner trainset crosses the one million mile (1.6 million km) mark in revenue service near Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Unknown date events

• Trans-Iranian Railway completed, joining the capital Tehran to the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea (1394 km (865 miles)).
• Hale Holden steps down as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Southern Pacific Company, the parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad. After Holden's departure, the position is nonexistent until 1964
• Union Pacific Railroad's M-10003-6 streamliner power cars are upgraded from two-car, 2,400 hp sets to three three-car, 3,600 hp sets.
• The General Pershing Zephyr debuts on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad between Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri.
• New Zealand Railways introduces J class 4-8-2 steam locomotives built by North British Locomotive Works in Glasgow, Scotland.
• American Car and Foundry's Berwick, Pennsylvania, plant switches to construction of military tanks.

Births

August births

• August 2 - John W. Snow, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CSX Transportation, then United States Secretary of the Treasury.

Unknown date births

• Philip Anschutz, Colorado financier who orchestrated the purchase of the Southern Pacific Railroad by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.
• Paul Tellier, president of Canadian National Railway 1992-2002, is born.

Deaths

March deaths

• March 8 – Samuel T. Bledsoe, president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1933–1939 (b. 1868).^[1]

Unknown date deaths

• Carl R. Gray, President of Union Pacific Railroad 1920–1937 (b. 1867)

References

• Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (December 29, 1939), Pioneer Zephyr Millionth Mile commemorative postal cover.
• Erie Railroad presidents. Retrieved March 15, 2005.
• Kansas City Southern Historical Society, The Kansas City Southern Lines. Retrieved August 15, 2005.
• Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History: July. Retrieved July 12, 2005.
• Wayner, Robert J., ed. (1972). Car Names, Numbers and Consists. New York: Wayner Publications.