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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1947.

Events

January events

• January 1 – The Companhia dos Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses is reconstituted and takes over concessions of most private railway companies in Portugal.

B&O "drumhead signs" for observation cars

• January 19 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad inaugurates the Cincinnatian passenger train between Baltimore, Maryland, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

February events

• February 28 – The Illinois Central Railroad withdraws its specialized Green Diamond passenger trainset from Chicago-St. Louis service.

March events

• March 4 – Ms. Friedel Klussman launches a drive to preserve the San Francisco cable car system.

April events

• April 7 – Ellis D. Atwood completes the original Edaville Railroad on his cranberry plantation at South Carver, Massachusetts, United States. This 2 ft  (610 mm) narrow gauge line, using equipment from Maine, is generally regarded as the world’s first tourist railroad.^[1][2]
• April 27 – After a complete overhaul, Illinois Central's Green Diamond trainset re-enters active service, this time between Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana, as the Miss-Lou passenger train.

May events

• May 5 – Sixteen people die in the Camp Mountain train disaster when a crowded picnic train derails on a sharp left-hand curve between Ferny Grove and Camp Mountain stations on the now-closed Dayboro line, approximately 20 km(12.4 miles) northwest of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
• May 18 – Seaboard Air Line Railroad inaugurates the Silver Comet passenger train between New York City and Birmingham, Alabama.
• May 31 – The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad acquires the Chicago and Alton Railroad.

June events

• June 6 – The Pere Marquette Railroad is merged into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
• June 29 – The Milwaukee Road inaugurates the Olympian Hiawatha passenger train between Chicago, Illinois and Tacoma, Washington. Simultaneously, the railroad revives the Columbian, operating on the same route.

August events

• August 6 – The Transport Act 1947 is passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom providing for the nationalisation of all major British railways in 1948.^[3]

Refugees at a railway station in Punjab following the Partition of India

• August 14-15 – The Partition of India leads to transfer of large parts of the North Western, Bengal Assam and Jodhpur Railways to a new Pakistan Railways organisation, and large-scale population transfer between the two countries by rail.^[4]

September events

• September 1 – Dugald, Manitoba, Canada: A Canadian National Railway passenger train fails to take the siding and collides with the No. 4 Transcontinental that is standing on the main line. Thirty-one people are killed.
• September 17 – The American Freedom Train, carrying the original versions of the United States Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, begins a two-year tour of the United States starting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. See also American Freedom Train - 1947-1949 station stops

#1776 was an ALCO PA-1 locomotive built specially for the American Freedom Train

October events

• October 1 – The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) begins operating the local transit (buses and 'L'-Subway rapid transit) systems in Chicago after acquiring the properties of the former Chicago Surface Lines and the Chicago Rapid Transit Company.
• October 18 – Alaska Railroad inaugurates the Aurora passenger train service between Fairbanks and Anchorage.^[5]

Unknown date events

• The first diesel locomotives enter mainline operation on the Southern Pacific Railroad.
• The Southern Pacific Railroad is reincorporated in Delaware.
• The City of Los Angeles train frequency is upgraded to daily.
• The Super Chief train frequency is upgraded to daily.
• Lima Locomotive Works is merged with General Machinery Corporation of Hamilton, OH. The new company is named Lima-Hamilton.
• The components of the former M-10002 streamliner trainset are scrapped.
• William Neal succeeds D'Alton Cory Coleman as president of Canadian Pacific Railway.
• The last United States Fish and Wildlife Service fish car is taken out of service.^[6]
• The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad inaugurates its Old Dominion passenger train between Washington, DC, and Richmond, Virginia.

Births

Deaths

References

• Wayner, Robert J., ed. (1972). Car Names, Numbers and Consists. New York: Wayner Publications.