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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1959.

Events

January events

• January 4 - Passenger service resumes on the Strasburg Rail Road for tourists.
• January 5 - Foulridge railway station closes on the Midland Railway (originally the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway) in Lancashire.^[1]

February events

• February 28 - The Eastern Region of British Railways closes most of the former Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway.^[2]

March events

• March 28 - The Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway, the last interurban railroad in Canada, operates its last revenue train.

April events

• April 3 - Construction begins on Japanese National Railways’ Tōkaidō Shinkansen between Osaka and Tokyo.
• SAFEGE test monorail built in France.^[3]

June events

• June 9 - The Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railroad, interurban railway serving Chicago's western suburbs, ceases freight operations, thus bringing an end to all of the railroad's operations.
• June 15 - The Disneyland Monorail System built by Alweg opens, making it the first daily operating monorail system in the western hemisphere.
• June 21 - Soo Line 2719 hauls the last of Soo Line Railroad's steam locomotive-powered trains in revenue service on a round-trip excursion between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Ladysmith, Wisconsin.^[4]

July events

• July 1 - Colorado Railroad Museum opens in Golden.^[5]
• July 14 - Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) 0-6-0 number 5244, class B-6sb, becomes the last steam locomotive to operate on the PRR.
• July 18 - The last steam locomotive runs on the Nickel Plate Road as a pair of 0-8-0 switchers are called out to cover a traffic surge.

August events

• August 30 - Streetcar service in Montreal, Canada is discontinued.

October events

• October 6 - The Carmelit, Haifa's underground funicular railway, opens.
• October 28 - The Canadian National Railway line between St. Felicien and Chibougamau, Quebec, opens.

December events

• December 1 - The Virginian Railway is merged into the Norfolk and Western Railroad.
• December 29 - First section of Lisbon Metro (Metropolitano de Lisboa) opens in Lisbon, Portugal, first metro (subway) system in the country.

Unknown date events

• General Electric announces that it will begin manufacturing diesel locomotives on its own.
• ACF Industries completes the last passenger car that it is to build.
• The Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway runs its last train, ending 62 years of service.

Births

Deaths

References

1. ^ Binns (2005). Midland Lines Railway Stations Past and Present. Trackside Publications. ISBN 1900095262.  
2. ^ Wrottesley, A. J. F. (1970). The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4340-8.  
3. ^ "Suspended - SAFEGE". Technical Pages. Monorail Society. http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/TPSafege.html. Retrieved 2009-12-22.  
4. ^ Gilchinski, Steve (February 1997). "Soo Line 2-8-2 back in steam". Trains magazine 57 (2): 24–25.  
5. ^ "Colorado Railroad Museum". http://www.crrm.org/. Retrieved 2009-12-22.  

• Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (August 16, 2005), Significant dates in Canadian railway history. Retrieved August 30 and October 28, 2005.