1942 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1942.

Events

January 1 – Government of India takes over Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway and Assam Bengal Railway, merging the latter with the Eastern Bengal Railway to form the Bengal Assam Railway.^[1]

April – Union Pacific Railroad's M-10002 streamliner trainset re-enters revenue service to equip the connection between Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.
April 28 – LNER A4 4469 Sir Ralph Wedgwood is destroyed in the bombing of York sheds.

May 1 – The last pre-war streamliner, the Illinois Central Railroad's refurbished Panama Limited, is put into service.

June – First deliveries of USATC S200 Class 2-8-2 locomotives, to British Middle East forces. 200 are built to standard gauge.^[2]
June – First USATC S100 Class 0-6-0T switchers enter service in Britain, first of nearly 400 built for service in the European theater.^[2]
June 13 – Service is discontinued on the IRT Second Avenue Line, an elevated railway in Manhattan, New York City.
June 22 – Work starts on construction of the Burma Railway between Bangkok, Thailand and Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar), by the Empire of Japan to support its forces in the Burma campaign using the forced labour of Asian civilians and Allied Prisoners of war.

July 5 – The multiple unit passenger trainsets used by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad on the Prospector between Denver, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah, are removed from revenue service; the train is now equipped with standard locomotives and unpowered passenger cars.
July 11
- A section of the Sind Peshin State Railway in the Chappar Rift, in present day Pakistan, is destroyed by a flash flood; the line has not been rebuilt.^[3]
- Golden Spike ceremony on the Claiborne-Polk Military Railroad, running 50 miles (80 km) from Camp Claiborne to Fort Polk on the Kansas City Southern south of Leesville, Louisiana.^[4]^[2]

August 8 – The Mumbai Rajdhani passenger train, one of many Rajdhani Express trains, is inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai, India.

September 8 – "Unspiking" ceremony at Promontory Summit as the original Central Pacific/Union Pacific line is torn up. The rails will be re-laid in Navy Yards throughout the United States.

October 1 – United States Army 770th Railway Operating Battalion takes operational control of the narrow gauge White Pass and Yukon Route for construction of the Alaska Highway.^[5]

December – Ian Allan publishes his first book, ABC of Southern Locomotives, the first in a popular series which encourages the hobby of trainspotting in Britain.^[6]
December 6 – Schedules of fast trains around the United States are slightly lengthened to reduce wear and tear, following a wartime decision by the Office of Defense Transportation.^[7]
December – First deliveries of USATC S118 Class "MacArthur" 2-8-2 locomotives, to Nigeria. There will eventually be nearly 800 built to the same basic design, seeing service on every continent, on 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) or metre gauge.^[2]
December 11 – USATC S160 Class 2-8-0 #1604 (built by Alco) is officially handed over on loan to the British government at London Paddington station, from the first batch of 2120 for service in the European theater.^[2]
December 27 – Almonte, Ontario, Canada: Thirty-six people are killed and over 200 injured when a passenger train running late is struck from behind by a troop train.^[8]

^ Saxena, R. P. (2008). "Indian Railway History Time Line". http://irse.bravehost.com/IRHTML.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Tourret, R. (1977). United States Army Transportation Corps Locomotives. Allied Military Locomotives of the Second World War, Book 2. Abingdon: Tourret. ISBN 0-905878-01-9.
^ "IR History: Part - III (1900 - 1947)". Indian Railways Fan Club. http://irfca.org/faq/faq-history3.html. Retrieved July 7, 2005.
^ http://www.northlouisianatrainshow.org/whats_new_1_files/C&P.html
^ Martin, Cy (1974). Gold Rush Narrow Gauge (2nd ed.). Corona del Mar, California: Trans-Anglo Books. p. 53. ISBN 0-87046-026-9.
^ Waters, Laurence (comp.) (1991). A Collectors Guide to the Ian Allan ABC Locomotive Series 1942-1990. Oxford: author.
^ Scribbins, Jim (2008). The 400 Story. Minneapolis/London: University of Minnesota Press (originally published by PTJ: Park Forest, IL, 1982). ISBN 978-0-8166-5449-9.
^ "Significant dates in Ottawa railway history". Colin Churcher's Railway Pages. December 12, 2005. http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/ottawa.htm. Retrieved December 27, 2005.