Portal:Trains/Anniversaries/February 8


 * February 8


 * 1808 – The Washington Bridge Company is granted authority in Washington, D.C., to build the Long Bridge over the Potomac River, a bridge that will eventually be rebuilt to carry the first railroad tracks to cross the river.
 * 1904 – Service begins on Canadian Pacific Railway's Maniwaki line between Hull, Ontario, and Maniwaki, Quebec.
 * 1905 – Jay Cooke (pictured), American financier who built the Northern Pacific Railway, dies (b. 1821).
 * 1986 – 23 people are killed in the Hinton train collision when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a Canadian National Railway freight train near Hinton, Alberta.