Portal:Trains/Anniversaries/February 9/More

19th century

 * 1857 – The Central Pacific Railroad is incorporated in Nebraska Territory to build a railroad from the Missouri River through the Rocky Mountains to Washington Territory.
 * 1865 – The Colorado and Clear Creek Railroad, predecessor to the Colorado Central Railroad, is chartered.
 * 1875 – The first train passes through the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts; the tunnel remains the longest railroad tunnel in North America east of the Rocky Mountains.
 * 1880 – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building southwestward from Kansas, reaches Santa Fe, New Mexico.
 * 1899 – Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway purchases the Minneapolis, New Ulm and Southern.

20th century

 * 1957 – A steam pipe leading to the braking system of ex-LMS Stanier Class 8F 2-8-0 number 48188 breaks as the train it is hauling crests the summit of a 1 in 58 gradient near Buxton in Derbyshire, England. Driver John Axon was killed in the resulting collision after he stayed with his accelerating train in an attempt to regain control despite the scalding steam on the footplate, an act for which he was posthumously awarded the George Cross.
 * 1971 – A Zurich-bound TEE train derails at Aitrang, Germany, due to excess speed and is hit by a railbus. 28 die and 42 are injured.

21st century

 * 2005 – BNSF Railway announces that it has begun planning for the construction of a new intermodal container transload facility near the port of Los Angeles, California.

Births

 * 1836 – Franklin B. Gowen, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 1866–1883 (d. 1889).

Deaths

 * 1901 – Fred Harvey, restaurateur who founded the Harvey House chain of restaurants and hotels to serve passengers of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (b. 1835).
 * 1943 – Walter Kidde, president of New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway 1937–1943 (b. 1877).