Portal:Trains/Anniversaries/May 6


 * May 6


 * 1856 – The newly constructed sidewheeler Effie Afton runs into one of the supports for the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River, causing a fire that destroys the bridge just two weeks after it had opened.
 * 1862 – The bill that would become the Pacific Railroad Act authorizing construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad is passed by the United States House of Representatives.
 * 1983 – The last Georgia Railroad mixed train is operated by the Seaboard System Railroad.
 * 1994 – The Channel Tunnel (pictured) linking England and France officially opens after a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by both French and British heads of state.