Events

January events

• January 1 - the Soo Line fully absorbs the Milwaukee Road after attempting to operate it as a subsidiary railroad.

February events

• February 8 - Hinton train collision: 23 people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a Canadian National Railway freight train near Hinton, Alberta.

September events

• September 5 - The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad begins operations in Minnesota and South Dakota.
• September 19 - Two high speed trains collide near Rugeley, Staffordshire, England, in the Colwich rail crash; the driver of one of the two trains was the only fatality of this accident.

November events

• November 21 - The Florida Central Railroad begins operations in Florida.

Deaths

July deaths

• July 14 - Raymond Loewy, industrial designer who worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad designing the shape of equipment such as the GG1.