Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 30, 1978A special preview run took place for a passenger train that would serve a recently authorized commuter rail line between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. This train was named the Chesapeake. It was one of three trains, each with four cars, leased by the Maryland Department of Transportation for Amtrak to operate on the... Continue Reading →
April 22, 1833 The Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad (E&KRR) was chartered in the then-Territory of Michigan, which became a state in 1837. This railroad ultimately ran from what was at that time Port Lawrence, Michigan (now Toledo, Ohio) near Lake Erie to the village of Adrian, Michigan, on the River Raisin to the northwest. E&KRR was... Continue Reading →
February 6, 1995 While not yet completed, an Amtrak train station in San Diego County’s city of Solana Beach in southern California first went into service. Solana Beach Transit Center was built to take the place of a longtime station in the nearby city of Del Mar. In reporting on the Monday debut of Solana... Continue Reading →
November 13, 2017 A newly completed train station in the San Francisco Bay Area’s city of Fairfield was opened. This station provides access for residents of both Fairfield and the neighboring city of Vacaville to Amtrak California’s Capitol Corridor rail line. The facility -- originally called Fairfield-Vacaville station -- is also a transfer hub for... Continue Reading →
August 8, 2011 In the Detroit metropolitan area, a newly built intermodal terminal station in the city of Pontiac was officially dedicated. The public officials on hand for this ceremony included Gary Peters, who was the U.S. representative for that region of Michigan at the time and now serves the Great Lakes State as one... Continue Reading →
November 28, 2005 In south-central Connecticut, a newly built train station in the town of Guilford was opened for use. Guilford station, which is maintained by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT), is part of the regional commuter rail service formally known as Shore Line East (SLE). SLE operates in southern Connecticut along a segment... Continue Reading →
October 23, 1980 The first formal intercity air/ground/rail transportation connection in the United States -- and the country’s first rail station built on airport-owned property -- was officially dedicated about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from the terminal of Baltimore/Washington International Airport. Construction on that rail station serving the airport (now known as Baltimore Washington International... Continue Reading →
April 13, 2012 In northwestern Illinois, an intercity train station serving Amtrak (the national passenger railroad company in the United States) in the city of Kewanee was officially opened. This depot replaced a small brick shelter that had been built there in 1986. The current version of Kewanee station, which was designed by the Peoria-based... Continue Reading →
Neal A. McCaleb, whose longtime career in public service has included key leadership roles in transportation, is a member of the Chickasaw Nation (a federally recognized Native American tribe with its headquarters in the city of Ada, Oklahoma). McCaleb was born in 1935 in Oklahoma City. He graduated from Putnam City High School in Warr... Continue Reading →
October 27, 1907 A major transportation hub in Washington, D.C., made its debut when the Pittsburgh Express passenger train of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad pulled into the new facility at 6:56 a.m. The next day’s edition of the Washington Post reported that “4,000 or more prospective passengers and spectators who crowded up... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 