Events January January 22 – The Southern Railway introduces the Carolina Special between Cincinnati, Ohio and Charleston, South Carolina. January 23 – The Pontypridd railway accident in South Wales kills 11 people. April April 22 – A passenger train from Port Alfred to Grahamstown in South Africa derails on the Blaauwkrantz Bridge and plunges into the ravine below, killing 31 and seriously injuring 23. May May 1 – Chūō Main Line, Nagoya to Shiojiri route officially completed, as same time, Nagoya to Nagano route direct passenger train service start in Japan. May 12 – Electric trains begin work between London Victoria station and Crystal Palace. May 28 – The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road") introduces the Olympian and Columbian passenger trains between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest. They are the first all-steel trains to operate in the Pacific Northwest. June June 30 – First Great Western Railway 4300 Class 2-6-0 locomotive is turned out of its Swindon Works, England. The class, designed by George Jackson Churchward, will comprise 342 members and see overseas service during World War I. July July 10 – Six construction workers die in an accident while working on the Western Maryland Railway's Salisbury Viaduct. July 11 – The Tinnos Line in Norway takes electric traction into use. July 25 – Canadian Northern Railway (CNOR) purchases the right-of-way and assets of the defunct Carillon and Grenville Railway, the last broad gauge railroad (at ) in North America, to become part of CNOR's Montreal-Ottawa mainline. August August 17–21 – First national railway strike in the United Kingdom. September September 1 – In what is called the "Great Merger", the Southern Pacific creates a new Pacific Electric Railway Company from several constituent railroads: the original "old" PE owned by Henry E. Huntington, The Los Angeles Inter-Urban Railway, The Los Angeles Pacific Railway, The Los Angeles and Redondo Railway, The San Bernardino Valley Traction Company, The San Bernardino Interurban, The Redlands Central, The Riverside and Arlington. Following these acquisitions, PE becomes the largest operator of interurban electric railway passenger service in the world, with 2,160 daily trains over of track. September 26 – Construction of the Usambara Railway in German East Africa reaches Moshi at Mount Kilimanjaro. September – First Great Central Railway Class 8K 2-8-0 freight locomotive, No. 966, is turned out of its Gorton locomotive works, England. The class, designed by John G. Robinson,