11 – C. P. Couch succeeds his brother Harvey C. Couch as president of Kansas City Southern Railway. August 12 – City of San Francisco derailment on the Southern Pacific Railroad near Harney, Nevada, due to sabotage whose perpetrator is never discovered. September September 1 British Government takes control of railways as a wartime measure; start of a 4-day evacuation of children by rail from major cities (over 600,000 from London). The Østfold Line in Norway takes electric traction into use between Kornsjø and the Swedish border. September 10 – The Østfold Line in Norway takes electric traction into use between Halden and Kornsjø. September 24 – The Østfold Line in Norway takes electric traction into use between Kolbotn and Ås. September 30 – New York State Railways closes the University Line in Syracuse, New York. October October – Charles E. Denney steps down from the presidency of the Erie Railroad. November November 22 – The Syracuse Lines of New York State Railways are reorganized as the Syracuse Transit Corporation. November 25 – Electro-Motive Corporation's EMD FT 103, “The Diesel That Did It” according to David P. Morgan, begins an 83,764 mile barnstorming tour. November – Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the E6. November – Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the NW3. December December 1 – The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad inaugurates the Champion passenger train between New York, New York, and Miami, Florida. December 3 – The Florida East Coast Railway introduces the Henry M. Flagler passenger train between Miami and Jacksonville, Florida. December 10 – The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (the "Frisco") introduces its first streamlined passenger train, the Firefly, between Kansas City, Missouri and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. December 22 – Genthin, Germany: collision when train D180 drives into previous but delayed and overcrowded train D10 from Berlin to Cologne. 278 killed, 453 injured, one of the most serious train accidents in Germany. December 29 – The Pioneer Zephyr streamliner trainset crosses the one million mile (1.6 million km) mark in revenue service near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Unknown date Trans-Iranian Railway completed, joining the capital Tehran to the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea (1394 km (865 miles)). Hale Holden steps down as chairman of the board of directors for the Southern Pacific Company, the parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad. After Holden's departure, the position is nonexistent until 1964. Union Pacific Railroad's M-10003-6 streamliner power cars are upgraded from two-car,