parent company of the Southern Pacific. Lovett also assumes the position of Chairman of the Executive Committee for the railroad. September 17 - Beyer, Peacock & Company of Manchester, England, steam the first Garratt articulated steam locomotive built to the design of Herbert William Garratt, K1 for the North East Dundas Tramway. October events October 9 - The Alaska Northern Railroad Company (a predecessor of the Alaska Railroad) purchases the assets of the bankrupt Alaska Central Railway and subsequently extends the line northward another . October - Blue Nile Road & Railway Bridge completed at Khartoum in Sudan, the longest bridge in tropical Africa at this date. November events November 1 - A Golden Spike ceremony is held on the Western Pacific Railroad. As no company officials are present, the local track foreman drives the last spike, the track crew shout “Hooray!” and two women walking by with their children kiss each other. November 3 - The Lethbridge Viaduct, one of the largest railway structures in Canada on the Canadian Pacific near Lethbridge, Alberta, opens. November 10 - Louis Brennan successfully demonstrates his gyroscopically-balanced monorail system, which he designed for military use and patented in 1903, at Gillingham, England. November 21 - Kagoshima Line, Mojiko (Kitakyushu), via Hakata (Fukuoka), Kumamoto, Hitoyoshi to Kagoshima route officially completed in Kyushu Island, Japan. December events December 1 - The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway publicly inaugurates London's first suburban surface railway electrification on its South London line, known as the "Elevated Electric" (overhead wire 6.7 kV a.c. at 25 Hz). December 20 - Henry Fowler is appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway of England, succeeding Richard Deeley. Unknown date events The Nickel Plate Road begins a massive grade separation project in Cleveland, Ohio, to eliminate street grade crossings on the railroad's mainline in the city. Albert Hunt invents the wigwag grade crossing protection signal for the Pacific Electric in Los Angeles, California. Opening of the Jingzhang railway connecting Beijing with Zhangjiakou, first section of the Jingbao railway in northwestern China and the first railway designed and built by Chinese. Reconstruction of Flinders Street railway station in Melbourne, Australia, is completed. Births August births August 4 – Isabel Benham, American railroad financial expert, is born (d. 2013). Deaths February deaths February 4 – Thomas Lowry, president of Minneapolis Street Railway 1877-1892, president of Twin City Rapid Transit, president of Soo Line