service ends on the Maine narrow gauge Monson Railroad. December December 13 – The Reading Railroad's Crusader passenger train is introduced. December 15 The first diesel locomotives in the southeast United States, EMC E4s, appear on the Orange Blossom Special. The second section of the Itō Line, connecting Ajiro to Itō in Japan, opens. December 23 – Jean Renoir's film of La Bête Humaine released in France. Unknown date Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited is completely re-equipped based on an industrial design by Raymond Loewy. Overhead wire on the Pennsylvania Railroad's mainline from New York City reaches Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Overhead wire on the newly formed SNCF system between Tours and Bordeaux in France completes electrification from Paris to the Spanish frontier. The first passenger car equipped with fluorescent lights is operated on the New York Central Railroad. Births January births January 11 – Alastair Morton, chief executive of Eurotunnel 1987–1996, chairman of British Strategic Rail Authority 1999-2001 (d. 2004). Unknown date births John H. Kuehl, editor of Private Varnish magazine, passenger car historian and photographer (died 2005). Deaths February deaths February 2 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, director of the New York Central system (born 1856). February 9 – Arturo Caprotti, Italian inventor of Caprotti valve gear for steam locomotives (born 1881). October deaths October 16 – Sir Henry Fowler, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway 1909–1923 and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1925–1931 (born 1870). December deaths December 1 – David Blyth Hanna, first president of Canadian National Railway (born 1858). Accidents References