Events January events January Louisville and Nashville Railroad begins the merger process with the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway's mainline (485 miles of track) is now completely under CTC. January 21 - The Milwaukee Road discontinues the western segment of the Columbian, a Chicago - Tacoma, Washington passenger train. January 21 - O. Winston Link starts 5-year personal project to document steam operations on the Norfolk and Western Railway in the United States using flash photography. January 23 - Sutton Coldfield train disaster, England: a passenger train rounds a sharp curve too fast and derails; 17 people die as a result. January 24 - British Transport Commission produces a report on Modernisation and Re-Equipment of British Railways which proposes the large-scale replacement of the steam locomotive by diesel and electrification together with major resignalling projects. February events February 9 - Rome Metro opens in Italy. March events March 3 - The Pennsylvania Railroad runs its first “TrucTrain” piggyback train from Chicago to Kearny, NJ, the first time the Pennsylvania has carried trailers of common carrier trucking companies on its flatcars. March 15 - The first section of Cleveland's “Rapid” opens from Cleveland Union Terminal to Windermere. March 17 - Locomotive builders Vulcan Foundry and its subsidiary Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns are absorbed into the English Electric group. March 28 - SNCF in France sets a new world rail speed record of 331 km/h using 1800/2000V dc electric traction. The track is severely damaged by the passage of the train. April events April – Ferrovias Central of Peru opens a spur line from La Cima to Volcán Mine, reaching an (at this time) world record altitude of 4830 m (15,848 ft). April 3 – A passenger train plunges into a canyon in Guadalajara, Mexico; 300 are killed. April 23 – Regular passenger service ends on the Canadian Pacific Electric Lines, Canadian Pacific's interurban system in Ontario's Grand River Valley. April 24 Canadian Pacific Railway inaugurates The Canadian passenger train between Montreal, Quebec / Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia. Canadian National Railway inaugurates the Super Continental passenger train between Montreal, Quebec / Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia. May events May - ALCO S-6 diesel-electric B-B switcher locomotive introduced. May 12 - Manhattan's last elevated railroad becomes history as the NYCTA cuts back the Third Avenue El from Chatham Square in Lower Manhattan