1958 in rail transport

Events

January

• January
• * Unable to keep his promises to shareholders, Robert Ralph Young suspends dividends on New York Central stock, a factor in his subsequent suicide on January 25.
• * Last steam locomotive operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen.
• January 1 - The Chicago & North Western Railway acquires the Litchfield and Madison Railway.

February

• February 4 - Canada's Kellog Commission releases a report on the use of firemen as part of diesel locomotive crews.
• February - The Alaska Railroad sells six ex-USATC S160 Class 2-8-0 locomotives to the standard gauge Ferrocarril de Langreo in northern Spain, where they are used on a new diversion built to avoid a cable railway. This will be the third Transatlantic crossing for #3410.

March

• March 4 - The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority begins operating the remnant passenger services of the Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railway.
• March 13 - Queensland BB18¼ class locomotive No. 1089, completed by Walkers, Maryborough, Queensland, is the last main-line steam locomotive built in Australia.

April

• April 20 - The Key System discontinues streetcar service.
• April 26
• * Last day of regularly scheduled passenger service on the Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division.
• * Last run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue.

May

• May 24 - The Pacific Electric Bellflower Line, then being operated by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, ceases passenger operations, relegating the West Santa Ana Branch to a freight line.

June

• June 22 - The Chicago Transit Authority Congress Branch opens for service in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway, pioneering the first use of rail rapid transit and a multi-lane automobile expressway in the same grade-separated right-of-way. It replaced the 1895-built Garfield Park 'L' route and alignment from Des Plaines Avenue, Forest Park to the Loop.
• June 25 - The Pennsylvania Railroad discontinues the Afternoon Steeler passenger train between Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

July

• July - General Motors Electro-Motive Division introduces the EMD SD24.
• July 7 - The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad reintroduces women-only cars on the railroad's commuter trains in New York City.
• July 17 - The Railway Enthusiasts Society is formed to promote rail transportation and preservation in New Zealand
• July 25 - Pacific Great Eastern Railway completes construction of the line to Fort St. John, British Columbia.

August

• August 9 - The Moccasin, the longest running named passenger train in Canada thus far, is discontinued.
• August 12 - The Transportation Act of 1958 passes in the US, loosening Interstate Commerce Commission regulation and guaranteeing loans to railroads.

September

• September - On the Drachenfels Railway, Königswinter, Germany, a rack railway train derails, killing 17.
• September 15 - A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train plunges off the Newark Bay Bridge while raised for water traffic, killing 48.

October

• October - After building only 59 examples of the type, Fairbanks-Morse and Canadian Locomotive Company discontinue construction of the H-24-66 model Train Master diesel locomotive.
• October 1 - Northern Ireland's Ulster Transport Authority and the Republic of Ireland's Córas Iompair Éireann take over from the Great Northern Railway Board in running the remaining cross-border route of the Irish railway system. The GNR assets are split between the two state companies.

November

• November 1 - The Strasburg Rail Road is purchased by a non-profit group.

December

• December 31 - The Harcourt Street railway line between Dublin and Bray, Ireland, closes.

Unknown date

• South African Railways takes delivery of its last steam locomotives for the gauge, GMAM class Garratt locomotives.
• Last Garratt locomotive to be built in Manchester by Beyer, Peacock & Company is delivered as South African Railways NGG16 class no. 143.
• SNCF electrifies its Paris-Lille line in France.
• Ernest S. Marsh succeeds Fred Gurley as president of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway.

Deaths

January deaths

• January 25 – Robert Ralph Young, financier and controlling stockholder of the New York Central commits suicide after suspending company dividends