Trains

The Jupiter, also known as Central Pacific Railroad #60, made its first run on March 20, 1869. Less than two months later, the Jupiter made history as one of the two locomotives that met at Promontory Summit, Utah to mark the completion of America’s First Transcontinental Railroad.

On September 21, 1866, the 9th and 10th Cavalry units and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry units (later consolidated as the 24th and 25th Infantry) were formed.  The units were comprised entirely of black soldiers – the first to serve in a peacetime army.  They would come to be known as Buffalo Soldiers.

On August 28, 1830, the Tom Thumb steam locomotive impressed railroad officials during an impromptu race.

On August 25, 1944, the Red Ball Express truck convoy system opened to help rush supplies to soldiers at the front.

Samuel Pierpont Langley was born on August 22, 1834, in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

On August 8, 1829, the Stourbridge Lion became the first steam locomotive to be operated in the United States.

On July 6, 1894, a San Francisco businessman operated a short-lived bicycle mail route in San Francisco, complete with his own stamps.

On June 11, 1897, the US Railway Mail Service mascot, Owney the Postal Dog, died in Toledo, Ohio.

On May 19, 1883, the first Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show opened in Omaha, Nebraska.