September 15

The world’s first intercity passenger railway was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which operated, oddly enough, between Liverpool and Manchester in England. After making it over several engineering hurdles, not the least of which was figuring a way to get a very heavy train across a bog without the cars sinking into it, work progressed surprisingly quickly. All obstacles having been cleared, service on this line was inaugurated on September 15, 1830. At one point during the opening run, the train came to a halt. William Huskisson, a Member of Parliament for Liverpool saw the opportunity to schmooze with the Duke of Wellington, who also happened to be the Prime Minister. Huskisson spoke to the Prime Minister from the roadbed next to the Duke of Wellington’s carriage. Apparently Wellington must have been quite the conversationalist because Huskisson failed to notice another train approaching. He was struck by the approaching train and was severely injured. He was loaded on to the train that had hit him and rushed to a hospital but he died later that day. That must have put a bit of a damper on the party to celebrate the railway’s opening held later that evening. There are unconfirmed reports that Huskisson’s last words were “No problem, he’s got plenty of room to get by.”