October 4: BC Rail

   BC Rail was a railway that operated in the Canadian province of
   British Columbia between 1912 and 2004.  It was a class II regional
   railway and the third largest in Canada, operating 1,441 miles (2,320
   kilometres) of mainline track.  It was owned by the provincial
   government from 1918 until 2004, when it was sold to Canadian National
   Railway.  Chartered in 1912, the railway was acquired by the provincial
   government in 1918 after running into financial difficulties.  A
   railway that ran from "nowhere to nowhere" for over 30 years, neither
   passing through any major city nor interchanging with any other
   railway, it expanded significantly between 1949 and 1984.  Primarily a
   freight railway, it also offered passenger service, as well as some
   excursion services, most notably the Royal Hudson excursion train.  The
   railway's operations have not always been profitable, and its debts
   have made it the centre of political controversy on multiple
   occasions.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_Rail

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1830:
   Belgian Revolution: A provisional government in Brussels declared
   the creation of the independent and neutral state of Belgium, in
   revolt against the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Revolution)

1883:
   The Orient Express began operations.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express)

1910:
   Manuel II, the last King of Portugal, fled to the United Kingdom when
   a revolution erupted in Lisbon and his palace was shelled.  The
   Portuguese First Republic was proclaimed the next day.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_II_of_Portugal)

1957:
   Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 1 was launched by an R-7 rocket from
   Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakh SSR and became the first artificial
   satellite to orbit the Earth.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1)

1993:
   Russian Constitutional Crisis: Tanks bombarded the White House in
   Moscow, a government building that housed the Russian parliament,
   where demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rallied outside.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_constitutional_crisis_of_1993)

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Wikiquote of the day:

   "If we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be
   understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few
   scientists.  Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just
   ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the
   question of why it is that we and the universe exist.  If we find the
   answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason —
   for then we would know the mind of God." -- Stephen Hawking
   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking)