THIS DATE IN history

Jan. 14

In 1878, Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone to Queen Victoria, who spoke with her friend, Sir Thomas Biddulph. In 1952, an underground gas explosion at the McGregor coal mine at Stellarton, N.S., killed 19 men.

In 1990, The Canadian, Via Rail’s legendary passenger train, made its final trip across Canada after 34 years of service on the world’s longest rail line, a 4,645-km route. Along with this, and the shutdown of other trains, 2,716 jobs were gone.