Events
January events
* January 1 – The
United States government contracts with the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
to carry
mail; the B&O is the first railroad to be awarded such a contract in the U.S.
* January 20 –
Travelling Post Office (with sorting of mail en route) introduced on
Grand Junction Railway in
England, initially on an experimental basis.
February events
* February 12 – The
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B),
Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad
Wilmington may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Wilmington, South Australia, a town and locality
**District Council of Wilmington, a former local government area
** Wilmington railway line, a former railway line
United Kingdom
* Wilmington, Devon
* ...
and
Baltimore and Port Deposite Rail Road merge, keeping the PW&B name.
March events
* March 28 –
Jean-Claude-Républicain Arnoux
Jean-Claude-Républicain Arnoux (Le Cateau-Cambrésis – 1866) was a French civil engineer known for his invention of the Arnoux system for articulating trains on tight curves. As an entrepreneur he founded and directed the , which constructe ...
applies for a
patent for his train
articulation system that will come to be known as the
Arnoux system.
June events
* June 4 – First section of
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
of
England opens from
London Paddington to
Maidenhead
Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...
(temporary stations).
* June 18 –
Newcastle and Carlisle Railway opens, the first line across
England.
July events
* July 7 – An act of the
United States Congress officially designates all railroads in the
United States as
postal routes.
September events
* September 17 –
London and Birmingham Railway is opened throughout to its
terminus at
Curzon Street railway station,
Birmingham, on completion of
Kilsby Tunnel under the direction of Chief Engineer
Robert Stephenson, the first trunk line in
England.
* September 22 –
Berlin–Potsdam Railway is opened from
Berlin-Zehlendorf to
Potsdam, the first railway in
Prussia.
October events
* October 31 –
North Union Railway in England opens from
Wigan to
Preston
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
Places
England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...
.
November events
* November 16 – Final section of
Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway (
Rajhrad–
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
) in
Moravia (
Austrian Empire) opens for exhibition (preliminary) use.
Unknown date events
* The first "bed-carriage" (
sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car.
...
)
passenger cars are introduced on the
London and Birmingham Railway and the
Grand Junction Railway in
England.
Births
September births
* September 16 –
James J. Hill,
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
financier who gains control of the
Great Northern Railway and the
Northern Pacific Railway
The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...
(d. 1916).
Deaths
September deaths
*
Rhys Davies,
British mechanical engineer who helped form
Tredegar Iron Works in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
.
References
* Association of American Railroads (January 2005),
This Month in Railroad History – January'. Retrieved May 23, 2005.
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