Events

January events

* January 1 – The Midland Railway of England abolishes the Second Class passenger category leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies follow Midland's lead during the rest of the year (Third Class is renamed Second Class in 1956). * January 7 – The North Pacific Coast Railroad begins

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

service north from

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

February events

* February 9 – The first train passes through the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts.

March events

* March 24 – The Mayor of Los Angeles, California, approves a measure to allow the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad, a predecessor of the Pacific Electric Railway, to extend its line to connect to the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

train station.

April events

* April 26 – Prince Edward Island Railway operates its first regularly scheduled train between

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...

and Georgetown.

June events

* June 1 –

Bristol and Exeter Railway The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with ...

in England completes installation of a third rail on its line between Bristol and Taunton, allowing it to operate gauge trains over the line. * June – The

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

purchases the line between Topeka and

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of the ...

July events

* July 29 –

Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad was a narrow-gauge passenger-carrying shortline railroad between East Boston and Lynn, Massachusetts, from 1875 to 1940. Part of the railroad's right of way now forms the outer section of the Massachus ...

opens in the United States.

August events

* August 7 – Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad completes construction through the White Mountains (New Hampshire) for what will become the Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division. * August 30 – Groundbreaking ceremonies are held in

Pembroke, Ontario Pembroke is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario at the confluence of the Muskrat River (Ontario), Muskrat River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley. Pembroke is the location of the administrative headquarters of Renfrew County, thoug ...

, for the Canada Central Railway line between Pembroke and

Renfrew Renfrew (; sco, Renfrew; gd, Rinn Friù) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former ...

September events

* September 13 – The

, building westward from Kansas, reaches

Las Animas, Colorado Las Animas is the Statutory City that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Bent County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,410 at the 2010 United States Census. Las Animas i ...

.Santa Fe Railroad (1945), ''Along Your Way'', Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois. * September 27 – Railway Jubilee at

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

in England (in honour of the

Stockton and Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darl ...

).''The Railway Year Book 1912'', Railway Publishing Company, London.

November events

* November 18 –

in England completes the

gauge conversion Gauge conversion is the changing of one railway track gauge (the distance between the running rails) to another. Sleepers If tracks are converted to a narrower gauge, the existing sleepers (ties) may be used. However, replacement is required if ...

from to of its Cheddar Valley line from Yatton to Wells.

December events

* December 1 – The

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 ...

labor organization Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen is founded. * December – The initial parts of construction begin on the Bergen Line in Norway.

Unknown date events

* Engineer and inventor

Fyodor Pirotsky Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky or Fedir Apollonovych Pirotskyy ( ukr, Федір Аполлонович Піроцький; russian: Фёдор Аполлонович Пироцкий; -) was a Ukrainian engineer and inventor of the world's first ra ...

experimentally introduces electric trams near

Miller's pier Miller's pier (russian: при́стань Ми́ллера, ''Pristan Millera''), is a railway station at the quay in Sestroretsk Kurort, Russia. The pier was constructed from boulders dumped into the Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( ...

station on Miller's line of railway at Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire, using the running rails to provide current, the world's first

railway electrification A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), el ...

. *

Cize–Bolozon viaduct The Cize–Bolozon viaduct is a road-rail bridge, combination rail and vehicular viaduct crossing the Ain (river), Ain gorge in France connecting the communes of Cize, Ain, Cize and Bolozon in the Ain ''département''. An original span built in ...

opens across the

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

in France. * First Caspar Lumber Company steam locomotive begins operation on what will become the

Caspar, South Fork and Eastern Railroad The Caspar, South Fork & Eastern Railroad provided transportation for the Caspar Lumber Company in Mendocino County, California. The railroad operated the first steam locomotive on the coast of Mendocino County in 1875. Caspar Lumber Company lan ...

Births

May births

* May 9 –

H. P. M. Beames Hewitt Pearson Montague Beames (9 May 1875 – 5 March 1948) was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Western Railway from 1920 to 1922. Biography Beames was born in Corfe, near Taunton, Somerset in 1875, son of Indian Army Offi ...

, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

1920–1922 (d. 1948).

September births

* September 26 – Eric Geddes, first Minister of Transport (U.K.) 1919–1921 (d. 1937).

Deaths

January deaths

* January 18 –

William H. Aspinwall William Henry Aspinwall (December 16, 1807 – January 18, 1875) was a prominent American businessman who was a partner in the merchant firm of Howland & Aspinwall and was a co-founder of both the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and Panama Cana ...

financier who helped build the Panama Railway (b. 1807).
William Henry Aspinwall
'. Retrieved February 9, 2005.

References

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