Events

January events

* January 28 –

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him ...

purchases the Little Rock, Mississippi River and Texas Railway at foreclosure then deeds it to the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad.

February events

* February 4 – The Interstate Commerce Act in the United States is signed into law, creating the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate the prices for hauling freight on American railroads.

March events

April events

* April 20 – The North British Railway's

Tay Bridge The Tay Bridge ( gd, Drochaid-rèile na Tatha) carries the railway across the Firth of Tay in Scotland between Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. Its span is . It is the second bridge to occupy the site. Plans for a bridge over the Tay ...

across the

Firth of Tay The Firth of Tay (; gd, Linne Tatha) is a firth on the east coast of Scotland, into which the River Tay (Scotland's largest river in terms of flow) empties. The firth is surrounded by four council areas: Fife, Perth and Kinross, City of Dun ...

in Scotland, reconstructed after its collapse in 1879, is reopened and then shortly closed thereafter. * April 26 – At 11:00 am a silver

spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

is driven in a ceremony in Indian Territory connecting the

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

and Texas branches of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The town of

Purcell, Oklahoma Purcell is a city in and the county seat of McClain County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,651. Founded in 1887, Purcell was a railroad town named after Edward B. Purcell, who was an official with th ...

, rises at the location, named in honor of ATSF railroad director Edward Benton (E.B.) Purcell, of

Manhattan, Kansas Manhattan is a city and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the 2020 c ...

May events

* May 20 –

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 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, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

consolidates eight of its subsidiary railroads in California into the California Central Railway. * May 31 – The first

train over the newly constructed San Bernardino and Los Angeles Railroad line arrives in Los Angeles.

June events

* June – The

Péchot-Bourdon locomotive A Fairlie is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended (a double Fairlie) or single ended (a single Fairlie). Fairlies are most famously associated with the Ffestiniog Rail ...

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

ed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. * June 9 – Construction of the first railway in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, between Keelung and

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

began. * June 20 – The

Great Indian Peninsula Railway The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (reporting mark GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway (and by extension, the current state-owned Indian Railways), whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Mumbai (later, the Victoria Terminu ...

officially opens

Victoria Terminus Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Bombay station code: CSMT ( mainline)/ST (suburban)), is a historic railway terminus and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The terminus was d ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

July events

* July 13 – The Chateaugay Railway, a predecessor of the Delaware and Hudson Railway, is incorporated. * July 20 – The Youngstown, Lawrence and Pittsburg Railroad and the Ashtabula, Niles and Youngstown Railroad, both in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, are merged to form the Pittsburg, Youngstown and Ashtabula Railroad (a Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary).

October events

* October 11 ** St. Louis Southwestern Railway predecessor Paragould and Buffalo Island Railway, in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, is incorporated. ** The New York and Northern Railway (a predecessor name for the New York and Putnam Railroad) emerges from reorganization after foreclosure the previous July.

November events

* November 10 –

Canada Atlantic Railway The Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a North American railway located in Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northern Vermont. It connected Georgian Bay on Lake Huron with the northern end of Lake Champlain via Ottawa. It was formed in 1897 throu ...

becomes the first Canadian railway to use steam from a train's locomotive to heat the

passenger car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

s instead of coal or wood stoves in each car. * November 13 – The

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

, Central Pacific Railroad, and

Chicago and North Western Railway The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

introduce the ''

Overland Flyer The ''Overland Limited'' (also known at various times as the ''Overland Flyer'', ''San Francisco Overland Limited'', ''San Francisco Overland'' and often simply as the ''Overland'') was an American named passenger train which for much of its hist ...

'' passenger train between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

December events

* December 31 – Spokane International Railroad begins operations.

Unknown date events

* Rebuilding of Gare Saint-Lazare terminus of the

Chemins de fer de l'Ouest The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Ouest (CF de l'Ouest), often referred to simply as ''L'Ouest'' or ''Ouest'', was an early French railway company which operated from the years 1855 through 1909. History Birth of the company The Compa ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

is completed. * Rebuilding of

New London Union Station New London Union Station is a railroad station on the Northeast Corridor located in downtown New London, Connecticut, United States. Union Station is a station stop for most Amtrak ''Northeast Regional'' trains and all CT''rail'' Shore Line Ea ...

of the

Central Vermont Railway The Central Vermont Railway was a railroad that operated in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec. It connected Montreal, Quebec, with New London, Connect ...

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...

, is completed to the design of

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

. *

Colorado Midland The Colorado Midland Railway ,Railway Equipment and Publication CompanyThe Official Railway Equipment Register June 1917, p. 786 incorporated in 1883, was the first standard gauge railroad built over the Continental Divide in Colorado. It ran fro ...

completes construction of the Hagerman Tunnel. *

Tapa Tapa, TAPA, Tapas or Tapasya may refer to: Media *Tapas (website), a webtoon site, formerly known as Tapastic * ''Tapas'' (film), a 2005 Spanish film * ''Tapasya'' (1976 film), an Indian Hindi-language film * ''Tapasya'' (1992 film), a Nepalese f ...

– Tartu railway in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

is extended to Valga where it connects to the Riga– Pskov line. * The first battery rail car is used on the Royal Bavarian State Railways. *

Reuben Wells ''The Reuben Wells'' is a steam locomotive in the permanent collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Beginning in 1868, it operated for 30 years in Madison, Indiana, pushing train ...

is appointed as shop superintendent of American steam locomotive manufacturing company

Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was a 19th-century manufacturer of railroad steam locomotives based in Paterson, in Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. It built more than six thousand steam locomotives for railroads around the ...

. *

Stuyvesant Fish Stuyvesant Fish (June 24, 1851 – April 10, 1923) was an American businessman and member of the Fish family who served as president of the Illinois Central Railroad. He owned grand residences in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island, entertain ...

becomes president of the Illinois Central.

Births

March births

* March 9 – Nathaniel Lamson Howard, president of

Chicago Great Western Railway The Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesot ...

1925–1929 (d. 1949).

September births

* September 5 –

Charles Fairburn Charles Edward Fairburn (5 September 1887 – 12 October 1945) was an English electrical engineer whose work mainly concerned rail transport. Born in Bradford in 1887, and educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, his career included railway e ...

, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1944–1945 (d. 1945).

Deaths

April deaths

* April 19 – Alexander Mitchell, president of Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway 1864–1887 (b. 1817). * April 20 – Horatio G. Brooks, founder of

Brooks Locomotive Works The Brooks Locomotive Works manufactured railroad steam locomotives and freight cars from 1869 through its merger into the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1901. History When the New York and Erie Railroad (NY&E) relocated its shops facili ...

(b. 1828).

July deaths

* July 4 –

Anson P. Morrill Anson Peaslee Morrill (June 10, 1803 – July 4, 1887) was an American politician who served as the 24th governor of Maine from 1855 to 1856 and later as the U.S. representative from Maine's 4th congressional district from 1861 to 1863. B ...

, president of

Maine Central Railroad The Maine Central Railroad Company was a U. S. Class I railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to ...

1864–1866 and 1873–1875 (b. 1803).

August deaths

* August 14 –

Aaron Augustus Sargent Aaron Augustus Sargent (September 28, 1827 – August 14, 1887) was an American journalist, lawyer, politician and diplomat. In 1878, Sargent historically introduced what would later become the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giv ...

, American journalist, lawyer and politician; authored the first Pacific Railroad Act (b. 1827)

References

* Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (August 16, 2005),
Significant dates in Canadian railway history
'. Retrieved November 8, 2005. * (1902),

'. Retrieved July 18, 2005. {{Reflist