Events

January events

* January 13 – Opening of the

Milan–Venice railway The Milan–Venice railway line is one of the most important railway lines in Italy. It connects the major city of Milan, in Lombardy, with the Adriatic Sea at Venice, in Veneto. The line is state-owned and operated by the state rail infrastructu ...

's bridge over the Venetian Lagoon between

Mestre Mestre () is a borough of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Venice, on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy. Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the ''Municipalità di ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

March events

* March 26 – John M. Forbes becomes president of the Michigan Central Railroad.

June events

* June 14 – The first Gare du Nord station in Paris, France, is opened. * June 20 – The

Paris–Lille railway The railway from Paris to Lille is an important French 251-kilometre long railway line, that connects Paris to the northern French city Lille. Branch lines offer connections to Belgium and Great Britain. As one of the first railway lines in France, ...

is opened in France. * June 22 – The North British Railway is opened to public traffic between

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...

, the first line to cross the border between

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Waverley Station Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

is opened. * June 26 – The

Great Northern Railway (Great Britain) The Great Northern Railway (GNR) was a British railway company incorporated in 1846 with the object of building a line from London to York. It quickly saw that seizing control of territory was key to development, and it acquired, or took le ...

is authorised by

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

with powers to construct a direct line from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

with a loop via

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, with a capital of £5,600,000, the largest single scheme ever approved by

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

July events

* July 1 – The

Leeds and Bradford Railway The Leeds and Bradford Railway Company (L&BR)The abbreviation L&BR is more commonly seen referring to the London and Birmingham Railway. opened a railway line between the townsLeeds obtained city status in 1893; Bradford became a city in 1897. on ...

opens between

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

and Bradford,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

. * July 15 – The first railway line in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

opens between Pest and

Vác Vác (; german: Waitzen; sk, Vacov; yi, ווייצען) is a town in Pest county in Hungary with approximately 35,000 inhabitants. The archaic spelling of the name is ''Vácz''. Location Vác is located north of Budapest on the eastern bank o ...

. * July 16 – The London and North Western Railway is formed in

by amalgamation of the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...

and

Manchester and Birmingham Railway The Manchester and Birmingham Railway was built between Manchester and Crewe and opened in stages from 1840. Between Crewe and Birmingham, trains were worked by the Grand Junction Railway. The M&BR was merged into the London and North Western ...

August events

* August 11 – First section of

Furness Railway The Furness Railway (Furness) was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England. History Formation In the early 1840s, the owners of iron ore mines in the Furness district of Lancashire became interested i ...

in England opens to mineral traffic; passengers are first carried on December 1. * August 18 – Gauge Act passed by the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

rules that new railways in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

should be built to standard gauge and 5 ft 3 inches in Ireland unless otherwise authorised. * August 28 – Railway Mania reaches its zenith as the

closes its session having passed 272 Acts setting up new railway companies.

September events

* September 21 – The town of Kendal,

, declares a public holiday for the opening of the Kendal,

Oxenholme Oxenholme is a village in England just south of the town of Kendal, with which it has begun to merge. It is best known for Oxenholme Lake District railway station on the West Coast Main Line. Because Oxenholme does not have its own church it ...

and Lancaster section of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway; the first revenue trains are operated on September 22. * September 28 – The

East Lancashire Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...

opens to the public from Clifton Junction to

Rawtenstall Rawtenstall () is a town in the borough of Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The town lies 15 miles/24 km north of Manchester, 22 miles/35 km east of Preston and 45 miles/70 km south east of the county town of Lancaster. The town is at the ...

in England.

November events

* November 10 –

Portland Company The Portland Company was established 10 November 1846 by John A. Poor and Norris Locomotive Works engineer Septimus Norris as a locomotive foundry to build railroad equipment for the adjacent Portland terminus of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence R ...

established by

John A. Poor John Alfred Poor (January 8, 1808 – September 6, 1871) was an American lawyer, editor, and entrepreneur best remembered for his association with the Grand Trunk Railway and his role in developing the railroad system in Maine. He was the older br ...

and

Septimus Norris Septimus Norris (1818 – 1862) was an American mechanical engineer and steam locomotive designer. He was the youngest of three brothers all active in the field — his eldest brother William Norris founded the Norris Locomotive Works of Phil ...

of the

Norris Locomotive Works The Norris Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that produced nearly one thousand railroad engines between 1832 and 1866. It was the dominant American locomotive producer during most of ...

.{{cite book, title=The Grand Trunk in New England, author=Holt, Jeff, publisher=Railfare, year=1985, isbn=0-919130-43-7, page=124

December events

* December 17 – The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway is opened throughout to Carlisle.

Births

April births

* April 13 – Lucius E. Johnson, president of the

Norfolk and Western Railroad The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

1904–1921 (d. 1921).

October births

* October 6 –

George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age ...

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 ...

inventor; developed the

Westinghouse air brake The Westinghouse Air Brake Company (sometimes nicknamed or abbreviated WABCO although this was also confusingly used for spinoffs) was founded on September 28, 1869 by George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Earlier in the year he had i ...

(d. 1914).