Events

March

* March 16 – Original

Finnish Railway Museum The Finnish Railway Museum () is a railway museum located in Hyvinkää, Finland. It was founded in Helsinki in 1898. The museum was moved to Hyvinkää in 1974. The museum is on the former station and yard site of the Hanko–Hyvinkää railw ...

opens in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

April

* April 1 – The

Aberlady, Gullane and North Berwick Railway The Aberlady, Gullane and North Berwick Railway was promoted independently to develop settlements between Longniddry and North Berwick in East Lothian, Scotland. It opened its line from a junction near Longniddry as far as Gullane in 1898, but n ...

opens between Aberlady Junction and

Gullane Gullane ( or ) is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the ninth century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the twel ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. * April 20 – Electrification of the South Side Elevated Railway in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

is completed ending all steam locomotive operations on the route.

Multiple-unit A multiple-unit train (or multiple unit (MU)) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined, and where one or more of the carriages have the means of propulsion built in. By contrast, a locomotive-hauled train has all ...

(M.U.) train control is also introduced by railroad engineer

Frank J. Sprague Frank Julian Sprague (July 25, 1857 – October 25, 1934) was an American inventor who contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators. His contributions were especially important in promoting ur ...

May

* May –

E. H. Harriman Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive. Early life Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman Sr., an Episcopal clergy ...

becomes chairman of the executive committee for the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

. * May 11 – The

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway (L&B) was a single track (rail), single track, narrow gauge railway. It opened in May 1898 and ran for slightly more than through the area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, England. Although it opened afte ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

opens. * May 16 – Passenger service is inaugurated on the

June

* June 12 – Regular revenue service begins on the Detroit, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor Railway in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

July

* July 3 –

Rail transport in Sudan Sudan has 4,725 kilometers of narrow-gauge, single-track railways. The main line runs from Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian border to Khartoum and southwest to El-Obeid via Sennar and Kosti, with extensions to Nyala in Southern Darfur and Wau in ...

: Desert railway from

Wadi Halfa (, , ":wikt:esparto, Esparto Valley") is a city in the Northern (state), Northern state of Sudan on the shores of Lake Nasser, Lake Nubia near the Egypt–Sudan border, border with Egypt. It is the terminus of a rail transport in Sudan, rail lin ...

completed to

Atbara Atbara (sometimes Atbarah) ( ʿAṭbarah) is a city located in River Nile State in northeastern Sudan. Because of its links to the railway industry, Atbara is also known as the 'Railway City'. Atbara's population was recorded as 134,586 dur ...

by British military engineers on 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge. * July 11 – Opening of the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exete ...

’s

Waterloo & City line The Waterloo & City line, colloquially known as The Drain, is a shuttle line of the London Underground that runs between Waterloo and Bank stations with no intermediate stops. Its primary traffic consists of commuters from south-west London ...

, the second deep-level electrified "tube" railway in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. * July 21 – First section of

White Pass and Yukon Route The White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y, WP&YR) is a Canadian and U.S. Class III narrow-gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway, Alaska, with Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other rail ...

opens out of

Skagway, Alaska The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with the large ...

, first railroad in the territory. * July 23 –

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 faciliti ...

completes its 3,000th new

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

. * July 30 – The

Société des Chemins de fer vicinaux du Mayumbe The Mayumbe line was a long gauge narrow gauge railway in the north west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between the port of Boma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Boma and Tshela. History The Société des Chemins de fer vicinaux du M ...

(CVM) is created to build and operate a network of gauge railways in the province of Lower Congo, in the

Congo Free State The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...

, with a planned extension to the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

September

* September 2 – The

Wellingborough rail accident On 2 September 1898 at Wellingborough railway station a postman brought a mailcart to the station with mail which he was to see onto a train due at 20:22. The mail should then have been brought to the down platform through a passageway (normall ...

in England kills 7 people.

October

* October 17 – The Wrawby Junction rail crash in England kills 9 people.

Unknown date

* ''Sunset'' magazine is founded as a promotional tool of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

. * The Loup Creek & Deepwater railway is officially renamed

Deepwater Railway The Deepwater Railway was an intrastate short line railroad located in West Virginia in the United States which operated from 1898 to 1907. William N. Page, a civil engineer and entrepreneur, had begun a small logging railroad in Fayette County, W ...

Births

Deaths

* March 6 – Hugh J. Jewett, president of the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...

1874–1884 (b.

1817 Events January–March * January 1 – Sailing through the Sandwich Islands, Otto von Kotzebue discovers New Year Island. * January 19 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, starts crossing t ...

). * October 12 – John M. Forbes, president of the

Michigan Central Railroad The Michigan Central Railroad (reporting mark MC) was originally chartered in 1832 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in th ...

and the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwest, Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, CB&Q, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of ...

(b.

1813 Events January–March * January 5 – The Danish state bankruptcy of 1813 occurs. * January 18– 23 – War of 1812: The Battle of Frenchtown is fought in modern-day Monroe, Michigan between the United States and a Britis ...

). * November 20 – Sir John Fowler,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

(b. 1817). * December 15 – Calvin S. Brice, president of

Lake Erie and Western Railroad The Lake Erie and Western Railroad was a railroad that operated in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The Lake Erie and Western main line extended from Sandusky, Ohio, westward to Peoria, Illinois, passing through Fremont and Fostoria, Ohio, Muncie ...

, builder of

Nickel Plate Road The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States from 1881 to 1964. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of ...

(b. 1845).

References

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