Events

January events

* January 28 – Florida's Railroad Commissioners adopt rule number 12 of the state's general operating rules for railroads within the state; the rule mandates that railroad companies are required to immediately report by telegram any train wreck within the state beyond a simple

derailment In rail transport, a derailment is a type of train wreck that occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway sys ...

that involves injury or death to any person and follow up the telegram within five days with a full written report.

February events

* February 25 – The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad starts

revenue service A revenue service, revenue agency or taxation authority is a government agency responsible for the intake of government revenue, including taxes and sometimes non-tax revenue. Depending on the jurisdiction, revenue services may be charged wit ...

between

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

and 19th Street,

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

March events

* March 25 – The Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway extends passenger service from its existing Washington-

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

route to

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland. * March 30 – Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway purchases the Columbia Railway and Navigation Company.

April events

* April 8 – The

Chicago "L" The Chicago "L" (short for "elevated railway, elevated") is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U.S. state of Illinois. Operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), it is the four ...

Stock Yards branch serving the

Union Stock Yards The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meatpacking district in Chicago for more than a century, starting in 1865. The district was formed by a group of railroad companies that acquired marshland and turned it into a vast cen ...

is opened. * April 20 – A rear-end collision in Melbourne, Australia, called the Sunshine train disaster, kills 44 and injures around 400.

May events

* May 17 – Trains operating through the St. Clair Tunnel under the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron into Lake St. Clair, forming part ...

between

Sarnia, Ontario Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes, ...

, and

Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in and seat of government of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously. Po ...

, begin using

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

s instead of

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 ...

June events

* June 23 – The Denver & Interurban begins operations using some electrified lines of the Union Pacific, Denver & Gulf. The UPD&G and the D&I are both owned by the Colorado and Southern Railway. * June 30 – Last day steam trains can operate south of the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York City, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the United States mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyten Duyvi ...

in New York City. * June – The distinctive 'bar and circle' design of station nameboards are introduced on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

July events

* July 1 ** Public inauguration of

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

Lancaster–

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

– Heysham electrification system (6.6 kV A.C. at 25 Hz), the first overhead wire scheme on a passenger railway in England. ** Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad begins service between Michigan City and

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

. * July 8 – Construction begins on the Belt Line Railway of Toronto in Hull, Ontario. * July 9 – The

Prussian state railways The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the state of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...

South Bridge (Cologne) collapses during construction. * July 10 – Thamshavnbanen, the first electrified railway in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, opens. * July 14 – Shinpei Goto steps down as president of the South Manchuria Railway.

August events

* August 7 – New Zealand Railways runs first through train in the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

main trunk line between

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

().

September events

* September 1 – Hejaz Railway opens from

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, Syria, to

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

, Saudi Arabia, on the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

. * September 23 – Yokohama Railway Line, Higashi-Kanagawa of Yokohama to Hachioji route officially completed in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

(as predecessor of Yokohama Line).

October events

* October 1 - The Hofpleinlijn, the first electrified railway in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, opens between Rotterdam Hofplein and Scheveningen, of which the part until

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

exists today as part of Rotterdam Metro line E.

November events

* November 1 – The

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR (known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton)) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at ...

introduces the '' Southern Belle''

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

between London and

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. * November – Following experiments, the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

of England begins to introduce Automatic Train Control on its main lines.

December events

* December 18 –

Great Northern Railway (U.S.) The Great Northern Railway was an American Class I railroad. Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, it was the creation of 19th-century Canadian-American railroad entrepreneur James Jerome Hill, James ...

completes construction of the line between Great Falls and Billings, Montana. * December 19 – Korekimi Nakamura begins his term as the second president of South Manchuria Railway.

Unknown date events

* The Soo Line acquires a majority interest in the Wisconsin Central Railway. * Prussian P 8 Class

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abs ...

s introduced; around 3,700 are eventually built to this design.

Births

March births

* March 15 – Bernard Holden, president of Bluebell Railway in England (d. 2012).

September births

* September 18 – John Francis Nash, vice president of operations for New York Central and president of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad and Lehigh Valley Railroad (died 2004).

Deaths

January deaths

* January 14 – Matthias N. Forney, American

manufacturer (born 1835).

June deaths

* June 3 – Robert Gillespie Reid, builder of many Canadian railway bridges as well as the Newfoundland Railway (died 1842).

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em