1879 in rail transport
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| Years in rail transport |
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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1879.
Contents
Events
January events
- January 28 – Construction of the Waimea Plains Railway, the first railway constructed under the District Railways Act of 1878, reaches Inverrcagill, New Zealand.[1]
February events
- February 10 – The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railway begins freight operations.[2]
May events
- May – James J. Hill forms the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway from the assets of the bankrupt St. Paul and Pacific.
- May 17 – The Texas and St. Louis Railway, a predecessor of St. Louis Southwestern Railway, is organized as a way to ship cotton south to Texas.[3]
- May 31 – The first electric railway opens at the Berlin Trades Exposition.
July events
- July 4 – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building southwestward from Kansas, reaches Las Vegas, New Mexico.[4]
- July 31 – The Caledonian Railway opens the original Glasgow Central station in Scotland.
November events
- November 1 – The first British dining car service leaves Leeds for London King's Cross. This was provided by the Pullman car Princess of Wales which accommodated only 10 first-class passengers.
- November 20 – Narrow gauge Sandy River Railroad completed to Phillips, Maine.[5]
- November 22 – The North Pennsylvania Railroad begins operating the Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad, a subsidiary of Pennsylvania Railroad.
- November 25 – The Waldenburgerbahn was founded as a separate company and took over the concession for the railway from Liestal to Waldenburg, Switzerland.
December events
- December 28 – Tay Bridge disaster: The North British Railway's Tay Bridge across the Firth of Tay in Scotland collapses in a violent storm while a passenger train is crossing it. 75 lives are lost.[6] William Topaz McGonagall produces his epic poem The Tay Bridge Disaster to commemorate the event.
Unknown date events
- Southern Pacific Railroad engineers experiment with the first oil-fired steam locomotives.
Births
March births
- March 6 – Patrick H. Joyce, president Chicago Great Western Railway 1931-1946, is born (d. 1946).
April births
- April 24 – Oris Paxton Van Sweringen, American financier who, with his brother Mantis, controlled the Nickel Plate Road and other eastern railroads (d. 1936).
October births
- October 18 – Charles Eugene Denney, president of Erie Railroad 1929-1939, Northern Pacific Railway 1939-1950, is born.[7]
Unknown date births
- Ralph Budd, president of the Great Northern Railway 1919-1932 and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 1932-1949 (d. 1962).
Deaths
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References
- (2000), American Experience / Streamliners / People & Events / Ralph Budd. Retrieved February 22, 2005.
- President and Fellows of Harvard College (2004), 20th century great American business leaders - Ralph Budd. Retrieved February 22, 2005.
- Today in Science History: May 31. Retrieved May 27, 2005.
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- ↑ Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Railroad History Timeline. Retrieved February 10, 2006.
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- ↑ Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
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