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1881 in rail transport

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1881 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1881.

Contents

January events

  • January 17 - Regular train service over the Prince of Wales Bridge on the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway begins.

    • February events

  • February 3 - The Seney Syndicate met at Seney's New York bank and organized the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company (which would later become the Nickel Plate Road).
  • February 17 - The first train operates between Norwood, Ohio, and Lebanon, Ohio, on the Cincinnati Northern Railway.

    • March events

  • March 1 - The Mexican Southern Railroad is incorporated with Ulysses S. Grant, former President of the United States, as its president.
  • March 8 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building southwestward from Kansas, reaches Deming, New Mexico.

    • April events

  • April 13 - The New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company (later known as the Nickel Plate Road) purchases the Buffalo, Cleveland & Chicago Railway
  • April 14 - The Oregon Short Line Railroad is established to build a rail connection between Granger, Wyoming, and Huntington, Oregon.

    • May events

  • May 16 - The Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, the world's first electric tramway, is opened in Berlin by Siemens & Halske.
  • May 19 - Tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad reach El Paso, Texas.
  • May 28 - A.B. Rogers on his birthday discovers the pass through the Rocky Mountains that will bear his name, Rogers Pass.

    • June events

  • June 9 - The Canada Central Railway is merged into the Canadian Pacific Railway.
  • June 11 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad connects to El Paso, Texas.

    • July events

  • July 2 - Assassination of James A. Garfield: James A. Garfield, President of the United States, is shot by lawyer Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., dying on September 19 of a resultant infection.
  • July 4 - Darjeeling Himalayan Railway opened throughout to Darjeeling, India.
  • July 6 - Kate Shelley prevents a train with 200 passengers from going over the Honey Creek Bridge after it was washed out during a flash flood near Des Moines, Iowa.
  • July 26 - Construction crews on the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad's Alpine Tunnel, in Colorado, break through to connect both ends of the tunnel.

    • August events

  • August 22 - The East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) commences operation over a 14.1-mile (2.25-kilometer) run through the Appalachian Mountains.
  • August 26 - The first train operates over the Red River Bridge into Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

    • October events

  • October 17 - First section of Royal Saxon State Railways narrow gauge railway (750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge) opened, between Wilkau and Kirchberg in the German Empire.

    • Unknown date events

  • E.W. Clark & Co., a private banking firm in Philadelphia, purchases the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (a predecessor of the Norfolk & Western) at a foreclosure auction.
  • The Richmond and Danville Railroad leases the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway.
  • Henry Villard becomes president of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
  • The French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique purchases a controlling interest in the Panama Railway Company.
  • John Souther retires from the steam locomotive manufacturing company that he founded, Globe Locomotive Works.
  • Ephraim Shay takes out the first patent on his Shay locomotive design.
  • Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway begins.
  • The first standard gauge railroad in China is opened from Tangshan to Xugezhuang (10 km (6.2 mi)) for coal traffic.

    • March births

  • March 22 - Arturo Caprotti, Italian inventor of Caprotti valve gear for steam locomotives (d. 1938).

    • July births

  • July 8 - Mantis James Van Sweringen, American financier who, with his brother Oris, controlled the Nickel Plate Road and other eastern railroads (d. 1935).

    • October births

  • October 30 - Charles E. Johnston, president of Kansas City Southern Railway 1928-1938 (d. 1951).

    • Unknown date births

  • Martin W. Clement, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad 1935–1948 (d. 1966).

    • May deaths

  • May 21 - Thomas Alexander Scott, president of Union Pacific Railroad 1871-1872, dies (b. 1823).

    • Unknown date deaths

  • William S. Hudson, superintendent of American steam locomotive manufacturing firm Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor (b. 1810).

    • References

    1881 in rail transport Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA