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Events

January events

  • January 1 – The United States government contracts with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to carry mail; the B&O is the first railroad to be awarded such a contract in the U.S.
  • January 20 – Travelling Post Office (with sorting of mail en route) introduced on Grand Junction Railway in England, initially on an experimental basis.

February events

  • February 12 – The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B), Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad and Baltimore and Port Deposite Rail Road merge, keeping the PW&B name.

March events

  • March 28 – Jean-Claude-Républicain Arnoux applies for a patent for his train articulation system that will come to be known as the Arnoux system.

June events

  • June 4 – First section of Great Western Railway of England opens from London Paddington to Maidenhead (temporary stations).
  • June 18 – Newcastle and Carlisle Railway opens, the first line across England.

July events

  • July 7 – An act of the United States Congress officially designates all railroads in the United States as postal routes.
  • September 22 – Berlin–Potsdam Railway is opened from Berlin-Zehlendorf to Potsdam, the first railway in Prussia.

October events

  • October 31 – North Union Railway in England opens from Wigan to Preston.

November events

  • November 16 – Final section of Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway (Rajhrad&ndash;Brno) in Moravia (Austrian Empire) opens for exhibition (preliminary) use.

Unknown date events

  • The first "bed-carriage" (sleeping car) passenger cars are introduced on the London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway in England.

Births

September births

  • September 16 – James J. Hill, American financier who gains control of the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway (d. 1916).

Deaths

September deaths

  • Rhys Davies, British mechanical engineer who helped form Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia.

References

  • Association of American Railroads (January 2005), This Month in Railroad History – January. Retrieved May 23, 2005.