1812 in rail transport

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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1812.

Events

July events

Laigh Milton Viaduct, Kilmarnock and Troon Railway

• July 6 – The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway becomes the first public railway line to open in Scotland. It begins life as a 9.5-mile (16-kilometre), double track 4 ft (1,219 mm) gauge, horse-drawn waggonway to carry coal from Kilmarnock to Troon harbour; the engineer was William Jessop. ^[1] On 27 June the horse-drawn passenger coach Caledonia began running over the line between Troon and Gargieston, near Kilmarnock. ^[2]

August events

Steam locomotive on Middleton Railway

• August 12 – The Middleton Railway, serving coal pits at Leeds in England, becomes the first to use steam locomotives successfully in regular service. The first locomotive, Salamanca , is also the first to use two cylinders and has a rack railway mechanism devised by John Blenkinsop and built by Matthew Murray. ^[3]

Births

March births

• March 20 – Charles Vincent Walker, English railway telegraph engineer (d. 1882).

May births

• May 10 – William Henry Barlow, English railway civil engineer (d. 1902).

August births

• August 15 – William Kimmel, director for Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (d. 1886).

December births

• December 12 – James Grant, first president of Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, 1851–1854 (d. 1891).
• December 23 – Samuel Smiles, British engineering biographer and railway manager (d. 1904).

Unknown date births

• William F. Harnden, the first person to send an express shipment by rail (d. 1845).

References

• Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History: March . Retrieved March 30, 2005.
• White, John H. Jr. (Spring 1986). "America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders". Railroad History . 154: 9–15. ISSN   0090-7847. JSTOR   43523785. OCLC   1785797.

1. Robertson, C. J. A. (1983). The Origins of the Scottish Railway System 1722–1844. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers. ISBN   0-85976-088-X.
2. Air Advertiser [sic.] advertisement dated 25 June 1812.
3. Bushell, J. (1975). The World's Oldest Railway: a history of the Middleton Railway. Sheffield: Turntable Publications. ISBN   0-902844-27-X.