Events
February events
- February 11 — The Atchison and Topeka Railroad Company, forerunner of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, is chartered in Kansas. [1] [2] [3]
- February 13 — Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad completes construction of its line across Missouri to connect its namesake cities.
March events
- March 3 — Construction begins on the first railway in northern India as tracks are laid between the present day locations of Allahabad and Kanpur. [4]
- March 15 – While under lease to Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Somerset Central Railway is extended to Wells.
May events
- May 2 — Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash in Cornwall, England, opened by Prince Albert. [5]
- May 4 — Cornwall Railway opened across the Royal Albert Bridge linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England. [6]
June events
- June 2 — The organization that is to become the Chicago and North Western Railway purchases the assets of the bankrupt Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad.
- June 7 — The Chicago and North Western Railway is chartered.
- June 11 — French law approves agreements concluded with railway companies; [7] At the initiative of Charles, Duc de Morny, the concessions are divided into six large companies: Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée, Orléans, Midi, Est, Ouest and Nord.
August events
- August — Samuel Marsh succeeds Charles Moran as president of the Erie Railroad. [8]
September events
- September 1 — The first Pullman sleeping car leaves Bloomington, Illinois, on an overnight trip to Chicago; first Pullman conductor is Jonathan L. Barnes.
- September 12 – At a meeting under Drammen chairmanship in Norway, construction of a railway line to connect Drammen and Randsfjorden, later known as the Randsfjorden Line, is selected over the option for a waterway. [9]
- September 22 – The Chemins de fer de l'Est opens its line from Paris Gare de la Bastille to Vincennes and La Varenne in France.
October events
- October 3 — The Cologne-Minden Railway Company opens the Cathedral Bridge (Dombrücke) across the Rhine in Cologne giving access to the city's new Central Station.
December events
- December 27 — Grand Trunk Railway completes construction of the rail line from Toronto to Sarnia, Ontario, and begins a train ferry connection across the St. Clair River at Fort Gratiot. [10]
Unknown date events
- Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España of Spain introduces its standard 0-6-0 goods locomotives, almost all of which will be in service for more than a century. [11]