1865 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1865.

Events

January events

• January 5 – The Festiniog Railway in North Wales officially opens to passengers, the first narrow gauge railway in the British Isles to do so. ^[1]
• January 10 – The California Pacific Railroad absorbs the Sacramento and San Francisco Rail Road Company and the San Francisco and Marysville Rail Road Company.

February events

• February – The Confederate States of America authorize military control of railroads for the American Civil War. ^[2]
• February 4 – The assets of Dayton, Xenia and Belpre Railroad in Ohio are sold in bankruptcy proceedings and split between the Little Miami Railroad and Columbus and Xenia Railroad. ^[3]
• February 9 – The Colorado and Clear Creek Railroad, predecessor to the Colorado Central Railroad, is chartered.
• February 15 – The Chicago and North Western Railway and Galena and Chicago Union Railroad merge.

March events

• March – The Central Pacific Railroad hires agents to recruit thousands of Chinese workers from Guangdong Province.
• March 17 – The Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company shops in Berwick, Pennsylvania, are destroyed by fire. ^[4]

April events

• April – The funeral train for Abraham Lincoln travels from Washington, D.C., to Illinois.

May events

• May – Opening of Talyllyn Railway in Wales. ^[5]
• May 5 – The first train robbery in the United States takes place, in North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), committed by armed guerillas from the American Civil War.
• May 25 – The first steel rails are rolled at a foundry in Chicago from Bessemer steel made in blast furnaces in Wyandotte, Michigan. ^[6]

June events

• June 7 – The Rednal rail crash in England, a derailment at a permanent way work site, kills thirteen.
• June 9 – The Staplehurst rail crash in England, a derailment at a permanent way work site, kills ten and injures 49; Charles Dickens is amongst the survivors.
• July 31 – Opening of the narrow gauge (3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)) main line from Ipswich to Grandchester, Queensland, Australia. ^{[7] [8]}

August events

• August 7 – The Lawrence Railroad and Transportation Company, with tracks in Pennsylvania and Ohio, is reorganized as the Lawrence Railroad Company. ^[9]

September events

• September 1 – The English company John Trevor-Barkley begins construction on the Bucharest–Giurgiu line, the first railroad line built in the territory of Romania.
• September 13 – Algernon S. Buford becomes president of the Richmond and Danville Railroad.
• September 14 – The Brockville and Ottawa Railway begins operations between Arnprior and Sand Point, Ontario, a distance of about 6 miles (10 km). ^[10]

October events

• October 2 – First section of Sri Lanka Railways, at this time known as Ceylon Government Railways, officially opens from Colombo to Ambepussa (54 km (34 mi)) on 5 ft 6in (1676 mm) gauge. ^{[11] [ page needed ]}
• October 18 – Almelo railway station in the Netherlands is opened.

December events

• December 20 – Alkmaar railway station in the Netherlands is opened.

Unknown date events

• The United Kingdom Institution of Civil Engineers forms the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps. ^[12]
• The Union Pacific Railway, later to become the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and not to be confused with the Union Pacific Railroad, begins operations.
• A group of businessmen in San Francisco, led by Timothy Guy Phelps, found the Southern Pacific Railroad to build a rail connection between San Francisco and San Diego.
• Erastus Corning resigns from his executive post for the New York Central Railroad.
• The Canadian Engine and Machinery Company, predecessor of the Canadian Locomotive Company, is founded from the assets of the bankrupt Kingston Locomotive Works.
• Missouri Car and Foundry Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Pittsburgh & Steubenville Extension Railroad Tunnel opens for rail service.

Births

March births

• March 2 – Frederick Methvan Whyte, mechanical engineer for the New York Central Railroad, creator of Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives (d. 1941). ^[13]

October births

• October 9 – George Hughes, Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 1904–1922, the London and North Western Railway 1922–1923 and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1925–1931 (d. 1945).

Deaths

Unknown date deaths

• William T. James, American inventor of the link motion and spark arrester (b. 1786).

References

1. Johnson, Peter (2007). An Illustrated History of the Festiniog Railway 1832–1954. Hersham: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN   978-0-86093-603-9.
2. Westwood, John (1980). Railways at War. Howell-North Books. p. 29. ISBN   0-8310-7138-9.
3. Morris, J. C., Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs (December 31, 1902). Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs, Part II. History of the Railroads of Ohio . Retrieved 2006-02-04.
4. "Jackson & Woodin Manufacturing Company". Mid-Continent Railway Museum. 2006-04-11. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-16.
5. Boyd, J. I. C. (1988). The Tal-y-Llyn Railway. Didcot: Wild Swan Publications. p. 45. ISBN   0-906867-46-0.
6. Barnett, Leroy (July–August 2004). "Making America's First Steel in Wyandotte". Michigan History. 88 (4).
7. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin July 1965 pp. 121–136.
8. Lee, Robert (2003). "Potential railway world heritage sites in Asia and the Pacific". Institute of Railway Studies, University of York. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
9. Morris, J. C., compiler (December 31, 1902), Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs: Part II. History of the Railroads of Ohio . Retrieved 2005-08-07.
10. Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (September 7, 2005), Significant dates in Ottawa railway history Archived 2006-04-27 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 2005-09-13.
11. Marshall, John (1989). The Guinness Railway Book. Enfield: Guinness Books. ISBN   0-8511-2359-7. OCLC   24175552.
12. Westwood, John (1980). Railways at War. Howell-North Books. p. 91. ISBN   0-8310-7138-9.
13. Lane, Harold Francis, ed. (1913). The Biographical Directory of the Railway Officials of America (1913 ed.). New York: Simmons-Boardman. p. 588.

Further reading

• White, John H. Jr. (Spring 1986). "America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders". Railroad History . 154: 9–15. ISSN   0090-7847. JSTOR   43523785. OCLC   1785797.
• White, John H. Jr. (1968). A history of the American locomotive; its development: 1830–1880. New York, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN   0-486-23818-0.