1885 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1885.

Events

February events

• February 8 – The Midland Railway of England opens its extension to Birmingham New Street station.
• February 12 – The Kansas City, Clinton and Springfield Railway is incorporated in Missouri. ^[1]
• February 17 – The Southern Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad are combined under a single holding company, the Southern Pacific Company.

April events

• April 1 – The Southern Pacific Railroad takes over operations of the Central Pacific Railroad.
• April 6 – The Meriden and Cromwell Railroad, a Connecticut predecessor of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, opens. ^[2]

June events

• June – John J. Hagerman gains control of Colorado Midland.

July events

• July 19 – The Zanesville and Ohio River Railway enters receivership.
• July 20
  • The Hull & Barnsley Railway opens in Yorkshire, England. It is intended to challenge the near-monopoly on export coal traffic in its region of the North Eastern Railway. ^[3]
  • Opening of first railway in Vietnam, Saigon to Mỹ Tho. ^[4]

August events

• August – International Railway Congress Association established in Brussels to provide an international forum for technical discussion. ^[5]

November events

The last spike is driven on the Canadian Pacific Railway

• November – First train crosses Garabit viaduct in the Massif Central of France.
• November 6 – Phase 3 of the Novara–Varallo railway in Italy opens connecting Grignasco to Borgosesia. ^[6]
• November 7 – The last spike on the Canadian Pacific Railway is driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, Canada.
• November 9 – The last spike is driven on the California Southern Railroad between Barstow and San Bernardino through Cajon Pass, completing the connection to the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. ^[7]
• November 12 – The first train to travel the entire route of California Southern Railroad's track through Cajon Pass carries rails from Barstow to Riverside. ^[8]
• November 17 – The first through train from Chicago via Santa Fe lines arrives in San Diego. ^[9]
• November 29 – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway leases trackage rights over the Southern Pacific Railroad from San Bernardino to Los Angeles at $1,200 per mile per year. ^[8]

Unknown date events

• Cornelius Vanderbilt II is promoted to president of the New York Central system.
• The New Zealand Government Railways become the first major railway to place a 2-6-2 steam locomotive into service, having ordered ten V class from Nasmyth, Wilson & Company of Manchester, England. ^[10]

Births

Unknown date births

• Richard M. Dilworth, General Motors Electro-Motive Division chief engineer credited with developing the diesel-electric locomotive concept in the 1930s (d. 1968). ^[11]

Deaths

January deaths

• January 12 – John B. Jervis, Chief mechanical engineer of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, pioneer of the use of the leading truck on steam locomotives (b. 1795).

July deaths

• July 31 – Robert F. Fairlie, Scottish steam locomotive builder (b. 1831). ^[12]

December deaths

• December 6 – Robert Gerwig, German civil engineer, designer of the Schwarzwaldbahn and the Höllentalbahn in the Black Forest (b. 1820).
• December 8 – William Henry Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt and president of the New York Central system (b. 1821).

Notes

1. Truman Area Community Network Corporate History Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad Company Archived 2012-07-18 at archive.today . Retrieved February 12, 2006.
2. Blakeslee, Philip C. "A Brief History Lines West of The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co". Archived from the original on 7 April 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2006.
3. Parkes, G. D. (1946). The Hull & Barnsley Railway. Chislehurst: Oakwood Press.
4. "Vietnam Railway". VietnamTravelKey. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
5. "The International Railway Congress". Railway Gazette . 13. 1910.
6. "Prospetto cronologico dei tratti di ferrovia aperti all'esercizio dal 1839 al 31 dicembre 1926".
7. Waters, Leslie L. (1950). Steel Trails to Santa Fe. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press. p. 74.
8. Duke, Donald; Kistler, Stan (1969) [1963]. Santa Fe...Steel Rails through California. San Marino, California: Golden West Books. p. 32. ISBN   0-87095-009-6.
9. Signor, John R. (1988). The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company; Union Pacific's Historic Salt Lake Route. San Marino, California: Golden West Books. p. 18. ISBN   978-0-87095-101-5.
10. Balkwill, Richard; Marshall, John (1993). The Guinness Book of Railway Facts and Feats (6th ed.). Enfield: Guinness Publishing. ISBN   978-0-85112-707-1.
11. "You ought to know: Electro-Motive's Dilworth is dead; diesel pioneer". Railway Age . 165 (16): 40. 21 October 1968.
12. "Robert Francis Fairlie" . Retrieved 2005-02-09.

References

• Dodge, Richard V.; San Diego Railroad Museum (March 5, 2000), Perris and its Railroad . Retrieved November 8, 2005.
• (1902), Ohio Railway Report . Retrieved July 18, 2005.
• Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
• 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.