1855 in rail transport
| Years in rail transport |
|---|
| Timeline of railway history |
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1855.
Events
January events
- January 8 – The first through train travels the entire distance from Chicago to the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois.
- January 28 – The Panama Railway becomes the first railroad to connect the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean as the first train travels the entire transcontinental route across Panama.[1]
February events
- February 15 – The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the Western North Carolina Railroad to build a rail line from Salisbury to the western part of the state.[2]
- February 23 – The Hudson and Berkshire Railroad in New York.
March events
- March – The Chicago & North Western, begins operations.
April events
- April 5 – Opening of Boyne Viaduct at Drogheda by the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway completes permanent through rail communication between the two principal cities of Ireland.[3]
May events
- May 15 – London Bridge and Folkestone in England.[4]
July events
- July 21 – Beyer, Peacock & Company turn out the first locomotive to be completed at its new works in the Gorton district of Manchester, England, for the Great Western Railway.[5]
September events
- September 26 – In gauge.
November events
- November 1 – St Louis, Missouri, United States: With more than 600 passengers aboard the Pacific Railroad excursion train celebrating the railway line's opening, outside St. Louis, Missouri the bridge collapsed and the locomotive plus 12 of the 13 attached cars plunged into the Gasconade River. Over 30 people died and hundreds were seriously injured.
- November 6 – Inverness and Nairn Railway opened in Scotland: precursor of the Highland Railway.[6]
- November 20 – The first train to operate in passenger cars.[7]
December events
- December – Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works completes a 4-4-0 steam locomotive named General; this locomotive will later become the main object in the Great Locomotive Chase of the American Civil War.
Unknown date events
- The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad in North Carolina is reorganized as the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
Births
August births
- August 20 – Ira G. Rawn, vice president of operations for Illinois Central Railroad 1907–1909; president of Monon Railroad 1909–1910 (d. 1910).[8]
October births
- October 24 – Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway1909–1923 (d. 1944).
November births
- November 5 – Pullman strikein Chicago, Illinois (d. 1926).
References
- Association of American Railroads (January 2005), This Month in Railroad History – January. Retrieved May 23, 2005.
- ISBN 978-0-7614-2028-6. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
- ^ "Railroad — Western North Carolina Railroad". North Carolina Business History. 2006. Retrieved 2013-05-09.
- ^ Share, Bernard, ed. (2005). Crossing the Boyne: the great Viaduct 1855–2005. Drogheda: Iarnród Éireann; Old Drogheda Society.
- ISBN 978-0-7090-9040-3.
- ^ "Beyer Peacock". Archived from the original on 2010-08-19. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
- ^ Fenwick, Keith (2005). The Inverness and Nairn Railway. Cookham: Highland Railway Society.
- ^ Rock Island Technical Society (1996). "A Brief Historical Overview of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad". Archived from the original on January 7, 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
- New York Times. July 21, 1910. Retrieved November 22, 2013.