1870 in rail transport
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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1870.
Contents |
[edit] Events
[edit] January events
- January 20 - The Elizabeth City and Norfolk Railroad, which later became the original Norfolk Southern Railroad, is chartered to build a railroad line between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
[edit] February events
- February 24 - Delaware and Hudson Canal Company leases the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, which extended from Albany to Binghamton, New York.
[edit] March events
- March 7 - Great Indian Peninsular Railway completes link between Itarsi and Jabalpur where it connects with the East Indian Railway, completing the rail connection from Bombay to Calcutta.[1]
- March 24 - Pennsylvania Railroad signs a 999-year lease of the Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad.[2]
- March 28 - Construction on the Kansas Pacific Railway reaches Kit Carson, Colorado.[3]
[edit] June events
- June - The Denver Pacific Railway completes construction of its mainline between Denver, Colorado, and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
[edit] July events
- July 24 - The first railroad car to travel the entire distance from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast of the United States arrives in New York City.
[edit] August events
- August
- Construction crews on the Kansas Pacific working eastward from Denver and westward from Kansas City meet at Strasburg, Colorado.
- The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Topeka, reaches Emporia, Kansas.
- August 2
- The Texas legislature approves the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT) charter, which was originally granted by Kansas, allowing the MKT to build into the state.
- Official opening of the Tower Subway beneath the River Thames in London. Although this lasts as a railway operation only until November, it demonstrates the technologically successful first use of the cylindrical wrought iron tunnelling shield devised by Peter W. Barlow and James Henry Greathead[4] and of a permanent tunnel lining of cast iron segments.[5]
- August 15 - Construction on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, building westward from Kansas, reaches Denver, Colorado.
[edit] September events
- September 12 [O.S. August 30] 1870 - Russian emperor Alexander II inaugurates through services between Saint Petersburg and Helsinki (Finnish Railways).
- September 12 - Completion of the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad from Portland, Maine to Sebago Lake causes abandonment of the parallel Cumberland and Oxford Canal.[6]
- September 24 - Ginery Twichell succeeds Henry Keyes as president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
[edit] December events
- December 12 - The Stairfoot rail accident in England kills 15 people
- December 26 - The Hatfield rail crash (1870) in England kills 8.
[edit] Unknown date events
- The Southern Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad operations are merged under the Southern Pacific name.
[edit] Births
[edit] July births
- July 29 - Henry Fowler, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway 1909–1923 and of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1925–1931 (d. 1938).
[edit] Deaths
[edit] April deaths
- April 26 - Zerah Colburn (locomotive designer) (suicide) (b. 1832).[7]
[edit] December deaths
- December - Byron Kilbourn, president of Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad 1849-1852 (b. 1801).
- December 8 - Thomas Brassey, English railway contractor who supervised the construction of more than 6500 miles (10461 km) of track around the world (b. 1805).[8]
[edit] Unknown date deaths
- George S. Griggs, pioneering master mechanic of American steam locomotives (b. 1805).
[edit] References
- Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History: August. Retrieved August 15, 2005.
- Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History: July. Retrieved July 22, 2005.
- Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
- Scripophily.com, Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company 1886. Retrieved August 2, 2005.
- Waters, Lawrence L. (1950). Steel Trails to Santa Fe. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas. p. 42.
- White, John H., Jr. (1968). A history of the American locomotive; its development: 1830-1880. Dover Publications, New York, NY. ISBN 0-486-23818-0.
- ^ Indian Railways Fan Club. "Chronology of Railways in India, Part 2". http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-history2.html. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
- ^ Corporate Genealogy: Erie & Pittsburgh. Retrieved March 24, 2006.
- ^ "County History: Cheyenne County, Colorado". Cogenweb. http://cogenweb.com/cheyenne/cheyhist.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
- ^ Smith, Denis (2001). Civil Engineering Heritage: London and the Thames Valley. Thomas Telford. pp. 22–23. ISBN 0727728768.
- ^ West, Graham (2005). Innovation and the Rise of the Tunnelling Industry. Cambridge University Press. pp. 116–118. ISBN 0521335124.
- ^ Johnson, Ron (undated). Maine Central R.R. Mountain Division. 470 Railroad Club. p. 14.
- ^ Mortimer, John (2005). Zerah Colburn: The Spirit of Darkness. ISBN 1-84549-024-X.
- ^ Helps, Arthur The Life and Works of Mr Brassey, 1872 republished Nonsuch, 2006 ISBN 1-84588-011-0
