1881 in rail transport

Years in rail transport

1880 in rail transport 1881 in rail transport 1882 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1881.

Events

January events

• January 17 - Regular train service over the Prince of Wales Bridge on the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway begins.

February events

• February 3 - The Seney Syndicate met at Seney's New York bank and organized the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company (which would later become the Nickel Plate Road).
• February 17 - The first train operates between Norwood, Ohio, and Lebanon, Ohio, on the Cincinnati Northern Railway.

March events

• March 8 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building southwestward from Kansas, reaches Deming, New Mexico.

April events

• April 13 - The New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company (later known as the Nickel Plate Road) purchases the Buffalo, Cleveland & Chicago Railway
• April 14 - The Oregon Short Line Railroad is established to build a rail connection between Granger, Wyoming, and Huntington, Oregon.

May events

• May 16 - The Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, the world's first electric tramway, is opened in Berlin by Siemens & Halske.
• May 19 - Tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad reach El Paso, Texas.
• May 28 - A.B. Rogers on his birthday discovers the pass through the Rocky Mountains that will bear his name, Rogers Pass.

A tight loop (Agony Point) on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

June events

• June 9 - The Canada Central Railway is merged into the Canadian Pacific Railway.
• June 11 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad connects to El Paso, Texas.

July events

• July 2 - Assassination of James A. Garfield: James A. Garfield, President of the United States, is shot by lawyer Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., dying on September 19 of a resultant infection.
• July 4 - Darjeeling Himalayan Railway opened throughout to Darjeeling, India.
• July 6 - Kate Shelley prevents a train with 200 passengers from going over the Honey Creek Bridge after it was washed out during a flash flood near Des Moines, Iowa.
• July 26 - Construction crews on the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad's Alpine Tunnel, in Colorado, break through to connect both ends of the tunnel.

August events

• August 22 - The East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) commences operation over a 14.1-mile (2.25-kilometer) run through the Appalachian Mountains.
• August 26 - The first train operates over the Red River Bridge into Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

October events

• October 17 - First section of Royal Saxon State Railways narrow gauge railway (750 mm (2 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in) gauge) opened, between Wilkau and Kirchberg in the German Empire.

Unknown date events

• E.W. Clark & Co., a private banking firm in Philadelphia, purchases the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (a predecessor of the Norfolk & Western) at a foreclosure auction.
• The Richmond and Danville Railroad leases the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway.
• Henry Villard becomes president of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
• The French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique purchases a controlling interest in the Panama Railway Company.
• John Souther retires from the steam locomotive manufacturing company that he founded, Globe Locomotive Works.
• Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway begins.
• The first standard gauge railroad in China is opened from Tangshan to Xugezhuang (10 km (6.2 mi)) for coal traffic.

Births

March births

• March 22 - Arturo Caprotti, Italian inventor of Caprotti valve gear for steam locomotives (d. 1938).

July births

• July 8 - Mantis James Van Sweringen, American financier who, with his brother Oris, controlled the Nickel Plate Road and other eastern railroads (d. 1935).

October births

• October 30 - Charles E. Johnston, president of Kansas City Southern Railway 1928-1938 (d. 1951).

Unknown date births

• Martin W. Clement, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad 1935–1948 (d. 1966).

Deaths

May deaths

• May 21 - Thomas Alexander Scott, president of Union Pacific Railroad 1871-1872, dies (b. 1823).

Unknown date deaths

• William S. Hudson, superintendent of American steam locomotive manufacturing firm Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor (b. 1810).

References

• Churcher, Colin (May 21, 2005), Significant dates in Ottawa railway history. Retrieved June 4, 2005.
• Glenbow Museum (2005), This week in Canadian history. Retrieved May 27, 2005.
• Kansas City Southern Historical Society, The Kansas City Southern Lines. Retrieved August 15, 2005.
• President and Fellows of Harvard College (2004), 20th century great American business leaders - Martin W. Clement. Retrieved February 23, 2005.
• Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
• White, John H., Jr. (Spring 1986), America's most noteworthy railroaders, Railroad History, Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, 154, p. 9-15.