1879 in rail transport
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| 1878, 1879, 1880 |
| Years in rail transport |
| 1878 in rail transport 1879 in rail transport 1880 in rail transport |
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1879.
Contents |
[edit] Events
[edit] February events
- February 10 - The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railway begins freight operations.[1]
[edit] May events
- May - James J. Hill forms the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway from the assets of the bankrupt St. Paul and Pacific.
- May 17 - The Texas and St. Louis Railway, a predecessor of St. Louis Southwestern Railway, is organized as a way to ship cotton south to Texas.[2]
- May 31 - The first electric railway opens at the Berlin Trades Exposition.
[edit] June events
- June 1 - Great Britain's Queen Victoria opens the Tay Rail Bridge, at the time the longest bridge in the world, across the Firth of Tay in Scotland.
[edit] July events
- July 4 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building southwestward from Kansas, reaches Las Vegas, New Mexico.[3]
[edit] December events
- December 28 - Scotland: The Tay Rail Bridge collapses in a violent storm while a passenger train is crossing it. 75 lives are lost. William Topaz McGonagall produces his epic poem The Tay Bridge Disaster to commemorate the event.
[edit] Unknown date events
- Southern Pacific Railroad engineers experiment with the first oil-fired steam locomotives.
- Ensign Manufacturing Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in Huntington, West Virginia.
[edit] Births
[edit] March births
- March 6 - Patrick H. Joyce, president Chicago Great Western Railway 1931-1946, is born (d. 1946).
[edit] April births
- April 24 - Oris Paxton Van Sweringen, American financier who, with his brother Mantis, controlled the Nickel Plate Road and other eastern railroads (d. 1936).
[edit] October births
- October 18 - Charles Eugene Denney, president of Erie Railroad 1929-1939, Northern Pacific Railway 1939-1950, is born.[4]
[edit] Unknown date births
- Ralph Budd, president of the Great Northern Railway 1919-1932 and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 1932-1949 (d. 1962).
[edit] Deaths
[edit] References
- (2000), American Experience / Streamliners / People & Events / Ralph Budd. Retrieved February 22, 2005.
- President and Fellows of Harvard College (2004), 20th century great American business leaders - Ralph Budd. Retrieved February 22, 2005.
- Today in Science History: May 31. Retrieved May 27, 2005.
- White, John H., Jr., (Spring 1986), America's most noteworthy railroaders, Railroad History, The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, 154, p. 9-15.
- ^ Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Railroad History Timeline. Retrieved February 10, 2006.
- ^ Beck, Wayne (1957). The History of St. Louis Southwestern Railway. Retrieved on 2006-05-17.
- ^ Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
- ^ (1940) Who’s Who In Railroading in North America, 1940 edition. New York: Simmons-Boardman.
