1870 in rail transport

1869 1870 1871

Years in rail transport

1869 in rail transport 1870 in rail transport 1871 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1870.

Contents 1 Events 1.1 January events 1.2 February events 1.3 March events 1.4 June events 1.5 July events 1.6 August events 1.7 September events 1.8 December events 1.9 Unknown date events 2 Births 2.1 July births 3 Deaths 3.1 April deaths 3.2 December deaths 3.3 Unknown date deaths 4 References

Events

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.

February events

• February 24 - Delaware and Hudson Canal Company leases the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, which extended from Albany to Binghamton, New York.

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]

June events

• June - The Denver Pacific Railway completes construction of its mainline between Denver, Colorado, and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

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.

August events

• August - Construction crews on the Kansas Pacific working eastward from Denver and westward from Kansas City meet at Strasburg, Colorado.
• August - 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.
• August 15 - Construction on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, building westward from Kansas, reaches Denver, Colorado.

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.^[4]

• September 24 - Ginery Twichell succeeds Henry Keyes as president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

December events

• December 12 - The Stairfoot rail accident in England kills 15 people
• December 26 - The Hatfield rail crash (1870) in England kills 8.

Unknown date events

• The Southern Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad operations are merged under the Southern Pacific name.

Births

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).

Deaths

April deaths

• April 26 - Zerah Colburn (locomotive designer) (suicide) (b. 1832).^[5]

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).^[6]

Unknown date deaths

• George S. Griggs, pioneering master mechanic of American steam locomotives (b. 1805).

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. 

1. ^ Indian Railways Fan Club. "Chronology of Railways in India, Part 2". http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-history2.html. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
2. ^ Corporate Genealogy: Erie & Pittsburgh. Retrieved March 24, 2006.
3. ^ "County History: Cheyenne County, Colorado". Cogenweb. http://cogenweb.com/cheyenne/cheyhist.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
4. ^ Johnson, Ron (undated). Maine Central R.R. Mountain Division. 470 Railroad Club. p. 14. 
5. ^ Mortimer, John (2005). Zerah Colburn: The Spirit of Darkness. ISBN 1-84549-024-X. 
6. ^ Helps, Arthur The Life and Works of Mr Brassey, 1872 republished Nonsuch, 2006 ISBN 1-84588-011-0