1850 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1850.

Events

January events

• January – Maine Central Railroad predecessor Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad is completed between Auburn, Maine and Waterville, Maine.

May events

• May 13 – The Mecklenburgische Eisenbahngesellschaft opens the Rostock-Bützow-Bad Kleinen and Güstrow-Bützow railway lines in northern Germany.

July events

• July 1 – Joseph Hamilton Beattie succeeds John Viret Gooch as locomotive engineer for London and South Western Railway.
• July 4 – Chile: The first section of the Copiapó-Caldera railway line – the second in South America – between Caldera and Monte Amargo is inaugurated today in honour of the nationality of William Wheelwright, the American businessman responsible for the project.

August events

• August 29 – Robert Stephenson's Royal Border Bridge for the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway at Berwick-upon-Tweed, England is opened by Queen Victoria.[1]

September events

• September 20 – The land grant for construction of the Illinois Central Railroad, the first railroad land grant in the United States,[2] is approved.[3]

October events

The original box section Britannia Bridge

• October 19 – Robert Stephenson's Britannia Bridge, completing the Chester and Holyhead Railway over the Menai Strait in North Wales, is opened.[4]

November events

• November 19 – Farmers around Detroit, Michigan, burn down the Michigan Central Railroad's freight house in Detroit; the farmers were angry at the railroad's policy regarding not reimbursing them for livestock killed by trains when the stock wandered onto the tracks.[5]
• November 20 – The first train operates on the Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, a predecessor of the Milwaukee Road.[6]

Unknown date events

• The Richmond and Danville Railroad begins operation in Virginia.
• Construction begins on the first transcontinental railroad to be completed, the Panama Railway.

Births

February births

• February 27 – Henry Huntington, nephew of Collis P. Huntington and executive in charge of Pacific Electric in the early part of the 20th century (d. 1927).

November births

• November 19 – Jule Murat Hannaford, president of Northern Pacific Railway 1913–1920 (d. 1934).[7][8][9]

Deaths

July deaths

• July 7 – Timothy Hackworth, English steam locomotive builder (b. 1786).[10]

References

1. University of Newcastle upon Tyne. "SINE: Structure Details". Archived from the original on March 24, 2006. Retrieved July 13, 2007.
2. Brownson, Howard Gray (1967) [1915]. History of the Illinois Central Railroad to 1870 (first reprint ed.). University of Illinois. p. 157 – via Google Books. The first land grant ever given by Congress to assist in the construction of a railroad ...
3. Sanborn, John Bell (1897). Railroad Land Grants 1850-1857; a Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Master of Letters in History and Economics. University of Wisconsin. p. 59 – via Google Books. The Illinois Central ... law was approved Sept. 20, 1850 ...
4. Baughan, Peter E. (1972). The Chester & Holyhead Railway, vol. 1. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5617-8.
5. "Irate farmers burn freight house in 1850". Detroit Free Press. November 14, 2010. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
6. Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005). "This month in railroad history – November". Retrieved November 20, 2005.
7. Northern Pacific. Annual Report. St. Paul [Minn.]: Northern Pacific, 1934, p. 17.
8. Railway Age, September 29, 1934, p. 390.
9. Howson, Elmer T.; D. A. Steel; J. B. Tebo, eds. (1922). The Biographical Directory of the Railway Officials of America (1922 ed.). New York: Simmons-Boardman. p. 267.
10. "Timothy Hackworth". September 22, 2004. Retrieved February 9, 2005.