1881 in rail transport

none 1880 1881 1882 1880 Events January events January 17 – Regular train service over the Prince of Wales Bridge on the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway begins.Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (January 8, 2006), Significant dates in Ottawa railway history https://web.archive.org/web/20060427061656/http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/ottawa.htm 2006-04-27 . Retrieved January 17, 2006. February events February 3 – The Seney Syndicate meets 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 16 – Canadian Pacific Railway incorporated. February 17 – The first train operates between Norwood, Ohio, and Lebanon, Ohio, on the Cincinnati Northern Railway. March events March 1 – The Mexican Southern Railroad is incorporated with Ulysses S. Grant, former President of the United States, as its president. 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.http://www.siemens.pl/upload/images/TS-Siemens_lekkie%20pojazdy_historia.pdf The Siemens tram from past to present Siemens 2011-06-16 https://web.archive.org/web/20110725013704/http://www.siemens.pl/upload/images/TS-Siemens_lekkie%20pojazdy_historia.pdf 2011-07-25 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. 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. June 14 – Ephraim Shay takes out the first patent on his Shay locomotive design. July events thumb|280px|A tight loop (Agony Point) on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway 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 15 – The International Exposition of Electricity opens in Paris, featuring the first tramway designed by Werner von Siemens. The installation was temporary, and removed after the Exposition closed on November 15. 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 (750mm on gauge) opens, between Wilkau and Kirchberg in the German Empire. October 20 – First section of Barbados Railway opens on 3ft 6in on gauge between Bridgetown and Carrington. 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. The first standard gauge railroad in China is opened from Tangshan to Xugezhuang (10 km mi on) for coal traffic. Births March births March 22 – Arturo Caprotti, Italian inventor of Caprotti valve gear for steam locomotives (d. 1938).Marshall, John Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers 2nd Oxford Railway and Canal Historical Society 2003 0-901461-22-9 John Marshall (railway historian) 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). December births December 5 – 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 (b. 1823). October deaths October 30 – Matthias von Schönerer, Austrian railway engineer (b. 1807). Unknown date deaths William S. Hudson, superintendent of American steam locomotive manufacturing firm Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor (b. 1810). References Churcher, Colin 21 May 2005 http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/ottawa.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20060427061656/http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/ottawa.htm 27 April 2006 Significant dates in Ottawa railway history 4 June 2005 Glenbow Museum 2005 https://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/online/libhtm/may23.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20050624090314/https://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/online/libhtm/may23.htm 2005-06-24 This week in Canadian history 27 May 2005 Kansas City Southern Historical Society http://www.kcshs.org/schedule/subs/images/history/kcs_hist.htm The Kansas City Southern Lines 15 August 2005 28 August 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20050828172330/http://www.kcshs.org/schedule/subs/images/history/kcs_hist.htm dead http://www.channel1.com/users/hemlock/MakersTransportation.htm The Makers of the Mold Newcomb Kenneth W. 13 May 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20050313220204/http://www.channel1.com/users/hemlock/MakersTransportation.htm 2005-03-13 President and Fellows of Harvard College 2004 http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/154/ https://web.archive.org/web/20050205121925/http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/154/ 2005-02-05 20th century great American business leaders – Martin W. Clement 23 February 2005 Santa Fe Railroad 1945 Along Your Way Rand McNally Chicago, Ill. White John H. Jr. John H. White Jr. Spring 1986 America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders Railroad History Railway and Locomotive Historical Society 154 154 9–15 43523785