1872 in rail transport
Encyclopedia
March events
- March – John A. Dix succeeds Jay GouldJay GouldJason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has long been vilified as an archetypal robber baron, whose successes made him the ninth richest American in history. Condé Nast Portfolio ranked Gould as the 8th worst American CEO of all time...
as president of the Erie RailroadErie RailroadThe Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...
. - March 1 – Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing CompanyJackson and Woodin Manufacturing CompanyJackson & Woodin Manufacturing Company, also called Jackson & Woodin Car Works, was an American railroad freight car manufacturing company of the late 19th century headquartered in Berwick, Pennsylvania. In 1899, Jackson and Woodin was merged with twelve other freight car manufacturing companies...
, one of the constituent companies of American Car and Foundry CompanyAmerican Car and Foundry CompanyAmerican Car and Foundry is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches under the brand names of ACF and ACF-Brill. Today ACF is known as ACF Industries LLC and is based in St. Charles, Missouri...
, is incorporated in PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. - March 5 – George WestinghouseGeorge WestinghouseGeorge Westinghouse, Jr was an American entrepreneur and engineer who invented the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry. Westinghouse was one of Thomas Edison's main rivals in the early implementation of the American electricity system...
receives a patent for the Westinghouse air brake.
April events
- April 1 - The Midland RailwayMidland RailwayThe Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
(Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
) admits Third classTravel classA travel class is a quality of accommodation on public transport. The accommodation could be a seat or a cabin for example. Higher travel classes are more comfortable and more expensive.-Airline booking codes:...
passengers to all trains, a move which other British railway companies follow.
May events
- May 1 - The Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon RailwayBuckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon RailwayThe Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway built the broad gauge railway line from Totnes to Buckfastleigh and Ashburton in Devon, England.-History:...
, in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, opens. - May 1 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad begins construction westward from Newton, KansasNewton, KansasNewton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...
, toward ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. - May 18 - The Delaware and Raritan CanalDelaware and Raritan CanalThe Delaware and Raritan Canal is a canal in central New Jersey, United States, built in the 1830s that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was intended as an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York City,...
, New Jersey Railroad and the Camden and Amboy Railroad, the first railroad built in New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, are merged into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal CompanyUnited New Jersey Railroad and Canal CompanyThe United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system in New Jersey, including their main line to New York City...
. - May 28 - The Columbus and Toledo Railroad is incorporated.
June events
- June 12 - First section of railway in JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
opens, from YokohamaSakuragicho Station, is a railway station located in Naka Ward, Yokohama, Japan.-Lines:Sakuragichō Station is served by the following lines.*East Japan Railway Company**Keihin-Tōhoku Line / Negishi Line*Yokohama Municipal Subway**Blue Line -Station layout:...
to Shinagawa, TokyoShinagawa Stationis the first major station south ofTokyo Station and is a major interchange for trains operated by JR East, JR Central, and Keikyu. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen and other trains to the Miura Peninsula, Izu Peninsula and the Tōkai region pass through here...
. - June 17 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, KansasNewton, KansasNewton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...
, reaches HutchinsonHutchinson, KansasHutchinson is the largest city in and the county seat of Reno County, Kansas, United States, northwest of Wichita, on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887, thus its nickname of "Salt City", but locals call it "Hutch"...
.
July events
- July - Peter H. Watson succeeds John A. Dix as president of the Erie RailroadErie RailroadThe Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...
.
August events
- August 5 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, KansasNewton, KansasNewton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...
, reaches Great BendGreat Bend, KansasGreat Bend, named for its location at the historic big bend of the Arkansas River, is the most populous city in and the county seat of Barton County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 15,995.-History:...
. - August 12 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, KansasNewton, KansasNewton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...
, reaches LarnedLarned, KansasLarned is a city in and the county seat of Pawnee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,054.-History:...
.
September events
- September 5 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, KansasNewton, KansasNewton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...
, reaches Dodge City, KansasDodge City, KansasDodge City is a city in, and the county seat of, Ford County, Kansas, United States. Named after nearby Fort Dodge, the city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town of the Old West. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,340.-History:The first settlement of...
. - September 13 - The first section of the planned railroad connection between Varciorova and Roman, RomaniaRoman, RomaniaRoman is a mid-sized city, having the title of municipality, located in the central part of Moldavia, a traditional region of Romania. It is located 46 km east of Piatra Neamţ, in the Neamţ County at the confluence of Siret and Moldova rivers....
, opens, connecting PiteştiPitestiPitești is a city in Romania, located on the Argeș River. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated on the A1 freeway connecting it directly to the national capital Bucharest,...
, BucharestBucharestBucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, GalaţiGalatiGalați is a city and municipality in Romania, the capital of Galați County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, in the close vicinity of Brăila, Galați is the largest port and sea port on the Danube River and the second largest Romanian port....
and Roman.
October events
- October 1
- The Denver, South Park and Pacific Railway is incorporated.
- The first meeting of the Time Table Conventions, an organization that later became the American Railway AssociationAmerican Railway AssociationThe American Railway Association was an industry trade group representing railroads in the United States. The organization had its inception in meetings of General Managers and ranking railroad operating officials known as Time Table Conventions, the first of which was held on October 1, 1872, at...
, is held in Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, KentuckyLouisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
.
- October 2 - The Kirtlebridge rail crashKirtlebridge rail crashThe Kirtlebridge rail crash was a rail crash that took place at Kirtlebridge railway station in Dumfries and Galloway.On 2 October 1872 the 21:00 night Scotch Express from London Euston, running 1 hour and 50 minutes late left Carlisle at 07:50. It consisted of 18 vehicles pulled by two locomotives...
in Scotland kills 10 people. - October 10 - Shimbashi TeishajōShiodome Station (JNR)was a freight train station of the Japanese National Railways in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The freight terminal was originally named and served as the first railway terminal of Tokyo between 1872 and 1914.-History:...
, the original Tokyo terminus of JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
's first railway, opens. - October 14 - Official inauguration of JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese railway between Shimbashi and Yokohama (provisionally in June)
November events
- November 1 - Ensign Manufacturing CompanyEnsign Manufacturing CompanyEnsign Manufacturing Company, founded as Ensign Car Works in 1872, was a railroad car manufacturing company based in Huntington, West Virginia. In the 1880s and 1890s Ensign's production of wood freight cars made the company of the three largest sawmill operators in Cabell County...
, later to become part of American Car and Foundry CompanyAmerican Car and Foundry CompanyAmerican Car and Foundry is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches under the brand names of ACF and ACF-Brill. Today ACF is known as ACF Industries LLC and is based in St. Charles, Missouri...
, is incorporated in West VirginiaWest VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
.
December events
- December 28 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, KansasNewton, KansasNewton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...
, reaches the border between KansasKansasKansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
.
Unknown date events
- Transcaucasian Railway from PotiPotiPoti is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near the site of the ancient Greek colony of Phasis, the city has become a major port city and industrial center since the early 20th century. It is also...
(on the Black SeaBlack SeaThe Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
) to TbilisiTbilisiTbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
opened. - Strasburg, ColoradoStrasburg, ColoradoStrasburg is a census-designated place in Adams and Arapahoe counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. The population was 1,402 at the 2000 census. The Strasburg Post Office has the ZIP Code 80136....
- joining of rail over river completes transcontinental railway. - AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
steam locomotiveSteam locomotiveA steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
builder Manchester Locomotive WorksManchester Locomotive WorksManchester Locomotive Works was a manufacturing company located in Manchester, New Hampshire, that built steam locomotives in the 19th century. The first locomotive they built was for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in March 1855. In 1901, Manchester and seven other locomotive...
purchases the fire engineFire apparatusA fire apparatus, fire engine, fire truck, or fire appliance is a vehicle designed to assist in fighting fires by transporting firefighters to the scene and providing them with access to the fire, along with water or other equipment...
manufacturing business of Amoskeag Locomotive WorksAmoskeag Locomotive WorksThe Amoskeag Locomotive Works, located in Manchester, New Hampshire, built steam locomotives at the dawn of the railroad era in the United States....
. - At the age of 29, William Cornelius Van HorneWilliam Cornelius Van HorneSir William Cornelius Van Horne, KCMG was a pioneering Canadian railway executive.-Life and career:Born in 1843 in rural Illinois, he moved with his family to Joliet, Illinois when he was eight years old...
becomes the youngest superintendent of Illinois Central RailroadIllinois Central RailroadThe Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...
. - Buffalo Car Manufacturing CompanyBuffalo Car Manufacturing CompanyBuffalo Car Manufacturing Company, also known as Buffalo Car Company or Buffalo Car Works, was an American manufacturer of railroad freight cars in the late 19th century...
, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. - The Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta RailroadWilmington, Columbia and Augusta RailroadThe Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad was a Southeastern United States railroad that served South Carolina and North Carolina during the second half of the 19th century....
leases North CarolinaNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
's Wilmington and Weldon RailroadWilmington and Weldon RailroadOriginally chartered in 1835 as the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad, the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad name began use in 1855. At the time of its 1840 completion, the line was the longest railroad in the world with 161.5 miles of track...
.
September births
- September 20 - Death Valley Scotty (born Walter Edward Scott), con man who chartered the Scott SpecialScott SpecialThe Scott Special, also known as the Coyote Special, the Death Valley Coyote or the Death Valley Scotty Special, was a one-time, record-breaking passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from Los Angeles, California, to Chicago, Illinois, at the request of "Death...
record-breaking run on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RailwayAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RailwayThe Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...
in 1905.
January deaths
- January 6 - Jim Fisk, AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
financier who worked with Daniel DrewDaniel Drew-Biography:He was born in Carmel, New York.Drew was poorly educated. His father died when Daniel was fifteen years old. Drew enlisted and drilled, but because he enlisted too late, never fought in the War of 1812. After the war, he started a successful cattle-driving business. In 1823, he married...
for control of the Erie RailroadErie RailroadThe Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...
(b. 1834).
February deaths
- 8 February - Joseph Pease, EnglishEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
railway promoter (b. 1799).
April deaths
- April 9 - Erastus CorningErastus CorningErastus Corning I , American businessman and politician, was born in Norwich, Connecticut. Corning moved to Troy, New York at the age of 13 to clerk in the hardware store of an uncle; six years later he moved to Albany, New York, where he joined the mercantile business under James Spencer...
, established railroads in New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and was instrumental in the formation of New York Central (b. 1794).
August deaths
- August - Asa WhitneyAsa WhitneyAsa Whitney was an American merchant and great railroad promoter. Whitney lived in New Rochelle, New York, just to the north of New York City where he was a highly successful dry-goods merchant....
, one of the first backers of an AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Transcontinental Railway