1836 in rail transport explained

Events

January events

• January 16 – The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, the oldest portion of what is to become the Chicago and North Western Railway, is chartered.

February events

• February 5 – Henry R. Campbell of the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad patents the first 4-4-0, a steam locomotive type that will soon become the most common on all railroads of the United States.^[1]
• February 8 - London and Greenwich Railway opens its first section, the first railway in London, England.^[2]

March events

• March - The Syracuse and Utica Railroad, a predecessor of the New York Central Railroad, is chartered to build a railroad between its namesake cities in New York.

April events

• April – The first railroad car ferry in the U.S., the Susquehanna enters service on the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland.

May events

• May 5 – The Albany and West Stockbridge Railroad is chartered as the successor to the Castleton and West Stockbridge Railroad in Massachusetts and eastern New York.
• May 19 – The Bristol and Exeter Railway receives parliamentary authorization.

July events

• July 13 – John Ruggles is awarded for his improvements to railroad steam locomotive tires.^[3]
• July 21 – The Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad opens between St. John and La Prairie, Quebec, the first steam-worked passenger railroad in British North America.

August events

• August 1 – The Utica and Schenectady Railroad, a predecessor of the New York Central Railroad in New York, opens.
• August 8 – Andover and Wilmington Railroad opens its line to Andover, Massachusetts.

September events

• September 5 – The Lake Wimico and St. Joseph Canal and Railroad, the first steam railroad in Florida, opens.

October events

• The Louisa Railroad of Louisa County, Virginia, an early predecessor of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, begins construction.^[4]
• October 25 – Construction begins on the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad in North Carolina. Due to a lack of support in Raleigh, the route is revised to run from Wilmington to the Petersburg Railroad in Weldon.^[5]

December events

• December 3 – Wetheral train accident: A passenger train on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway in England is wrongly diverted into a siding at Wetheral railway station, derails and crushes three people to death.^[6]
• December 14 – The London and Greenwich Railway opens throughout from London Bridge to Deptford.^[7]

Unknown date events

• The Bangor and Piscataquis Canal and Railroad Company operates the first steam railroad in Maine with two 2-2-0 locomotives manufactured in England.

Births

January births

• January 2 - Fred T. Perris, Chief Engineer of the California Southern Railroad (d. 1916).^{[8] [9]}

February births

• February 9 – Franklin B. Gowen, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 1866–1883 (d. 1889).

March births

• March 16 – Andrew Smith Hallidie, who developed the first practical cable car system for San Francisco, California (d. 1900).^[10]

May births

• May 21 – Francis William Webb, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Western Railway (d. 1906).^[11]
• May 27 - Jay Gould, American financier who, with Jim Fisk, took control of the Erie Railroad (d. 1892).

September births

• September 17 - William Jackson Palmer, builder of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (d. 1909).

Deaths

January deaths

• January 7 – John Molson, established the Champlain and Saint Lawrence Railroad, the first railway into Canada (b. 1763).

References

• Pennsylvania Railroad Historical and Technical Society (June 2004), PRR Chronology, 1836 (PDF). Retrieved March 5, 2005.
• White, John H, Jr. (Spring 1986), America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders, Railroad History, 154, p. 9–15.

Notes and References

1. Book: Balkwill, Richard. Marshall, John. John Marshall (railway historian). The Guinness Book of Railway Facts and Feats. 6th. Enfield. Guinness Publishing. 1993. 0-85112-707-X.
2. Book: Thomas, R. H. G.. London's First Railway – The London & Greenwich. 1972. Batsford. London. 0-7134-0468-X.
3. 9,957 unnumbered patents have been filed previously.
4. Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company. The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway directory. 1882. pg. 17
5. Web site: Railroad — Wilmington & Raleigh (later Weldon). CommunicationSolutions/ISI. North Carolina Business History. 2006. 2012-04-05.
6. The Times (London) 14 December 1836.
7. Book: Palmer, Alan. Palmer . Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 260–261. 0-7126-5616-2.
8. Book: Serpico, Philip C.. Santa Fé Route to the Pacific. 1988. Omni Publications. Palmdale, California. 0-88418-000-X. 18–24.
9. Web site: City of Perris, California . A Brief History of the Perris Valley . 2006-07-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060827004101/http://www.cityofperris.org/history.asp . 2006-08-27 . dead .
10. Book: Millard . Bailey . History of the San Francisco Bay Region: History and Biography . 1924 . American Historical Society . Chicago . 3 . 312–317 . https://books.google.com/books?id=rbQzAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA312 . 10 October 2021 . Andrew Smith Hallidie . Google Books.
11. Book: Marshall, John. Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers. 2003. Railway and Canal Historical Society. Oxford. 0-901461-22-9.