1850 in rail transport explained

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

• 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]

Notes and References

1. Web site: University of Newcastle upon Tyne. SINE: Structure Details. July 13, 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20060324063802/http://www.sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_structure_information.asp?struct_id=1143. March 24, 2006. dead.
2. Book: Brownson, Howard Gray. 157. The first land grant ever given by Congress to assist in the construction of a railroad .... History of the Illinois Central Railroad to 1870. 1967. first reprint. 1915. University of Illinois. Google Books.
3. Book: Sanborn, John Bell. 59. The Illinois Central ... law was approved Sept. 20, 1850 .... Railroad Land Grants 1850-1857; a Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Master of Letters in History and Economics. 1897. University of Wisconsin. Google Books.
4. Book: Baughan, Peter E.. The Chester & Holyhead Railway, vol. 1. 1972. David & Charles. Newton Abbot. 0-7153-5617-8.
5. News: Irate farmers burn freight house in 1850. Detroit Free Press. November 14, 2010. November 14, 2010.
6. Web site: Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. 2005. This month in railroad history – November. 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. Book: Howson, Elmer T.. D. A. Steel. J. B. Tebo. The Biographical Directory of the Railway Officials of America. 1922. New York. Simmons-Boardman. 1922. 267.
10. Web site: September 22, 2004 . Timothy Hackworth. February 9, 2005 .