1859 in rail transport explained

Events

February events

• February 11 — The Atchison and Topeka Railroad Company, forerunner of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, is chartered in Kansas.^{[1] [2] [3]}
• February 13 — Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad completes construction of its line across Missouri to connect its namesake cities.

March events

• March 3 — Construction begins on the first railway in northern India as tracks are laid between the present day locations of Allahabad and Kanpur.^[4]

• March 15 – While under lease to Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Somerset Central Railway is extended to Wells.

May events

• May 2 — Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash in Cornwall, England, opened by Prince Albert.^[5]
• May 4 — Cornwall Railway opened across the Royal Albert Bridge linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England.^[6]

June events

• June 2 — The organization that is to become the Chicago and North Western Railway purchases the assets of the bankrupt Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad.
• June 7 — The Chicago and North Western Railway is chartered.

August events

• August — Samuel Marsh succeeds Charles Moran as president of the Erie Railroad.^[7]

September events

• September 1 — The first Pullman sleeping car leaves Bloomington, Illinois, on an overnight trip to Chicago; first Pullman conductor is Jonathan L. Barnes.
• September 12 – At a meeting under Drammen chairmanship in Norway, construction of a railway line to connect Drammen and Randsfjorden, later known as the Randsfjorden Line, is selected over the option for a waterway.^[8]
• September 22 – The Chemins de fer de l'Est opens its line from Paris Gare de la Bastille to Vincennes and La Varenne in France.

October events

• October 3 — The Cologne-Minden Railway Company opens the Cathedral Bridge (Dombrücke) across the Rhine in Cologne giving access to the city's new Central Station.

December events

• December 27 — Grand Trunk Railway completes construction of the rail line from Toronto to Sarnia, Ontario, and begins a train ferry connection across the St. Clair River at Fort Gratiot.^[9]

Unknown date events

• Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España of Spain introduces its standard 0-6-0 goods locomotives, almost all of which will be in service for more than a century.^[10]

Births

January births

• January 11 — Charles Bowen-Cooke, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Western Railway 1909–1920 (d. 1920).

April births

• April 3 – Darius Miller, president of Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 1910–1914, is born (d. 1914).^{[11] [12]}
• April 11 — Stuart R. Knott, president of Kansas City Southern Railway 1900–1905 (d. 1943).^[13]

July births

• July 21 — Hugo Lentz, Austrian inventor of a valve gear for steam engines (d. 1944).^[14]

November births

• November 13 — Georg Knorr, inventor of the Knorr brake, is born (d. 1911).

December births

• December 3 — Vincent Raven, chief mechanical engineer of the North Eastern Railway from 1910 to 1922 (d. 1934).

Deaths

September deaths

• September 15 — Isambard Kingdom Brunel, civil engineer of the Great Western Railway, dies (b. 1806).^[15]

October deaths

• October 12 — Robert Stephenson, English railway civil engineer and steam locomotive builder (b. 1803).^[16]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Baker Library Historical Collections . Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Records, 1879–1896 . 2005-05-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20050410014842/http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/sfa/atchison%2C_topeka.htm . 2005-04-10 . dead .
2. The Cosmopolitan. February 1893. The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe. 2005-05-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20050414005242/http://catskillarchive.com/rrextra/statsf.Html. 14 April 2005 . live.
3. Book: Santa Fe Railroad. 1945. Along Your Way. Rand McNally. Chicago, Illinois.
4. Web site: Northern Railway of India. History Of Northern Railway. 2006-03-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20060202041429/http://www.northrail.org/scripts/static/history.aspx. 2 February 2006 . dead.
5. Book: Binding, John. Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge. 1997. Twelveheads Press. Truro. 0-906294-39-8.
6. Book: Woodfin, R. J.. The Cornwall Railway. 1972. Bradford Barton. Truro.
7. Web site: Erie Railroad presidents. 2005-03-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20050318171642/http://erierr.railfan.net/eriepres.html. 18 March 2005 . dead.
8. Book: På sporet med Krøderkippen. Berntsen. Ulf. Lund. Thure. Lunner. Dagfinn. 1997. Norwegian Railway Club / Krøderen Line Foundation. 82-90286-20-1. Norwegian. 26.
9. Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (August 16, 2005), Significant dates in Canadian railway history . Retrieved December 27, 2005
10. Book: Pryce, Irwin. McAllister, Leslie. Steaming in Three Centuries: the story of the 101 Class locomotives of the Great Southern and Western Railway. Camberley. Irish Railway Record Society, London Area. 2006. 0-902564-08-0.
11. News: Darius Miller Dead. New York Times. August 24, 1914. November 30, 2013 .
12. Web site: The Curse of King Tut. Gravely Speaking. January 9, 2013. November 30, 2013 .
13. Web site: Kansas City Southern Historical Society. The Kansas City Southern Lines. 2005-08-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20050828172330/http://www.kcshs.org/schedule/subs/images/history/kcs_hist.htm. 28 August 2005 . live.
14. Book: Marshall, John. John Marshall (railway historian)

    . John Marshall (railway historian) . Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers. 2nd. Oxford. Railway and Canal Historical Society. 2003. 0-901461-22-9.

15. Book: Rolt, L. T. C.. Isambard Kingdom Brunel: a biography. registration. 1957. Longmans. London.
16. Book: Rolt, L. T. C.. George and Robert Stephenson. 1960. Longmans. London.