1878 in rail transport explained

Events

January events

• January 18 – Construction on the Central Australia Railway route south of Port Augusta, Australia, begins.

February events

• February 5 – The first train is operated on the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad from Renton to Newcastle.^[1]

May events

• May 9 – The final segment of the Romanian railway between Vârciorova in the south and Roman in the north opens.
• May – Chemins de fer de l'État formed in France to take over ten small railway companies operating between the Loire and Garonne.

June events

• June 1 – The North British Railway's Tay Bridge across the Firth of Tay in Scotland, is opened to public traffic, making it the longest in the world at that date.^[2]

July events

• July 2 – The Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Railway, original predecessor of the BMT Brighton Line, in modern Brooklyn, New York, opens to Brighton Beach on Coney Island.

August events

• August 24 – The narrow gauge Ballymena and Larne Railway starts passenger operations in County Antrim, the first on the Irish 3 ft narrow gauge.^{[3] [4]}

October events

• October 16 – Rimutaka Incline in New Zealand opens.

December events

• December 4 – The first Shay locomotive is completed for the 3-foot narrow gauge Alleyton and Big Lake Railroad of Everett Township, Michigan.^[5]

Unknown date events

• Fred Harvey enters a partnership with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to build and operate the Harvey House chain of restaurants and hotels that will serve the railroad's passengers.
• The Richmond & Danville Railroad acquires the Charlotte, Columbia & Augusta Railroad.
• The Canadian Engine and Machinery Company is reorganized after a bankruptcy as the Canadian Locomotive and Engine Company.
• The Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad, lessee of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, declares bankruptcy.

Births

March births

• March 2 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, heir to Cornelius Vanderbilt and president of the New York Central system (d. 1944).

April births

• April 14 – Angus Daniel McDonald, president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the Southern Pacific, 1932–1941 (d. 1941).^[6]

Deaths

March deaths

• March 29 – Mark Hopkins, a member of The Big Four group of financiers in California (b. 1813).

June deaths

• June 27 – Sidney Breese, U.S. senator from Illinois known as the "father of the Illinois Central Railroad," dies (b. 1800).

October deaths

• October 19 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II, designer of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Thomas Viaduct, still in use toda), dies (b. 1806).

December deaths

• December 27 – Daniel McCallum, General Superintendent of New York & Erie Railroad 1855–1858 (b. 1815).

Notes and References

1. HistoryLink (2018), Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad reaches Newcastle on February 5, 1878.. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
2. Book: Thomas, John. The North British Railway, vol. 1. 1969. David & Charles. Newton Abbot. 0-7153-4697-0.
3. Book: Baker, Michael H. C.. Irish Narrow Gauge Railways: a View from the Past. Shepperton. Ian Allan Publishing. 1999. 0-7110-2680-7 .
4. Book: Patterson, Edward M.. The Ballymena Lines. Newton Abbot. David & Charles. 1968. 0-7153-4183-9. 64.
5. Book: Koch, Michael. The Shay Locomotive: Titan of the Timber. The World Press. 1971. 385.
6. Book: Yenne, Bill. 1985. The history of the Southern Pacific. Bonanza. New York.