1840 in rail transport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1840.
Events
March events
- 9 March â The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad is completed from Wilmington to Weldon, North Carolina. At 161.5 miles (260 km), it is the world's longest railroad at this time.[1]
April events
- April â The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad is completed from Raleigh to near Weldon, North Carolina.[2]
May events
- 11 May â The London and South Western Railway opens its original main line throughout to Southampton (England).[3]
July events
- 1 July - The Midland Counties Railway of England opens its line from Derby and Nottingham via Leicester to a junction with the London and Birmingham Railway at Rugby.
August events
- 12 August â The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway opened between Glasgow Bridge Street railway station and Ayr, the first inter-urban railroad in Scotland.
- 17 August â The first railroad built in Milan, Italy, the Milan and Monza Rail Road opens for service.
October events
- 8 October â Formal opening of first section of the Taff Vale Railway, the first steam-worked passenger railway in Wales, from Cardiff Docks to Navigation House (Abercynon).[4] Public service begins the following day.
December events
- 21 December â Manchester and Birmingham Railway in England completes Stockport Viaduct (but does not yet bring it into use).[5] It is one of the largest brick structures in Europe.
Unknown date events
- By July â August Borsig completes the first steam locomotive built in Germany.
- Mordecai W. Jackson and George Mack partner to create a farm implement manufacturing company that will eventually become Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company, one of the constituent companies of American Car and Foundry Company.[6][7]
Births
January births
- January 8 â William Dean, Chief Mechanical Engineer of Great Western Railway of England 1877â1902 (d. 1905).
- January 29 â Henry H. Rogers, American financier who helped finance and build the Virginian Railway (d. 1909).
February births
- February 7 â Samuel W. Fordyce, president of St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway 1886â1889, St. Louis Southwestern Railway 1890â1898, Kansas City Southern Railway 1900 (d. 1919).[8]
March births
- March 31 â Benjamin Baker, British civil engineer, designer of the Forth Railway Bridge (d. 1907).[9]
April births
- April â William Sykes, English railway signalling engineer (d. 1917).[9]
June births
- June 6 â William Dudley Chipley, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 1873â1876 (d. 1897).
- June 14 â William F. Nast, president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway September 1868.[10]
- June 27 â Alpheus Beede Stickney, first president of Chicago Great Western Railway 1884â1909 (d. 1916).[11]
August births
- August 23 â Brayton Ives, president of Northern Pacific Railway 1893â1896 (d. 1914).
- August 25 â George C. Magoun, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in the late 1880s (d. 1893).[12]
November births
- November 17 â Edmund Morel, English-born civil engineer in Japan (d. 1871).
- November 24 â Henry Kirke Porter, American steam locomotive builder and founder of H. K. Porter, Inc (d. 1921).
Deaths
April deaths
- April 12 â Franz Anton von Gerstner, Bohemian-born railway civil engineer (b. 1796)