1850 in rail transport
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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1850.
Events
January events
- January â Maine Central Railroad predecessor Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad is completed between Auburn, Maine and Waterville, Maine.
May events
- May 13 â The Mecklenburgische Eisenbahngesellschaft opens the Rostock-Bützow-Bad Kleinen and Güstrow-Bützow railway lines in northern Germany.
July events
- July 1 â Joseph Hamilton Beattie succeeds John Viret Gooch as locomotive engineer for London and South Western Railway.
- July 4 â Chile: The first section of the Copiapó-Caldera railway line â the second in South America â 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 â 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 â 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 â 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 â 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 â 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 â 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 â Jule Murat Hannaford, president of Northern Pacific Railway 1913â1920 (d. 1934).[7][8][9]
Deaths
July deaths
- July 7 â Timothy Hackworth, English steam locomotive builder (b. 1786).[10]