1856 in rail transport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1856.
Events
January events
- January â Opening throughout of first railroad in Africa and the Middle East, from Alexandria to Cairo, Egypt (208 km or 129 mi).[1][page needed][2]
- January 29 â The 223-mile North Carolina Railroad is completed from Goldsboro through Raleigh and Salisbury to Charlotte.[3]
March events
- March 23 or 26 â Cambridge Railroad street railway opens in Boston (United States), giving the city the world's oldest continuously working streetcar system.
April events
- April 19 â Death of American locomotive builder Thomas Rogers, following which his son, Jacob S. Rogers, reorganizes Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor as Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works.
- April 21 â The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River opens between Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa.[4]
May events
- May 1 â First section of Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway opens, between Ankleshwar and Utran.[5]
- May 6 â The newly constructed sidewheeler Effie Afton runs into one of the supports for the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River, causing a fire that destroys the bridge just two weeks after it had opened.[4]
June events
- June 21 â The Illinois Central Railroad opens its Great Central Station in Chicago.[6]
July events
- July 14 â The Rome and Frascati Rail Road opens for service.
- July 17 â The Great Train Wreck (the worst railroad calamity in the world up to this date) occurs near Philadelphia in the United States.
September events
- September 16 â TarragonaâReus line in Spain opens.
- September 21 â The Illinois Central Railroad connects Chicago to Cairo, Illinois, completing 700 miles (1,126 km) of track to become the longest railway in the United States.
- September 22 â The Oriental Railway Company is granted the concession to build the first railway in Turkey, from Ä°zmir to Aydın.
October events
- October 23 â The line that is now Belgian railway line 161 is completed and opened connecting Brussels-North and Namur stations.[7]
- October 28 â Opening of first railway in Portugal, from Lisbon to Carregado (37 km or 23 mi).[1][page needed]
December events
- December 1 â Opening of first steam-operated passenger railways in Sweden, from Gothenburg to Jonsered (15 km or 9.3 mi) and Malmö to Lund (17 km or 11 mi).[1][page needed]
Accidents
Births
February births
- February 2 â Frederick William Vanderbilt, director of the New York Central system (d. 1938).
December births
- December 30 â Sam Fay, General manager of the Great Central Railway of England, 1902â1922 (d. 1953).[8]
Deaths
January deaths
- January 8 â Charles "Joe" Baldwin, conductor on the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad
March deaths
- March 11 â James Beatty, Irish engineer who was involved in building the European and North American Railway and the Grand Crimean Central Railway (b. 1820).
April deaths
- April 19 â Thomas Rogers, American steam locomotive builder, dies in New York (b. 1792).[9]
- April 20 â Robert L. Stevens, president of Camden and Amboy Railroad (b. 1787).[10]
November deaths
- November 1 - John Urpeth Rastrick, English steam locomotive builder and partner in Foster, Rastrick and Company (b. 1780).[11]