1878 in rail transport

Events

January events

* January 18 - Construction on The Ghan route south of Port Augusta, Australia, begins.

February events

* February 5 - The first train is operated on the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad from Renton to Newcastle. [HistoryLink (2006), " [http://www.historylink.org/this_week/index.cfm This week in state and local history] ". Retrieved February 5 2006.]

May events

* May 9 - The final segment of the Romanian railway between Varciorova in the south and Roman in the north opens.

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. [cite book|last=Thomas|first=John|title=The North British Railway, vol. 1|date=1969|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot|isbn=0-7153-4697-0]

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.

Unknown date events

* Fred Harvey enters a partnership with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to build and operate the Harvey House chain of restaurants and hotels that will serve the railroad's passengers.
* The first Shay locomotive is built.
* The Richmond and Danville Railroad acquires the Charlotte, Columbia and 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 and 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).

Unknown date births

* Angus Daniel McDonald, president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the Southern Pacific Railroad, 1932–1941 (d. 1941). [cite web|url=http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/bloodlines/mcdonald.htm|title=The McDonald bloodline|accessdate=2005-02-15] [cite book|author=Yenne, Bill|year=1985|title=The history of the Southern Pacific|publisher=Bonanza|location=New York]

Deaths

March deaths

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

October deaths

* October 19 - Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II, designer of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Thomas Viaduct (still in use today), dies (d. 1806).

Unknown date deaths

* Daniel McCallum, General Superintendent of New York and Erie Railroad 1855-1858 (b. 1815).

References