1874 in rail transport

Events

May events

* May 1 - Construction begins on the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad, the first railroad to be built in Seattle, Washington, United States.
* May 5 - The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad is chartered in Massachusetts.
* May 18 - Construction begins on the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad.

June events

* June 20 - The Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad, building from Denver, reaches Morrison, Colorado.

July events

* July - Hugh J. Jewett succeeds Peter H. Watson as president of the Erie Railroad. [cite web|url=http://erierr.railfan.net/eriepres.html|title=Erie Railroad presidents|accessdate=2005-03-15]
* July 3 - The first revenue trains on the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad operate between Denver and Morrison, Colorado.
* July 28 - The Sutherland and Caithness Railway is opened through to Wick and Thurso, completing the Highland Railway system to the far north of Scotland. [cite book|author=Vallance, H. A.|title=The Highland Railway|date=1963|publisher=David & Charles|location=Dawlish]

eptember events

* September 10 - Norwich (Norfolk), United Kingdom: 25 people were killed when a communication error caused a mail train and an express passenger train to meet in a head-on collision on a single-line section. The accident led directly to the introduction of automatic control systems to manage traffic on single-track railways.
* September 14 - A franchise for the extension of the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad to the Southern Pacific Railroad's Old River Station, in Los Angeles, California, is approved. [cite web|author=Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California|url=http://www.erha.org/railwayhis.htm|title=The street railway history of Los Angeles|accessdate=2005-09-13]
* September 23 - East Broad Top narrow gauge railroad in Pennsylvania operates its first revenue trains.

October events

* October 23 - The first trains operate on the Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad, making it the first narrow gauge railroad to operate in California. [cite web| url=http://www.mchsmuseum.com/railroadm&sv.html| title=The Monterey & Salinas Valley Railroad| author=Monterey County Historical Society| date=2006| accessdate=2006-10-23| ]
* October 26 - Grand Trunk Railway converts all mi to km|546 of its track east of Montreal from 5 ft 6 in (1676 mm) gauge to RailGauge|ussg standard gauge.cite web| url=http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/candate.htm| title=Significant dates in Canadian railway history| work=Colin Churcher's Railway Pages| date=2006-09-15| accessdate=2006-10-26| ]

November events

* November 7 - The Miami Valley Narrow Gauge Railway, the predecessor of the Miami Valley Railway, is incorporated.
* November 8 - Tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad reach Bakersfield, California; work begins on the route that would eventually become the Tehachapi Loop.

Unknown date events

* The Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad, an early predecessor of the Milwaukee Road, changes its official name to Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul
* Dr. Livingston Stone of the US Fish Commission (which later became the United States Fish and Wildlife Service) "chaperoned" a shipment of 35,000 shad fry to stock the Sacramento River in California in the first such delivery by rail aboard a fish car. [cite web|author=U.S. Government Printing Office|date=1979|url=http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/fishcar.Html|title=The Fish Car Era of the National Fish Hatchery System|accessdate=2005-03-28]

Births

Deaths

May deaths

* May 27 - John Edgar Thomson, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad 1852–1874 (b. 1808).

June deaths

* June 20 - John Ruggles, who was awarded US patent|1 for improved driving wheels (b. 1789).

Unknown date deaths

* Joseph Harrison, Jr., partner in the American steam locomotive manufacturing firm of Eastwick and Harrison (b. 1810).

References

* Rivanna Chapter National Railway Historical Society (2005), " [http://avenue.org/nrhs/histsep.htm This month in railroad history: September] ". Retrieved September 23 2005.
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