1881 in rail transport

Events

January events

* January 17 - Regular train service over the Prince of Wales Bridge on the Québec, Montréal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway begins. [Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (January 8 2006), " [http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/ottawa.htm Significant dates in Ottawa railway history] ". Retrieved January 17 2006.]

February events

* February 3 - The Seney Syndicate met at Seney's New York bank and organized the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company (which would later become the Nickel Plate Road).
* February 17 - The first train operates between Norwood, Ohio, and Lebanon, Ohio, on the Cincinnati Northern Railway.

March events

* March 8 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building southwestward from Kansas, reaches Deming, New Mexico.

April events

* April 13 - The New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company (later known as the Nickel Plate Road) purchases the Buffalo, Cleveland & Chicago Railway
* April 14 - The Oregon Short Line Railroad is established to build a rail connection between Granger, Wyoming, and Huntington, Oregon.

May events

* May 19 - Tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad reach El Paso, Texas.
* May 28 - Albert Bowman Rogers on his birthday discovers the pass through the Rocky Mountains that would bear his name, Rogers Pass.

June events

* June 9 - The Canada Central Railway is merged into the Canadian Pacific Railway.
* June 11 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad connects to El Paso, Texas.

July events

* July 4 - Darjeeling Himalayan Railway opened throughout to Darjeeling, India. [cite web|url=http://www.dhr.in/|title=DHR and Its Development|accessdate=2007-02-24]
* July 6 - Kate Shelley prevented a train with 200 passengers from going over the Honey Creek Bridge after it was washed out during a flash flood near Des Moines, Iowa.
* July 26 - Construction crews on the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad's Alpine Tunnel, in Colorado, break through to connect both ends of the tunnel.

August events

* August 22 - The East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) commences operation over a 14.1-mile (2.25-kilometer) run through the Appalachian Mountains.
* August 26 - The first train operates over the Red River Bridge into Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Unknown date events

* E.W. Clark and Company, a private banking firm in Philadelphia, purchases the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (a predecessor of the Norfolk & Western) at a foreclosure auction.
* The Richmond and Danville Railroad leases the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway.
* Henry Villard becomes president of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
* The French "Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique" purchased controlling interest in the Panama Railway Company.
* John Souther retires from the steam locomotive manufacturing company that he founded, Globe Locomotive Works.
* Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway begins.
* The first standard gauge railroad in China is opened from Tangshan to Xugezhuang (km to mi|10|abbr=yes) for coal traffic.

Births

July births

* July 8 - Mantis James Van Sweringen, American financier who, with his brother Oris, controlled the Nickel Plate Road and other eastern railroads (d. 1935).

October births

* October 30 - Charles E. Johnston, president of Kansas City Southern Railway 1928-1938 (d. 1951).

Unknown date births

* Martin W. Clement, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad 1935–1948 (d. 1966).

Deaths

May deaths

* May 21 - Thomas Alexander Scott, president of Union Pacific Railroad 1871-1872, dies (b. 1823).

Unknown date deaths

* William S. Hudson, superintendent of American steam locomotive manufacturing firm Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor (b. 1810).

References

* Churcher, Colin (May 21, 2005), " [http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/ottawa.htm Significant dates in Ottawa railway history] ". Retrieved June 4, 2005.
* Glenbow Museum (2005), " [http://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/online/libhtm/may23.htm This week in Canadian history] ". Retrieved May 27, 2005.
* Kansas City Southern Historical Society, " [http://www.kcshs.org/schedule/subs/images/history/kcs_hist.htm The Kansas City Southern Lines] ". Retrieved August 15 2005.
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* President and Fellows of Harvard College (2004), " [http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/154/ 20th century great American business leaders - Martin W. Clement] ". Retrieved February 23 2005.
* Santa Fe Railroad (1945), "Along Your Way", Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
* White, John H., Jr. (Spring 1986), America's most noteworthy railroaders, "Railroad History", Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, 154, p. 9-15.
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