1876 in rail transport

Events

January events

* January 1 – The Bristol and Exeter Railway, in England, is amalgamated into the Great Western Railway.

February events

* February 1 – The South Devon Railway, in England, is amalgamated into the Great Western Railway.

March events

* March 1 – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad reaches Pueblo, Colorado. [cite book|author=Santa Fe Railroad|date=1945|title=Along Your Way|publisher=Rand McNally|location=Chicago, Illinois]

May events

* May 1 – The Midland Railway's Settle-Carlisle line in England is opened to passenger traffic. [cite book|author=Gough, John|title=The Midland Railway – a chronology|date=1989|publisher=Railway and Canal Historical Society|location=Gwernymynydd|isbn=0-901461-12-1]

July events

* July – First railroad in China, the Woosung Road (or Woosung Railway), begins operation, connecting Shanghai and Woosung (now Baoshan District). The RailGauge|30 gauge line was built by British interests (it was demolished in October 1877). [cite web|title=The Woosung "Road"|url=http://www.hkrs.org.hk/newsletter/thrutrain/tt9809/ewoosung.htm|accessdate=2007-07-23] [cite journal|author=Pong, David|title=Confucian Patriotism and the Destruction of the Woosung Railway, 1877|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=7|date=1973|pages=647–76|url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-749X(1973)7%3A4%3C647%3ACPATDO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W]

October events

* October 16 – The Miami Valley Narrow Gauge Railway officially changes its name to Miami Valley Railway.

eptember events

* September 1 – The official groundbreaking ceremony for the Miami Valley Railway is held in Cincinnati, Ohio.
* September 5 – The first through train from San Francisco, California, arrives in Los Angeles, California, after travelling over the Southern Pacific Railroad's newly completed Tehachapi Loop.

December events

* December 4 – The Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits is founded in Brussels.
* December 29 – Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States: The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Train No. 5, "The Pacific Express," collapses the Ashtabula River bridge dropping eleven passenger cars into a fire started by the car stoves. Of the 159 people onboard, 92 are killed and 64 injured, the worst train disaster in America to date.

Unknown date events

* Ohio Falls Car Manufacturing Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Births

May births

* May 27 – William Stanier, Chief mechanical engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1932-1944 (d. 1965).

June births

* June 19 – Nigel Gresley, Chief mechanical engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway 1923-1941 (d. 1941). [cite web|date=December 9 2004|url=http://www.steamindex.com/people/gresley.htm|title=Sir Nigel Gresley|accessdate=2005-02-09]

Deaths

June deaths

* June 2 – Charles Beyer, German-British steam locomotive manufacturer, co-founder of Beyer-Peacock (b. 1813). [cite book|author=Marshall, John|title=Biographical dictionary of Railway Engineers|publisher=Railway & Canal Historical Society|location=Oxford|date=2003|isbn=0-901461-22-9]

References