1872 in rail transport

Events

March events

* March – John A. Dix succeeds Jay Gould as president of the Erie Railroad.
* March 1 – Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company, one of the constituent companies of American Car and Foundry Company, is incorporated in Pennsylvania. [cite web| url=http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/jacksonwoodin.htm| title=Jackson & Woodin Manufacturing Company| publisher=Mid-Continent Railway Museum| date=2006-04-11| accessdate=2008-04-16| ]
* March 5 – George Westinghouse receives a patent for the Westinghouse air brake.

April events

* April 1 - The Midland Railway (Great Britain) admits Third class passengers to all trains, a move which other British railway companies follow. [cite book|author=Lee, Charles E.|title=Passenger Class Distinctions|date=1946|publisher= Railway Gazette|location=London]

May events

* May 1 - The Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway, in England, opens.
* May 1 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad begins construction westward from Newton, Kansas, toward Colorado.
* May 18 - The Delaware and Raritan Canal, New Jersey Railroad and the Camden and Amboy Railroad, the first railroad built in New Jersey, are merged into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company.
* May 28 - The Columbus and Toledo Railroad is incorporated.

June events

* June 12 - First section of railway in Japan opens, from Yokohama to Shinagawa, Tokyo. [cite book|author=Marshall, John|title=The Guinness Railway Book|date=1989|publisher=Guinness|location=Enfield|isbn=0-85112-359-7]
* June 17 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, Kansas, reaches Hutchinson.

July events

* July - Peter H. Watson succeeds John A. Dix as president of the Erie Railroad.

August events

* August 5 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, Kansas, reaches Great Bend.
* August 12 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, Kansas, reaches Larned.

eptember events

* September 5 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, Kansas, reaches Dodge City, Kansas.
* September 13 - The first section of the planned railroad connection between Varciorova and Roman, Romania, opens, connecting Piteşti, Bucharest, Galaţi and Roman.

October events

* October 1
** The Denver, South Park and Pacific Railway is incorporated.
** The first meeting of the Time Table Conventions, an organization that later became the American Railway Association, is held in Louisville, Kentucky. [cite book|title=Dictionary of American History|author=James Truslow Adams|location=New York|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|year=1940]
* October 10 - Shimbashi Teishajō, the original Tokyo terminus of Japan's first railway, opens.
* October 14 - Official inauguration of Japanese railway between Shimbashi and Yokohama (provisionally in June)

November events

* November 1 - Ensign Manufacturing Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry Company, is incorporated in West Virginia.cite web| url=http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/ensign.htm| title=Ensign Manufacturing Company| publisher=Mid-Continent Railway Museum| date=2006-04-09| accessdate=2008-04-15| ]

December events

* December 28 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Newton, Kansas, reaches the border between Kansas and Colorado.

Unknown date events

* American steam locomotive builder Manchester Locomotive Works purchases the fire engine manufacturing business of Amoskeag Locomotive Works.
* At the age of 29, William Cornelius Van Horne becomes the youngest superintendent of Illinois Central Railroad.
* Buffalo Car Manufacturing Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in Buffalo, New York.cite web| url=http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/buffalo_carco.htm| title=Buffalo Car Company| publisher=Mid-Continent Railway Museum| date=2006-04-09| accessdate=2008-04-13| ]
* Strasburg, Colorado - joining of rail over river completes transcontinental railway.
* The Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad leases North Carolina's Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.

Births

September births

* September 20 - Death Valley Scotty (born Walter Edward Scott), con man who chartered the "Scott Special" record-breaking run on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1905. [cite journal|journal=The Warbonnet|title=Death Valley Scotty's "Coyote" Special|author=Signor, John R., compiler|year=2006|month=first quarter|pages=p 17–29|volume=12|issue=1 ("The Warbonnet" is the official journal of the Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society)]

Deaths

January deaths

* January 6 - Jim Fisk, American financier who worked with Daniel Drew for control of the Erie Railroad (b. 1834).

February deaths

* 8 February - Joseph Pease, English railway promoter (b. 1799). [cite web|url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REpease.htm|title=Joseph Pease]

April deaths

* April 9 - Erastus Corning, established railroads in New York and was instrumental in the formation of New York Central (b. 1794).

August deaths

* August - Asa Whitney, one of the first backers of an American Transcontinental Railway

References

* " [http://erierr.railfan.net/eriepres.html Erie Railroad presidents] ". Retrieved March 15 2005.
* Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), " [http://avenue.org/nrhs/histmay.htm This Month in Railroad History - May] ". Retrieved May 27, 2005.
* Santa Fe Railroad (1945), "Along Your Way", Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.