1874 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1874.

Events

January events

• January 27 - The Bo'ness Junction rail crash in Falkirk, Scotland kills 16 people.

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.
• June 25 – The Budapest Cog-wheel Railway opens for regular service.

July events

• July - Hugh J. Jewett succeeds Peter H. Watson as president of the Erie Railroad.^[1]
• 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.^[2]

September 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.^[3]
• 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.^[4]
• October 26 - Grand Trunk Railway converts all 546 miles (879 km) of its track east of Montreal to Portland, Maine from 5 ft 6 in (1676 mm) Portland gauge to 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge.^[5]

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.^[6]

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 U.S. 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), This month in railroad history: September. Retrieved September 23, 2005.
• White, John H., Jr. (1968). A history of the American locomotive; its development: 1830-1880. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-23818-0. 

1. ^ "Erie Railroad presidents". Archived from the original on 18 March 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050318171642/http://erierr.railfan.net/eriepres.html. Retrieved 2005-03-15. 
2. ^ Vallance, H. A. (1963). The Highland Railway. Dawlish: David & Charles. 
3. ^ Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. "The street railway history of Los Angeles". Archived from the original on 06 September 2005. http://www.erha.org/railwayhis.htm. Retrieved 2005-09-13. 
4. ^ Monterey County Historical Society (2006). "The Monterey & Salinas Valley Railroad". Archived from the original on 12 November 2006. http://www.mchsmuseum.com/railroadm&sv.html. Retrieved 2006-10-23. 
5. ^ "Significant dates in Canadian railway history". Colin Churcher's Railway Pages. 2006-09-15. Archived from the original on 23 October 2006. http://www.railways.incanada.net/candate/candate.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-26. 
6. ^ U.S. Government Printing Office (1979). "The Fish Car Era of the National Fish Hatchery System". Archived from the original on 07 April 2005. http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/fishcar.Html. Retrieved 2005-03-28.