1885 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1885.

Events

February events

• February 8 – The Midland Railway of England opens its extension to Birmingham New Street station.
• February 12 – The Kansas City, Clinton and Springfield Railway is incorporated in Missouri.^[1]
• February 17 – The Southern Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad are combined under a single holding company, the Southern Pacific Company.

April events

• April 1 – The Southern Pacific Railroad takes over operations of the Central Pacific Railroad.
• April 6 – The Meriden and Cromwell Railroad, a Connecticut predecessor of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, opens.^[2]

June events

• June – John J. Hagerman gains control of Colorado Midland.

July events

• July 19 – The Zanesville and Ohio River Railway enters receivership.
• July 20
  • The Hull & Barnsley Railway opens in Yorkshire, England. It is intended to challenge the near-monopoly on export coal traffic in its region of the North Eastern Railway.^[3]
  • Opening of first railway in Vietnam, Saigon to Mỹ Tho.^[4]

August events

• August – International Railway Congress Association established in Brussels to provide an international forum for technical discussion.^[5]

November events

The last spike is driven on the Canadian Pacific Railway

• November – First train crosses Garabit viaduct in the Massif Central of France.
• November 6 – Phase 3 of the Novara–Varallo railway in Italy opens connecting Grignasco to Borgosesia.^[6]
• November 7 – The last spike on the Canadian Pacific Railway is driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, Canada.
• November 9 – The last spike is driven on the California Southern Railroad between Barstow and San Bernardino through Cajon Pass, completing the connection to the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.^[7]
• November 12 – The first train to travel the entire route of California Southern Railroad's track through Cajon Pass carries rails from Barstow to Riverside.^[8]
• November 17 – The first through train from Chicago via Santa Fe lines arrives in San Diego.^[9]
• November 29 – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway leases trackage rights over the Southern Pacific Railroad from San Bernardino to Los Angeles at $1,200 per mile per year.^[8]

Unknown date events

• Cornelius Vanderbilt II is promoted to president of the New York Central system.
• The New Zealand Government Railways become the first major railway to place a 2-6-2 steam locomotive into service, having ordered ten V class from Nasmyth, Wilson & Company of Manchester, England.^[10]

Births

Unknown date births

• Richard M. Dilworth, General Motors Electro-Motive Division chief engineer credited with developing the diesel-electric locomotive concept in the 1930s (d. 1968).^[11]

Deaths

January deaths

• January 12 – John B. Jervis, Chief mechanical engineer of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, pioneer of the use of the leading truck on steam locomotives (b. 1795).

July deaths

• July 31 – Robert F. Fairlie, Scottish steam locomotive builder (b. 1831).^[12]

December deaths

• December 6 – Robert Gerwig, German civil engineer, designer of the Schwarzwaldbahn and the Höllentalbahn in the Black Forest (b. 1820).
• December 8 – William Henry Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt and president of the New York Central system (b. 1821).

References

• Dodge, Richard V.; San Diego Railroad Museum (March 5, 2000), Perris and its Railroad. Retrieved November 8, 2005.
• (1902), Ohio Railway Report. Retrieved July 18, 2005.
• Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
• White, John H. Jr. (1968). A history of the American locomotive; its development: 1830–1880. New York, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-23818-0.

1. Truman Area Community Network Corporate History Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad Company Archived 2012-07-18 at archive.today. Retrieved February 12, 2006.
2. Blakeslee, Philip C. "A Brief History Lines West of The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co". Archived from the original on 7 April 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2006.
3. Parkes, G. D. (1946). The Hull & Barnsley Railway. Chislehurst: Oakwood Press.
4. "Vietnam Railway". VietnamTravelKey. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
5. "The International Railway Congress". Railway Gazette. 13. 1910.
6. "Prospetto cronologico dei tratti di ferrovia aperti all'esercizio dal 1839 al 31 dicembre 1926".
7. Waters, Leslie L. (1950). Steel Trails to Santa Fe. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press. p. 74.
8. Duke, Donald; Kistler, Stan (1963). Santa Fe ...Steel Rails Through California. San Marino, California: Golden West Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-87095-009-4.
9. Signor, John R. (1988). The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company; Union Pacific's Historic Salt Lake Route. San Marino, California: Golden West Books. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-87095-101-5.
10. Balkwill, Richard; Marshall, John (1993). The Guinness Book of Railway Facts and Feats (6th ed.). Enfield: Guinness Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85112-707-1.
11. "You ought to know: Electro-Motive's Dilworth is dead; diesel pioneer". Railway Age. 165 (16): 40. 21 October 1968.
12. "Robert Francis Fairlie". Retrieved 2005-02-09.