1.
1871 in rail transport
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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1871. February 10 - Launceston and Western Railway opens as the first line in Tasmania, Australia,45 mi 1,600 mm gauge between Deloraine and Launceston, june 8 – Devon and Somerset Railway opens its line to Wiveliscombe. June 18 - The canton of Basel-Country grants a concession for the construction of a gauge railway from Liestal to Waldenburg. July 12 - The first narrow gauge railway in North America, july 22 - The Canada Central Railway holds an official groundbreaking ceremony at Renfrew for the railroads section between there and Sand Point, Ontario. August 5 - The New Haven and Derby Railroad, a predecessor of the New Haven Railroad in Connecticut, august 24 - Hans Gløersen publishes the first documented idea of building a railway between Norways two largest cities, Bergen and Oslo, in the newspaper Bergensposten. August 26 - The Eastern Railroad An express train crashes into the rear of a local at the tiny Revere station, killing 29, either a station-to-station telegraph system, or the Westinghouse air braking system, could have prevented this accident. Public outrage, lawsuits and regulations after this crash finally forces most railroads in America to install both, september 17 - The Fréjus Tunnel is opened carrying the Fréjus railway beneath Mont Cenis in the Alps and connecting Modane, France and Bardonecchia, Italy. September 18 - The second narrow gauge railway in North America, october - Portland gauge European and North American Railway is completed linking New England to the Maritimes. November 2 - Finnish State Railways opened in Russia Sestroretsk spur line of Beloostrov to Sestroretsk rail station, the owners of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad and the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad begin using the name Atlantic Coast Line in advertising to describe the two railroads. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad reaches Dodge City, the Portland gauge Maine Central Railroad converts to a standard gauge mainline from Portland to Bangor after leasing the standard gauge Portland and Kennebec Railroad. Mason Bogie locomotive introduced in the United States by William Mason, ensign Manufacturing Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in Huntington, West Virginia. September 6 - John A. Poor, American entrepreneur, advocate of the Portland gauge, october 18 – Joseph Hamilton Beattie, locomotive engineer for London and South Western Railway 1850–1871. November 5 - Edmund Morel, English-born civil engineer in Japan, december 14 - George Hudson, English railway financier, The Railway King. Dockray, civil engineer on the London and Birmingham Railway in England, a Brief History Lines West Of The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co. Significant dates in Canadian railway history, significant dates in Ottawa railway history. Narrow Gauge Through the Bush - Ontarios Toronto Grey and Bruce and Toronto and Nipissing Railways, Rod Clarke, beaumont and Clarke, with the Credit Valley Railway Company, Streetsville, Ontario,2007. ISBN 978-0-9784406-0-2 The Narrow Gauge For Us - The Story of the Toronto and Nipissing Railway, Charles Cooper, the Boston Mills Press, Erin, Ontario,1982. Narrow Gauge Railways of Canada, Omer Lavallee, pub, Narrow Gauge Railways of Canada, Omer Lavallee, expanded and revised by Ronald S Ritchie, pub
2.
Rail transport
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Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks. It is also referred to as train transport. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles run on a flat surface. Tracks usually consist of rails, installed on ties and ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels. Other variations are possible, such as slab track, where the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than road vehicles, so passenger. The operation is carried out by a company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway system or produce their own power. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system, Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. The oldest, man-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC, with Periander, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Rail transport blossomed after the British development of the steam locomotive as a viable source of power in the 19th centuries. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution, also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for markets in which prices varied very little from city to city. In the 1880s, electrified trains were introduced, and also the first tramways, starting during the 1940s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives replaced by diesel-electric locomotives, with the process being almost complete by 2000. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan, other forms of guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use. The history of the growth, decline and restoration to use of transport can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used. The earliest evidence of a railway was a 6-kilometre Diolkos wagonway, trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element. The Diolkos operated for over 600 years, Railways began reappearing in Europe after the Dark Ages. The earliest known record of a railway in Europe from this period is a window in the Minster of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany
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Norfolk, Virginia
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Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 242,803, in 2015, Norfolk is located at the core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, named for the large natural harbor of the same name located at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. It is one of nine cities and seven counties that constitute the Hampton Roads metro area, officially known as the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, the city is bordered to the west by the Elizabeth River and to the north by the Chesapeake Bay. It also shares borders with the independent cities of Chesapeake to its south. Norfolk is one of the oldest cities in Hampton Roads, and is considered to be the historic, urban, financial, the city has a long history as a strategic military and transportation point. The largest Navy base in the world, Naval Station Norfolk, is located in Norfolk along with one of NATOs two Strategic Command headquarters. As the city is bordered by multiple bodies of water, Norfolk has many miles of riverfront and bayfront property, including beaches on the Chesapeake Bay. It is linked to its neighbors by a network of Interstate highways, bridges, tunnels. In 1619, the Governor of the Virginia Colony, Sir George Yeardley incorporated four jurisdictions, termed citties and these formed the basis for colonial representative government in the newly minted House of Burgesses. What would become Norfolk was put under the Elizabeth Cittie incorporation, in 1634 King Charles I reorganized the colony into a system of shires. The former Elizabeth Cittie became Elizabeth City Shire, after persuading 105 people to settle in the colony, Adam Thoroughgood was granted a large land holding, through the head rights system, along the Lynnhaven River in 1636. When the South Hampton Roads portion of the shire was separated, one year later, it was split into two counties, Upper Norfolk and Lower Norfolk, chiefly on Thoroughgoods recommendation. This area of Virginia became known as the place of entrepreneurs, the House of Burgesses established the Towne of Lower Norfolk County in 1680. In 1691, a final county subdivision took place when Lower Norfolk County split to form Norfolk County, in 1730, a tobacco inspection site was located here. By 1775, Norfolk developed into what contemporary observers argued was the most prosperous city in Virginia and it was an important port for exporting goods to the British Isles and beyond. In part because of its merchants numerous trading ties with other parts of the British Empire, after fleeing the colonial capital of Williamsburg, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, tried to reestablish control of the colony from Norfolk. Dunmore secured small victories at Norfolk but was forced into exile by the American rebels and his departure brought an end to more than 168 years of British colonial rule in Virginia. On New Years Day,1776, Lord Dunmores fleet of three ships shelled the city of Norfolk for more than eight hours, the damage from the shells and fires started by the British and spread by the patriots destroyed over 800 buildings, almost two-thirds of the city
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Elizabeth City, North Carolina
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Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2014 census, it had a population of 18,047, Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It is the cultural, economic and educational hub of the sixteen-county Historic Albemarle region of northeastern North Carolina, the city is the economic center of the region, as well as home to many historic sites and cultural traditions. Marketed as the Harbor of Hospitality, Elizabeth City has had a history of shipping due to its location at a narrowed bend of the Pasquotank River. Founded in 1794, Elizabeth City prospered early on from the Dismal Swamp Canal as a mercantile city, with the addition of minor roads, a schoolhouse, and soon a church, a small community was established at these narrows. In 1793, construction of the Dismal Swamp Canal began, which would drive Elizabeth Citys commerce, in 1794, the town was renamed Elizabethtown, but due to confusion with another town of the same name, in 1801, the city was renamed Elizabeth City. The name Elizabeth has been attributed to Elizabeth Betsy Tooley, a local tavern proprietress who donated much of the land for the new town, the improvements made to the Dismal Swamp Canal made Elizabeth City a financial center of trade and commercially successful for the early 19th century. In 1826, the government purchased 600 stocks in the canal and, in 1829. With these funds, the Dismal Swamp Canal was widened and deepened, further bolstering Elizabeth Citys financial success was the movement in 1827 of the customs house from Camden County to Elizabeth City. From only 1829 to 1832, Elizabeth Citys tolls tripled, during the American Civil War the Confederate States had a small fleet stationed at Elizabeth City. After the Battle of Roanoke Island the Union forces sent a fleet to take the city, there was a small skirmish that followed which ended in a Union victory. Elizabeth City was under Union control for the remainder of the war, meanwhile, overland travel slowly improved, furnishing greater trade between neighboring counties, and a ferry continued to be used for transport between Elizabeth City and Camden County. However, the completion of competing canals and railroads around Elizabeth City diverted some of its success to neighboring cities. The declaration of World War II reinvigorated Elizabeth Citys industries, particularly in shipbuilding, textiles, additionally from 1942 to 1944, the Elizabeth City Shipyard manufactured thirty 111-foot SC-class submarine chasers, four YT-class yard tugboats, and six 104-foot QS-class quick supply boats. The Elizabeth City Shipyard not only built the largest number of subchasers for the war effort, as of June 2013, the Elizabeth City Shipyard is still in operation. The conclusion of the war led to an economy as industry withdrew gradually over the following decades to form the service. Starting in the late 1990s, revival efforts in tourism and civic revitalization centered over downtown, during the Civil War, there was a small battle between the Confederate states and the Union near Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River on February 10,1862. It was nothing more than a skirmish and casualties were low, the battle ended in a Union victory with subsequent capture of the city
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Delaware and Hudson Railway
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The Delaware and Hudson Railway is a railroad that operates in the northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, CP operates D&H under its subsidiary Soo Line Corporation which also operates Soo Line Railroad. Nicknamed The Bridge Line to New England and Canada, D&H connected New York with Montreal, Quebec, D&H has also been known as North Americas oldest continually operated transportation company. On September 19,2015, Norfolk Southern Railway commenced acquisition of the D&H South Line from CP, the D&H South Line is 282 miles long and connects Schenectady, New York to Sunbury, Pennsylvania. The D&H South Line consists of two lines, the Sunbury Line and the Freight Line. The Nicholson Cutoff is located on the Sunbury Line, by the 1790s, industrializing eastern population centers were having increasing troubles getting charcoal to fuel their growing kilns, smithies, and foundries. As local timber was denuded efforts to find an energy source began. The Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad to bring coal to the Delaware and this cable railroad would grow in importance and become the far flung class I railroad, the Delaware and Hudson Railway. Finding coal outcrops, he realized the value of the extensive anthracite deposits. The canal he proposed would also tie the developing industries along the Delaware to the Hudson, in January 1825, following a demonstration of anthracite heating in a Wall Street coffeehouse, its public stock offering raised a million dollars. At the time, the Lehigh Canal had well established a reliable flow of increasing annual tonnages, ground was broken on July 13,1825, and the canal was opened to navigation in October 1828. It began at Rondout Creek at the known as Creeklocks. To get the anthracite from the Wurts mine in the Moosic Mountains near Carbondale to the canal at Honesdale, the state of Pennsylvania authorized its construction on April 8,1826. On August 8,1829, the D&Hs first locomotive, the Stourbridge Lion, westward extensions of the railroad opened to new mines at Archbald in 1843, Valley Junction in 1858, Providence in 1860 and Scranton in 1863. Passenger service began west of Carbondale in 1860, the canal was a successful enterprise for many of its early years, but the companys management realized that railroads were the future of transportation, and began investing in stock and trackage. In 1898 the canal carried its last loads of coal and was drained, the next year the company dropped the Canal from its name. The remaining fragments of the canal were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968, as railroads grew in popularity, the canal company recognized the importance of replacing the canal with a railroad. The first step of this was the Jefferson Railroad, a line from Carbondale north towards New York, chartered in 1864, built by the Erie Railroad in 1869 and this was a branch of the Erie, running south from the main line at Lanesboro to Carbondale
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Albany, New York
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Albany is the capital of the U. S. state of New York and the seat of Albany County. Roughly 150 miles north of New York City, Albany developed on the west bank of the Hudson River, the population of the City of Albany was 97,856 according to the 2010 census. With a Census-estimated population of 98,4242013, the Capital District is the third-most populous metropolitan region in the state and 38th in the United States. Fortune 500 companies that have offices in Albany include American Express, J. P. Morgan and Chase, Merrill Lynch, General Electric, Verizon, Goldman Sachs, International Paper, and Key Bank. In the 21st century, the Capital District has emerged as an anchor of Tech Valley. This was the first European settlement in the state, settled by Dutch colonists who built Fort Nassau for fur trading in 1614 and they formed successful relations with both the Mahican and the Mohawk peoples, two major Native American nations in the region. The fur trade attracted settlers who founded a village called Beverwijck near Fort Orange, in 1664 the English took over the Dutch settlements, renaming the city as Albany, in honor of the then Duke of Albany, the future James II of England and James VII of Scotland. The city was chartered in 1686 under English rule. It became the capital of New York State in 1797, following the United States gaining independence in the American Revolutionary War, Albany is one of the oldest surviving settlements of the original British thirteen colonies, and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States. Its charter is possibly the longest-running instrument of government in the Western Hemisphere. During the late 18th century and throughout most of the 19th, Albany was a center of trade, Albanys main exports at the time were beer, lumber, published works, and ironworks. Beginning in 1810, Albany was one of the ten most populous cities in the United States, in the 20th century, the city opened one of the first commercial airports in the world, the precursor of todays Albany International Airport. During the 1920s a powerful political machine controlled by the Democratic Party arose in the state capital and it marshalled the power of immigrants and their descendants in both cities. In the early 21st century, Albany has experienced growth in the high-technology industry, Albany has been a center of higher education for over a century, with much of the remainder of its economy dependent on state government and health care services. The city has rebounded from the decline of the 1970s and 1980s. Albany is known for its history, commerce, culture, architecture. Albany won the All-America City Award in both 1991 and 2009, Albany is one of the oldest surviving European settlements from the original thirteen colonies and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States. The Hudson River area was inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Mohican, who called it Pempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw
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Binghamton, New York
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Binghamton /ˈbɪŋəmtən/ is a city in, and the county seat of, Broome County, New York, United States. It lies in the states Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna. Binghamton is the city and cultural center of the Binghamton metropolitan area. The population of the city itself, according to the 2010 census, is 47,376. From the days of the railroad, Binghamton was a crossroads and a manufacturing center, and has been known at different times for the production of cigars, shoes. IBM was founded nearby, and the simulator was invented in the city, leading to a notable concentration of electronics-. This sustained economic prosperity earned Binghamton the moniker of the Valley of Opportunity, however, following cuts made by defense firms after the end of the Cold War, the region has lost a significant portion of its manufacturing industry. The city was named after William Bingham, a wealthy Philadelphian who bought the 10,000 acre patent for the land in 1786, then consisting of portions of the towns of Union, significant agricultural growth led to the incorporation of the village of Binghamton in 1834. The Chenango Canal, completed in 1837, connected Binghamton to the Erie Canal and this growth accelerated with the completion of the Erie Railroad between Binghamton and New York City in 1849. With the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad arriving soon after, several buildings of importance were built at this time, including the New York State Inebriate Asylum, opened in 1858 as the first center in the United States to treat alcoholism as a disease. Binghamton incorporated as a city in 1867, and due to the presence of several homes, was nicknamed the Parlor City. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many moved to the area. During the 1880s, Binghamton grew to become the second-largest manufacturer of cigars in the United States, however, by the early 1920s, the major employer of the region became Endicott Johnson, a shoe manufacturer whose development of welfare capitalism resulted in many amenities for local residents. An even larger influx of Europeans immigrated to Binghamton, and the working class prosperity resulted in the area being called the Valley of Opportunity, in 1913,31 people perished in the Binghamton Clothing Company fire, which resulted in numerous reforms to the New York fire code. Major floods in 1935 and 1936 resulted in a number of deaths, the floods were devastating, and resulted in the construction of flood walls along the length of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. During the Second World War, growth and corporate generosity continued as IBM, along with Edwin Links invention of the flight simulator in Binghamton, IBM transitioned the region to a high-tech economy. Other major manufacturers included Ansco and General Electric, until the Cold War ended, the area never experienced an economic downfall, due in part to its defense-oriented industries. The population of the city of Binghamton peaked at around 85,000 in the mid-1950s, post-war suburban development led to a decline in the city population, as the towns of Vestal and Union experienced rapid growth
