1.
1883 in rail transport
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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1883. January 10 – The Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway enters bankruptcy and is sold at foreclosure, the golden spike is driven by Col. Tom Pierce, the GH&SA president. January 29 – Narrow gauge Bridgton and Saco River Railroad opens to Bridgton, february – Central Pacific Railroad completes construction of the largest locomotive in the world for its time, El Gobernador. February 23 – The Malta Railway, a gauge railway. March 30 – Construction on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad reaches Salt Lake City, may 5 – Construction of the Swanage Railway in England begins. June 5 – The first Express dOrient is operated between Paris and Vienna, August The Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad enters receivership. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, later to become part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Albuquerque, New Mexico, reaches Needles, August 4 – Volks Electric Railway, the first of its kind in Britain, opens at Brighton. August 11 – The California Southern Railroad receives an order in its favor ordering the Southern Pacific Railroad to allow it to cross SP tracks at Colton. August 18 – Construction on the Canadian Pacific Railway reaches Calgary, september 5 – Narrow gauge Monson Railroad opens to Monson, Maine. September 8 – Northern Pacific Railway completes its connection to the Pacific coast in Washington Territory with a final ceremony at Gold Creek. September 13 – A month after a war with the Southern Pacific Railroad in Colton, California. September 28 – Formal opening of first electrified section of Giants Causeway Tramway in Ireland, the train is officially renamed Orient Express in 1891. October 30 – Two Clan na Gael dynamite bombs explode in the London Underground, november 18 – Standard time zones introduced on American and Canadian railroads, as agreed by the General Time Convention. December 28 – Boston and Maine Railroad leases the Eastern Railroad in Massachusetts, the National Railway Appliance Exhibition is held in Chicago, Illinois. William Henry Vanderbilt resigns from the presidency of the New York Central system, james H. Rutter succeeds Vanderbilt as president. Gowen retires from the presidency of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, first electric railways in North America, experimental lines at Toronto International Exhibition and by Leo Daft in Newark, New Jersey. Philip Armour founds Armour Refrigerator Line, as a subsidiary of his meatpacking firm Armour and Company, the Colorado Midland Railway is incorporated. Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad fully acquires the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, January 14 – William Valentine Wood, president of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1941-8
2.
1885 in rail transport
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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1885. February 8 - The Midland Railway opens its extension to Birmingham New Street station, february 12 - The Kansas City, Clinton and Springfield Railway is incorporated in Missouri. February 17 - The Southern Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad are combined under a holding company. 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 and Hartford Railroad, opens. June - John J. Hagerman gains control of Colorado Midland, july 19 - The Zanesville and Ohio River Railway enters receivership. July 20 - The Hull and Barnsley Railway opens in Yorkshire and it is intended to challenge the near-monopoly on export coal traffic in its region of the North Eastern Railway. Opening of first railway in Vietnam, Saigon to Mỹ Tho, august - International Railway Congress Association established in Brussels to provide an international forum for technical discussion. 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. November 7 - The last spike on the Canadian Pacific Railway is driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, 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. November 12 - The first train to travel the route of California Southern Railroads track through Cajon Pass carries rails from Barstow to Riverside. November 17 - The first through train from Chicago via Santa Fe lines arrives in San Diego, 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. 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 and Company of Manchester, England. Richard M. Dilworth, General Motors Electro-Motive Division chief engineer credited with developing the diesel-electric locomotive concept in the 1930s, july 31 - Robert F. Fairlie, Scottish steam locomotive builder. December 6 - Robert Gerwig, German civil engineer, designer of the Schwarzwaldbahn, december 8 - William Henry Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt and president of the New York Central system. Jervis, Chief mechanical engineer of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad who pioneered the use of the truck on steam locomotives. San Diego Railroad Museum, Perris and its Railroad, Santa Fe Railroad, Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois. A history of the American locomotive, its development, 1830-1880
3.
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
4.
Brooks Locomotive Works
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The Brooks Locomotive Works manufactured steam railroad locomotives and freight cars from 1869 through its merger into the American Locomotive Company until 1934. When the New York and Erie Railroad relocated its shops facilities from Dunkirk, New York, to Buffalo in 1869, Dunkirk lost its largest employer. Coming to the rescue was Horatio G. Brooks, the former chief engineer of the NY&E who was at the controls of the first train into Dunkirk in 1851. In 1869, Brooks leased the Dunkirk shops facility from the NY&E, the new company officially opened on November 11,1869. The companys first steam locomotive is completed the month as part of an order for the NY&E. After the financial crisis of 1873, orders for new equipment dropped off, Brooks locomotives were displayed a few years later at the National Railway Appliance Exhibition in Chicago, where they were judged the Best in Show. The 1890s brought another period of depressed sales following another financial crisis, the company produced 226 new locomotives in 1891, but only 90 new locomotives in 1894. Brooks was not able to recover business as easily and the company was merged with other manufacturers in 1901 to form the American Locomotive Company. ALCO produced locomotives at this facility until 1934 when the shop was renamed ALCO Thermal Products Division, locomotives produced at the former Brooks plant after ALCOs formation came to be known as ALCO-Brooks locomotives. Although new locomotives were no longer being produced at the former Brooks shops in Dunkirk, production had shifted from locomotives to heat exchangers, high-pressure vessels and pipes of all sizes. After World War II, production at the Dunkirk plant never got back to its prewar levels, ALCO finally closed the facility in 1962. February 22,1884, Brooks completes its 1, 000th new locomotive, November 30,1891, Brooks completes its 2, 000th new locomotive. July 23,1898, Brooks completes its 3, 000th new locomotive,1962, ALCO closes the former Brooks plant in Dunkirk, laying off the remaining 750 laborers at the facility. Brooks Locomotive Works sold locomotives to all of the railroads of the late 19th century. Following is a partial list of Brooks-built locomotives that have been spared the scrappers torch, history of the Brooks Locomotive Works Preserved Brooks locomotives Southern Tier West Regional Planning and Development Board, STW historical figures / Horatio Brooks
5.
Steam locomotive
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A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its pulling power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning combustible material—usually coal, wood, the steam moves reciprocating pistons which are mechanically connected to the locomotives main wheels. Both fuel and water supplies are carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in wagons pulled behind, the first steam locomotive, made by Richard Trevithick, first operated on 21 February 1804, three years after the road locomotive he made in 1801. The first practical steam locomotive was built in 1812-13 by John Blenkinsop, Steam locomotives were first developed in Great Britain during the early 19th century and used for railway transport until the middle of the 20th century. From the early 1900s they were superseded by electric and diesel locomotives, with full conversions to electric. The majority of locomotives were retired from regular service by the 1980s, though several continue to run on tourist. The earliest railways employed horses to draw carts along railway tracks, in 1784, William Murdoch, a Scottish inventor, built a small-scale prototype of a steam road locomotive. An early working model of a rail locomotive was designed and constructed by steamboat pioneer John Fitch in the US during 1794. His steam locomotive used interior bladed wheels guided by rails or tracks, the model still exists at the Ohio Historical Society Museum in Columbus. The authenticity and date of this locomotive is disputed by some experts, accompanied by Andrew Vivian, it ran with mixed success. The design incorporated a number of important innovations that included using high-pressure steam which reduced the weight of the engine, Trevithick visited the Newcastle area in 1804 and had a ready audience of colliery owners and engineers. The visit was so successful that the railways in north-east England became the leading centre for experimentation. Trevithick continued his own steam propulsion experiments through another trio of locomotives, Four years later, the successful twin-cylinder locomotive Salamanca by Matthew Murray for the edge railed rack and pinion Middleton Railway debuted in 1812. Another well known early locomotive was Puffing Billy built 1813–14 by engineer William Hedley and it was intended to work on the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne. This locomotive is the oldest preserved, and is on display in the Science Museum. George Stephenson built Locomotion No.1 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north-east England, in 1829, his son Robert built in Newcastle The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. This success led to the company emerging as the pre-eminent builder of locomotives used on railways in the UK, US. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened a year later making exclusive use of power for passenger
6.
Southern Pacific Transportation Company
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The Southern Pacific Transportation Company, earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American Class I railroad. It was absorbed in 1988 by the company controlled the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The railroad was founded as a holding company in 1865. By 1900 the Southern Pacific Company was a railroad system incorporating many smaller companies, such as the Texas and New Orleans Railroad and Morgans Louisiana. It extended from New Orleans through Texas to El Paso, across New Mexico and through Tucson, to Los Angeles, through most of California, including San Francisco, Central Pacific lines extended east across Nevada to Ogden, Utah, and reached north through Oregon to Portland. By the 1980s route mileage had dropped to 10,423 miles, in 1988 the Southern Pacific was taken over by D&RGW parent Rio Grande Industries. The combined railroad kept the Southern Pacific name due to its recognition in the railroad industry. Along with the addition of the SPCSL Corporation route from Chicago to St. Louis, by 1996 years of financial problems had dropped SPs mileage to 13,715 miles, and it was taken over by the Union Pacific Railroad. Southern Pacific founded important hospitals in San Francisco, Tucson, in the 1970s, it also founded a telecommunications network with a state-of-the-art microwave and fiber optic backbone. This evolved into Sprint, a company name that came from the acronym for Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony. The original aim was to construct a railroad from Galveston Bay to a point on the Red River near a trading post known as Coffees Station, the GRR built 2 miles of track in Houston in 1855. Track laying began in earnest in 1856 and on 1 September 1856 GRR was renamed the Houston and Texas Central Railway. SP acquired H&TC in 1883 but it continued to operate as a subsidiary under its own management until 1927, when it was leased to another SP-owned railroad, the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway, was chartered in Texas on 11 February 1850 by a group that included General Sidney Sherman, bBB&C was the first railroad to commence operation in Texas and the first component of SP to commence operation. Surveying of the route alignment commenced at Harrisburg, Texas in 1851, the first 20 miles of track opened in August 1853. SP was founded in San Francisco, California in 1865 by a group of businessmen led by Timothy Phelps with the aim of building a connection between San Francisco and San Diego, California. The company was purchased in September 1868 by a group of known as the Big Four, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins. The Big Four had, in 1861, created the Central Pacific Railroad, CPRR was merged into SP in 1870
7.
Kentucky
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Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the east south-central region of the United States. Kentucky is one of four U. S. states constituted as a commonwealth, originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States, Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State, a nickname based on the bluegrass found in many of its pastures due to the fertile soil. One of the regions in Kentucky is the Bluegrass Region in central Kentucky. In 1776, the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known as Kentucky County, the precise etymology of the name is uncertain, but likely based on an Iroquoian name meaning the meadow or the prairie. Kentucky is situated in the Upland South, a significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of Appalachia. Kentucky borders seven states, from the Midwest and the Southeast, West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the southeast, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois and Indiana to the northwest, and Ohio to the north and northeast. Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more, Kentuckys northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River. The official state borders are based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792, for instance, northbound travelers on U. S.41 from Henderson, after crossing the Ohio River, will be in Kentucky for about two miles. Ellis Park, a racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the land border between Indiana and Kentucky. Kentucky has a part known as Kentucky Bend, at the far west corner of the state. It exists as an exclave surrounded completely by Missouri and Tennessee, Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River requires a trip through Tennessee. The epicenter of the powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area, much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills. The Jackson Purchase and western Pennyrile are home to several bald cypress/tupelo swamps, located within the southeastern interior portion of North America, Kentucky has a climate that can best be described as a humid subtropical climate. Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of 87 °F to the low of 23 °F. The average precipitation is 46 inches a year, Kentucky experiences four distinct seasons, with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter. The highest recorded temperature was 114 °F at Greensburg on July 28,1930 while the lowest recorded temperature was −37 °F at Shelbyville on January 19,1994, due to its location, Kentucky has a moderate humid subtropical climate, with abundant rainfall
8.
Central Pacific Railroad
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It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a railroad failed because of the energy consumed by political disputes over slavery. With the secession of the South, the modernizers in the Republican Party controlled the US Congress and they passed legislation authorizing the railroad, with financing in the form of government railroad bonds. These were all eventually repaid with interest, the government and the railroads both shared in the increased value of the land grants, which the railroads developed. The construction of the railroad also secured for the government the economical safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, planned by Theodore Judah, the Central Pacific Railroad was authorized by Congress in 1862. It was financed and built through The Big Four, Sacramento, California businessmen Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, Crocker was in charge of construction. Construction crews comprised 12,000 Chinese emigrant workers by 1868 and they laid the first rails in 1863. The Golden spike, connecting the railroad to the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory. Coast-to-coast train travel in eight days became possible, replacing months-long sea voyages and lengthy, in 1885 the Central Pacific Railroad was leased by the Southern Pacific Company. Technically the CPRR remained an entity until 1959, when it was formally merged into Southern Pacific. The original right-of-way is now controlled by the Union Pacific, which purchased Southern Pacific in 1996, the Union Pacific-Central Pacific mainline followed the historic Overland Route from Omaha, Nebraska to San Francisco Bay. Chinese labor was the most vital source for constructing the railroad, fifty Chinese laborers were hired by the Central Pacific Railroad in February 1865, and soon more and more Chinese men were hired. Working conditions were harsh, and Chinese men were compensated less than their white counterparts, Chinese men were paid thirty-one dollars each month, and while white workers were paid the same, they were also given room and board. Construction of the road was financed primarily by 30-year, 6% U. S. government bonds authorized by Sec.5 of the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The U. S. Government Bonds, which constituted a lien upon the railroads and all their fixtures, were repaid in full by the company as and when they became due. Sec.10 of the 1864 amending Pacific Railroad Act additionally authorized the company to issue its own First Mortgage Bonds in total amounts up to that of the bonds issued by the United States, such company-issued securities had priority over the original Government Bonds. Sec.3 of the 1862 Act granted the railroads 10 square miles of land for every mile laid, except where railroads ran through cities. This grant was apportioned in 5 sections on alternating sides of the railroad and these grants were later doubled to 20 square miles per mile of grade by the 1864 Act
9.
El Gobernador
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El Gobernador was a 4-10-0 steam locomotive built by Central Pacific Railroad at the railroads Sacramento, California shops. It was the last of Central Pacifics locomotives to receive a name and was also the only locomotive of this wheel arrangement to operate on United States rails. At the time it was built, El Gobernador was the largest railroad locomotive in the world and its name is reminiscent of the railroads first locomotive, Gov. Stanford, as El Gobernador is Spanish for The Governor. This locomotive is sometimes referred to as a Mastodon type. However, this was the name for an earlier engine. 229, the first 4-8-0 ever built, both engines looked nearly identical, except that El Gobernador was longer and had an additional pair of drivers. El Gobernadors construction was completed in February 1883, amid much fanfare from the railroad, during this time, while still in Sacramento, the gigantic engine was used as an advertising tool by the railroad, to spectacular effect. According to author Guy L. Dunscomb, the engine was kept under steam near the Central Pacifics passenger depot, as the train arrived, El Gobernador would steam past the depot dragging a long line of empty freight cars behind it and causing quite a stir in the process. The engine would then be uncoupled and placed on adjacent trackage, part of the delay between construction and operation was due to the railroads track and infrastructure of the time. It was originally designed to haul out of Californias San Joaquin Valley via Tehachapi Loop. The locomotive was disassembled into five large subassemblies for transportation to the pass because it was thought to be too heavy for the bridges along the route to the pass. Operationally, the locomotive didnt fare as well as was hoped due to its large cylinder size, during initial shakedown runs around Sacramento, it was found, for example, that the engines cylinders, which were originally built with innovative rotary valves, were not working properly. This necessitated casting a set of cylinders with conventional slide valves. Central Pacific attempted to remedy the problems in an 1885 rebuild which increased the locomotives weight to 154,400 lb. It was during this time coal was apparently tried as a fuel in an effort to gain better steam economy. Several photographs exist of the locomotive in the Kernville yard, its tender loaded with coal instead the usual cord wood, in the railroads 1891 renumbering plan, El Gobernador received road number 2050. The rebuild wasnt as successful as the railroad hoped and the locomotive was scrapped on July 15,1894, after dismantling, the engines massive boiler was used to provide steam for stationary engines in the railroad shops at Sacramento well into the 20th century. Sadly, this appears to have largely been a victim of impatience on the part of the roads president
10.
Locomotive
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A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. A locomotive has no payload capacity of its own, and its purpose is to move the train along the tracks. In contrast, some trains have self-propelled payload-carrying vehicles and these are not normally considered locomotives, and may be referred to as multiple units, motor coaches or railcars. The use of these vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front, however, push-pull operation has become common, where the train may have a locomotive at the front, at the rear, or at each end. Prior to locomotives, the force for railroads had been generated by various lower-technology methods such as human power, horse power. The first successful locomotives were built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick, in 1804 his unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Although the locomotive hauled a train of 10 long tons of iron and 70 passengers in five wagons over nine miles, the locomotive only ran three trips before it was abandoned. Trevithick built a series of locomotives after the Penydarren experiment, including one which ran at a colliery in Tyneside in northern England, the first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murrays rack locomotive, Salamanca, built for the narrow gauge Middleton Railway in 1812. This was followed in 1813 by the Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the locomotives of Trevithick. He built the Blücher, one of the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotives, Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of steam locomotives. His designs improved on the work of the pioneers, in 1825 he built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north east England, which became the first public steam railway. In 1829 he built The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials and this success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the United Kingdom, the United States and much of Europe. The first inter city passenger railway, Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830, there are a few basic reasons to isolate locomotive train power, as compared to self-propelled vehicles. Maximum utilization of power cars Separate locomotives facilitate movement of costly motive power assets as needed, flexibility Large locomotives can substitute for small locomotives when more power is required, for example, where grades are steeper. As needed, a locomotive can be used for freight duties. Obsolescence cycles Separating motive power from payload-hauling cars enables replacement without affecting the other, to illustrate, locomotives might become obsolete when their associated cars did not, and vice versa
