1879 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1879.

Events[]

January 28 – Construction of the Waimea Plains Railway, the first railway constructed under the , reaches , New Zealand.^[1]

May – James J. Hill forms the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway from the assets of the bankrupt .
May 17 – The , a predecessor of St. Louis Southwestern Railway, is organized as a way to ship cotton south to Texas.^[3]
May 31 – The first electric railway opens at the .

July 4 – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building southwestward from Kansas, reaches Las Vegas, New Mexico.^[4]
July 17 – Freycinet Plan enacted in France to extend rail and other transportation systems.
July 31 – The Caledonian Railway opens the original Glasgow Central station in Scotland.

November 1 – The first British dining car service leaves Leeds for London King's Cross. This was provided by the Pullman car Princess of Wales which accommodated only 10 first-class passengers.
November 20 – Narrow gauge Sandy River Railroad completed to Phillips, Maine.^[5]
November 22 – The North Pennsylvania Railroad begins operating the Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad, a subsidiary of Pennsylvania Railroad.
November 25 – The Waldenburgerbahn was founded as a separate company and took over the concession for the railway from Liestal to Waldenburg, Switzerland.

December 28 – Tay Bridge disaster: The North British Railway's Tay Bridge across the Firth of Tay in Scotland collapses in a violent storm while a passenger train is crossing it. 75 lives are lost.^[6] William Topaz McGonagall produces his epic poem The Tay Bridge Disaster to commemorate the event.

Southern Pacific Railroad engineers experiment with the first oil-fired steam locomotives.
San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad constructs the Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel in Marin County, California.^[7]
Solano, the largest rail ferryboat ever constructed, is put into service.

March 6 – Patrick H. Joyce, president Chicago Great Western Railway 1931–1946 (d. 1946).

April 24 – Oris Paxton Van Sweringen, American financier who, with his brother Mantis, controlled the Nickel Plate Road and other eastern railroads (d. 1936).

August 20 – Ralph Budd, president of the Great Northern Railway 1919–1932 and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 1932–1949 (d. 1962).

October 18 – Charles Eugene Denney, president of Erie Railroad 1929–1939 and Northern Pacific Railway 1939–1950 (d. 1965).^[8]

(2000), American Experience / Streamliners / People & Events / Ralph Budd. Retrieved February 22, 2005.
President and Fellows of Harvard College (2004), 20th century great American business leaders – Ralph Budd. Retrieved February 22, 2005.
Today in Science History: May 31. Retrieved May 27, 2005.
White, John H. Jr. (Spring 1986). "America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders". Railroad History. 154: 9–15. ISSN 0090-7847. JSTOR 43523785. OCLC 1785797.

^ "Telegraphic News". Hawke's Bay Herald. XXI (5293). January 29, 1879. p. 2. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
^ Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Railroad History Timeline Archived 2006-02-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 10, 2006.
^ Beck, Wayne (1957). "The History of St. Louis Southwestern Railway". Archived from the original on 2009-10-18. Retrieved 2006-05-17.
^ Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
^ Crittenden, H. Temple (1966). The Maine Scenic Route. McClain Printing Company. p. 23.
^ (1969). The North British Railway. 1. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4697-0.
^ Prado, Mark (March 18, 2015). "Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel for commute rail delayed". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
^ Who’s Who In Railroading in North America (1940 ed.). New York: Simmons-Boardman. 1940. p. 161.