Timeline of Railway History - 19th Century

19th Century

• 1802 - The Carmarthenshire Tramroad, later the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway, located in south west Wales, was established by Act of Parliament.
• 1803 - The first public railway, the Surrey Iron Railway, London.
• 1804 - First steam locomotive railway - Penydarren - built by Richard Trevithick, used to haul iron from Merthyr Tydfil to Abercynon, Wales.
• 1807 - First fare-paying, passenger railway service in the world was established on the Oystermouth Railway in Swansea, Wales. Later this became known as the Swansea and Mumbles Railway although the railway was more affectionately known as "The Mumbles Train" (Welsh: Tren Bach I'r Mwmbwls). The railway survived using various forms of traction until 1960.
• 1808 - The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was the first railway in Scotland authorised by Act of Parliament and the first in Scotland to use a steam locomotive.
• 1808 - Richard Trevithick sets up a "steam circus" (a circular steam railway with locomotive Catch Me Who Can) in London for some months, for the public to experience for 1 shilling each.
• 1812 - First commercial use of steam locomotives on the Middleton Railway, Leeds

1813 - Wylam Waggonway: Steam loco "Puffing Billy" started commercial operation. Designer William Hedley, blacksmith Timothy Hackworth. Ran for 50 years hauling coal.

• 1814 - George Stephenson constructs his first locomotive, Blücher.
• 1825 - Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first publicly subscribed, adhesion worked railway using steam locomotives, carrying freight from a Colliery to a river port (Passengers were conveyed by horse-drawn carriages).
• 1827 June 30 - Oldest railway in continental Europe opens in France between Saint-Etienne and Andrézieux (horse-drawn carriage). Some tests had been run since May 1, 1827. The official opening ceremony on October 1, 1828 never really took place, this date being in fact the first fiscal year of the railway company.
• 1828 July 4 - the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) begins construction of a track. The Charleston & Savannah commenced construction a few months later.
• 1829 - George and Robert Stephenson's locomotive, The Rocket, sets a speed record of 47 km/h (29 mph) at the Rainhill Trials held near Liverpool.
• 1830 - The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway opens in Kent, England on 3 May, three months before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Engineered by George Stephenson, a 5¾ mile line running from Canterbury to the small port and fishing town of Whitstable, approximately 55 miles east of London. Traction was provided by three Stationary Winding Engines, and "Invicta"; Invicta was an 0-4-0 Loco, built by the Stevenson company, but only operated on a level section of track because she produced a meagre 9 hp.
• 1830 - The first railway in the United States opens with 23 miles of track, with mostly hardwood rail topped with iron. Over one hundred railroads are incorporated in New York alone. The Tom Thumb (locomotive) was designed and built by Peter Cooper for the B&O—the first American-built steam locomotive.
• 1830 - The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opens, and the first steam passenger service, primarily locomotive hauled, is started. The line proves the viability of rail transport, and large scale railway construction begins in Britain, and then spreads throughout the world. The Railway Age begins.
• 1831 - First railway in Australia, for the Australian Agricultural Company, a cast iron fishbelly gravitational railway servicing the A Pit coal mine.
• 1831 - First passenger season tickets issued on the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway.
• 1832 - Railway switch patented by Charles Fox.
• 1833 - The Great Western Railway Works, near Swindon, England are founded by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
• 1834 - Ireland's first railway, the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) opens between Dublin and Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), a distance of six miles.
• 1835 - In Belgium a railway was opened on May 5 between Brussels and Mechelen. It was the first railway in continental Europe.
• 1835, December 7 - Bavarian Ludwigsbahn, the first steam-powered German railway line, opened for public service between Nuremberg and Fürth.
• 1836, July 21 - First public railway in Canada, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad, opened in Quebec with a 16-mile run between La Prairie and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
• 1837 - The first Cuban railway line connected Havana with Bejucal. In 1838 the line reached Güines. This was also the first railway in Latin America and the Iberian world in general.
• 1837 - Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company opened the first long-distance German railway line, connecting Leipzig with Althen near Wurzen. In 1839 the line reached Dresden.
• 1837 - The first Austrian railway line connected Vienna with Wagram. In 1839 the line reached Brno.
• 1837 - The first rail line in Russia connected Tsarskoye Selo and Saint Petersburg.
• 1837 - The first line in France opened between Le Pecq near the former royal town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Embarcadère des Bâtignoles (later to become Gare Saint-Lazare)
• 1837 - Robert Davidson built the first electric locomotive
• 1838 - Edmondson railway ticket introduced.
• 1839 - The first railway in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Italy, opened from Naples to Portici.
• 1839 - The first rail line in the Netherlands connected Amsterdam and Haarlem.
• 1844 - The first rail line in Congress Poland was built between Warsaw and Pruszków.
• 1844 - The first Atmospheric Railway, the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway opened for passenger service between Kingstown & Dalkey in Ireland. The line was 3 km in length & operated for 10 years.
• 1845 - The first railway line built in Jamaica opened on November 21. The line ran 15 miles from Kingston to Spanish Town. It was also the first rail line to be built in any of Britain's West Indies colonies. The Earl of Elgin, Jamaica's Governor presided over the opening ceremonies, by the late 1860s the line extended 105 miles to Montego Bay.
• 1845 - Royal Commission on Railway Gauges to choose between Stephenson's gauge and Brunel's gauge.
• 1846 - James McConnell met with George Stephenson and Archibald Slate at Bromsgrove. It was at this meeting that the idea of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers came about.
• 1846 - The first railway line in Hungary, connects Pest and Vác
• 1847 - First train in Switzerland, the Limmat, on the Spanisch-Brotli-Bahn Railway line.
• 1848 - First railway in South America, British Guyana. The railway was designed, surveyed and built by the British-American architect and artist Frederick Catherwood. All the railway stations, bridges, stores and other facilities were constructed by John Bradshaw Sharples. Financing was provided by the Demerera Sugar Company who wished to transport their product to the dock of Georgetown. Construction was in sections with the first, from Georgetown to Plaisance, opening on 3 November 1848. The opening day's festivities featured the death of one of the railway's directors by being run over by the locomotive.
• 1851 - First train in Chile from Caldera to Copiapó (80 km).
• 1851 - First train in British India, built by British invention and administration.
• 1851 - Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway
• 1852 - The first railway in Africa, in Alexandria, Egypt.
• 1853 - Passenger train makes in début in Bombay, India
• 1853 - Indianapolis' Union Station, the first "union station", opened by the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, and Bellefontaine Railroad in the United States.
• 1854 - The first railway in Brazil, inaugurated by Pedro II of Brazil on April 30 in Rio de Janeiro, built by the Viscount of Maua.
• 1854 - The first railway in Norway. Between Oslo and Eidsvoll.
• 1854 - First steam drawn railway in Australia. Melbourne to Hobson's Bay, Victoria.
• 1855 - The Panama Railway with over 50 miles (80 km) of track is completed after five years of work across the Isthmus of Panama at a cost of about $8,000,000 dollars and over 6,000 lives—the first 'transcontinental railway'.
• 1856 - The first railway in Papal State, Italy, from Rome to Frascati.
• 1856 - First railway completed in Portugal, linking Lisbon to Carregado.
• 1857 - Steel rails first used in Britain.
• 1857 - The first railway in Argentina, built by Ferrocarril del Oeste between Buenos Aires and Flores, a distance of 10 km, was opened to the public on August 30.
• 1858 - Henri Giffard invented the injector for steam locomotives.
• 1862 - The first railway in Finland, from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna.
• 1862 - The Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway is opened.
• 1863 - First underground railway, the 4-mile (6.4 km) Metropolitan Railway opened in London. It was powered by adapted steam engines (which condensed the steam to be let out only at particular places with air vents). Gave rise to entire new mode of subterranean urban transit: the Subway/U-Bahn/Metro.
• 1863 - Scotsman Robert Francis Fairlie invents the Fairlie locomotive with pivoted driving bogies, allowing trains to negotiate tighter curves in the track. This innovation proves rare for steam locomotives but is the model for most future diesel and electric locomotives.
• 1865 - Pullman sleeping car introduced in the USA.
• 1869 - The First Transcontinental Railroad (North America) completed across the United States from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California. Built by Central Pacific and Union Pacific.
• 1869 - George Westinghouse establishes the Westinghouse Air Brake Company in the United States.
• 1872 - The Midland Railway put in a third-class coach on its trains.
• 1875 - Midland Railway introduces eight and twelve wheeled bogie coaches.
• 1877 - Vacuum brakes are invented in the United States.
• 1879 - First electric railway demonstrated at the Berlin Trades Fair.
• 1881 - First public electric tram line, the Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, opened in Berlin, Germany.
• 1881 - One of the first railway lines in the Middle East was built between Tehran and Rayy in Iran.
• 1882 - Lavatories introduced on Great Northern Railway coaches in Britain
• 1882 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway connected Atchison, Kansas with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Deming, New Mexico, thus completing a second transcontinental railroad in the U.S..
• 1883 - First electric tram line using electricity served from an overhead line, the Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened in Austria.
• 1883 - Southern Pacific Railroad linked New Orleans, Louisiana with Los Angeles, California thus completing the third U.S. transcontinental railroad.
• 1883 - The Northern Pacific Railway,links Chicago, Illinois with Seattle, Washington—the fourth U.S. transcontinental railroad.
• 1885 - The Canadian Pacific Railway is completed 5 years ahead of schedule, the longest single railway of its time, which links the eastern and western provinces of Canada.
• 1888 - Frank Sprague installs the "trolleypole" trolley system in Richmond, Virginia, making it the first large scale electric street railway in the US, though the first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company.
• 1890 - First electric London Underground railway (subway) opened in London—all other subway systems soon followed suit.
• 1891 - Construction begins on the 9,313 km (5,787 mi) long Trans-Siberian railway in Russia. Construction completed in 1904. Webb C. Ball establishes first Railway Watch official guidelines for Railroad chronometers.
• 1893 - The Great Northern Railway linked St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle—the fifth U. S. transcontinental railroad.
• 1895 - Japan's first electrified railway opens in Kyoto.
• 1895 - First mainline electrification on a four-mile stretch (Baltimore Belt Line) of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
• 1899 - The first Korean railway line connects Noryangjin (Seoul) with Jemulpo (Incheon).
• 1899 - Tokyo's first electric railway, the predecessor to Keihin Electric Express Railway opens.
• 1899 - First use of three-phase alternating current in a mainline. The 40 km Burgdorf-Thun line opens in Switzerland.