1820 in rail transport

Years in rail transport

* 1819 in rail transport
* 1820 in rail transport
* 1821 in rail transport

Timeline of railway history

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1820.

## Events

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* May 1 – The Kington Tramway, a horse-worked plateway, is opened from Eardisley to Kington, Herefordshire, England. Together with the Hay Railway it forms a continuous system 36 miles (45 km) in length, the longest in the United Kingdom at this date.[1]
* October - John Birkinshaw of Bedlington Ironworks patents improvements in the production of wrought iron rails.
* Thomas Gray publishes his first of five editions of Observations on a General Iron Railway, a book that accelerates the British debate on this means of transportation and promotes the concept of a national rail network.
* An early form of monorail in Russia is operated by Ivan Elmanov in Myachkovo, Moscow Oblast.

## Births

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### January births

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* January 21 – Egide Walschaerts, Belgian inventor of a steam locomotive valve gear (d. 1901).[2]

### April births

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* April 8 - John Taylor Johnston, president of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, 1848–1877 (d. 1893).

### May births

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* May 2 - Robert Gerwig, German civil engineer, designer of Schwarzwald Railway and the Hell Valley Railway (d. 1885).[3]

### July births

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* July 31 – John W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from 1858 (d. 1884).[4]

### August births

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* August 6 – Donald Smith, afterwards Lord Strathcona, Scottish financier, promoter of the Canadian Pacific Railway (d. 1914).

### September births

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* September 20 – Alfred Belpaire, Belgian inventor of the Belpaire firebox used on steam locomotives (d. 1893).[2]

### December births

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* December 21 – William H. Osborn, president of Illinois Central Railroad 1855–1865, president of Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad 1875–1882, is born (d. 1894).

### Unknown death dates

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* James Beatty, Irish engineer who was involved in building the European and North American Railway and the Grand Crimean Central Railway (d. 1856)

## Deaths

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This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010)

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## References

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* White, John H Jr. (Spring 1986). "America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders". Railroad History. 154: 9–15.

1. ^ Rattenbury, Gordon; Cook, Ray (1996). The Hay and Kington Railways. Gwernymynydd: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901461-19-9.
2. ^ a b Marshall, John (2003). Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers (2nd ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901461-22-9.
3. ^ "Continental engineers". steamindex.com. 7 June 2018. Gerwig, Robert. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
4. ^ Biography of John Work Garrett. Archived from the original on 8 February 2005. Retrieved 2005-03-02.