1865 in rail transport

Years in rail transport

* 1864 in rail transport
* 1865 in rail transport
* 1866 in rail transport

Timeline of railway history

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1865.

## Events

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### January events

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* January 5 – The Festiniog Railway in North Wales officially opens to passengers, the first narrow gauge railway in the British Isles to do so.[1]
* January 10 – The California Pacific Railroad absorbs the Sacramento and San Francisco Rail Road Company and the San Francisco and Marysville Rail Road Company.

### February events

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* February – The Confederate States of America authorize military control of railroads for the American Civil War.[2]
* February 4 – The assets of Dayton, Xenia and Belpre Railroad in Ohio are sold in bankruptcy proceedings and split between the Little Miami Railroad and Columbus and Xenia Railroad.[3]
* February 9 – The Colorado and Clear Creek Railroad, predecessor to the Colorado Central Railroad, is chartered.
* February 15 – The Chicago and North Western Railway and Galena and Chicago Union Railroad merge.

### March events

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* March – The Central Pacific Railroad hires agents to recruit thousands of Chinese workers from Guangdong Province.
* March 17 – The Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company shops in Berwick, Pennsylvania, are destroyed by fire.[4]

### April events

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* April – The funeral train for Abraham Lincoln travels from Washington, D.C., to Illinois.

### May events

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* May – Opening of Talyllyn Railway in Wales.[5]
* May 5 – The first train robbery in the United States takes place, in North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), committed by armed guerillas from the American Civil War.
* May 25 – The first steel rails are rolled at a foundry in Chicago from Bessemer steel made in blast furnaces in Wyandotte, Michigan.[6]

### June events

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* June 7 – The Rednal rail crash in England, a derailment at a permanent way work site, kills thirteen.
* June 9 – The Staplehurst rail crash in England, a derailment at a permanent way work site, kills ten and injures 49; Charles Dickens is amongst the survivors.
* July 31 – Opening of the narrow gauge (3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)) main line from Ipswich to Grandchester, Queensland, Australia.[7][8]

### August events

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* August 7 – The Lawrence Railroad and Transportation Company, with tracks in Pennsylvania and Ohio, is reorganized as the Lawrence Railroad Company.[9]

### September events

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* September 1 – The English company John Trevor-Barkley begins construction on the Bucharest–Giurgiu line, the first railroad line built in the territory of Romania.
* September 13 – Algernon S. Buford becomes president of the Richmond and Danville Railroad.
* September 14 – The Brockville and Ottawa Railway begins operations between Arnprior and Sand Point, Ontario, a distance of about 6 miles (10 km).[10]

### October events

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* October 2 – First section of Sri Lanka Railways, at this time known as Ceylon Government Railways, officially opens from Colombo to Ambepussa (54 km (34 mi)) on 5 ft 6in (1676 mm) gauge.[11][page needed]
* October 18 – Almelo railway station in the Netherlands is opened.

### December events

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* December 20 – Alkmaar railway station in the Netherlands is opened.

### Unknown date events

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* The United Kingdom Institution of Civil Engineers forms the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps.[12]
* The Union Pacific Railway, later to become the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and not to be confused with the Union Pacific Railroad, begins operations.
* A group of businessmen in San Francisco, led by Timothy Guy Phelps, found the Southern Pacific Railroad to build a rail connection between San Francisco and San Diego.
* Erastus Corning resigns from his executive post for the New York Central Railroad.
* The Canadian Engine and Machinery Company, predecessor of the Canadian Locomotive Company, is founded from the assets of the bankrupt Kingston Locomotive Works.
* Missouri Car and Foundry Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in St. Louis, Missouri.
* Pittsburgh & Steubenville Extension Railroad Tunnel opens for rail service.

## Births

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### March births

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* March 2 – Frederick Methvan Whyte, mechanical engineer for the New York Central Railroad, creator of Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives (d. 1941).[13]

### October births

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* October 9 – George Hughes, Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 1904–1922, the London and North Western Railway 1922–1923 and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1925–1931 (d. 1945).

## Deaths

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### Unknown date deaths

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* William T. James, American inventor of the link motion and spark arrester (b. 1786).

## References

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1. ^ Johnson, Peter (2007). An Illustrated History of the Festiniog Railway 1832–1954. Hersham: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-86093-603-9.
2. ^ Westwood, John (1980). Railways at War. Howell-North Books. p. 29\. ISBN 0-8310-7138-9.
3. ^ Morris, J. C., Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs (December 31, 1902). Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs, Part II. History of the Railroads of Ohio. Retrieved 2006-02-04.
4. ^ "Jackson & Woodin Manufacturing Company". Mid-Continent Railway Museum. 2006-04-11. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-16.
5. ^ Boyd, J. I. C. (1988). The Tal-y-Llyn Railway. Didcot: Wild Swan Publications. p. 45\. ISBN 0-906867-46-0.
6. ^ Barnett, Leroy (July–August 2004). "Making America's First Steel in Wyandotte". Michigan History. 88 (4).
7. ^ Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin July 1965 pp. 121–136.
8. ^ Lee, Robert (2003). "Potential railway world heritage sites in Asia and the Pacific". Institute of Railway Studies, University of York. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
9. ^ Morris, J. C., compiler (December 31, 1902), Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs: Part II. History of the Railroads of Ohio. Retrieved 2005-08-07.
10. ^ Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (September 7, 2005), Significant dates in Ottawa railway history Archived 2006-04-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2005-09-13.
11. ^ Marshall, John (1989). The Guinness Railway Book. Enfield: Guinness Books. ISBN 0-8511-2359-7. OCLC 24175552.
12. ^ Westwood, John (1980). Railways at War. Howell-North Books. p. 91\. ISBN 0-8310-7138-9.
13. ^ Lane, Harold Francis, ed. (1913). The Biographical Directory of the Railway Officials of America (1913 ed.). New York: Simmons-Boardman. p. 588.

## Further reading

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* White, John H. Jr. (Spring 1986). "America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders". Railroad History. 154: 9–15\. ISSN 0090-7847. JSTOR 43523785. OCLC 1785797.
* White, John H. Jr. (1968). A history of the American locomotive; its development: 1830–1880. New York, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-23818-0.