1831 in rail transport
Events
February events
- February 18 – The West Chester Railroad is chartered in Pennsylvania.
April events
- April 23 – the Pontchartrain Rail-Road begins operation.
- April 25
- Matthias W. Baldwin displays a model steam locomotive at the Philadelphia City Museum a year before building his first full-size locomotive for a working railroad.[1]
- The New York and Harlem Railroad is incorporated as a passenger carrier.[2]
May events
- May – Members of a Manchester (England) Sunday School are conveyed by a special train on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to Liverpool, the first recorded private railway excursion.[3]
June events
- June 17 - The first boiler explosion in the United States occurs when the engineer on the Best Friend of Charleston ties the steam safety pressure release valve shut.[4]
- June 18 – The John Bull is constructed by Robert Stephenson and Company in England.
- June 21 – The Boston and Providence Rail Road is incorporated and chartered to build a railroad connection between Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island.
- June 23 – The Boston and Worcester Railroad is chartered to build a railroad between its namesake cities in Massachusetts.
July events
- July 1 – The first railroad built in Virginia, the Chesterfield Railroad, begins operations.
- July 4 – Opening of first section of Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway in Scotland[5] including St Leonards Tunnel, Scotland's earliest tunnel on a public railway.
The John Bull and train as it looked in 1831; drawn by Isaac Dripps in 1887.
(Image from the collection of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, America On The Move exhibit, used with permission)
(Image from the collection of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, America On The Move exhibit, used with permission)
- July 14 – The John Bull departs Liverpool aboard the steamship Allegheny bound for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
August events
- August 9 – The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, the first railroad built in New York state, opens.
September events
- September 4 – The John Bull arrives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from Liverpool.
- September 15 – The John Bull is operated for the first time on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
- September 24 – The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad opens between Albany and Schenectady, New York.
November events
- November 12 – Robert L. Stevens, president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad hosts a demonstration run of the John Bull for New Jersey politicians and dignitaries.
Unknown date events
- First rail carriage of United States mail, by South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, according to some sources.[6]
- John B. Jervis becomes the chief engineer for the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, a predecessor of the New York Central.
Births
January births
- January 14 – William D. Washburn, first president of Soo Line Railroad 1883–1889, is born (d. 1912).
March births
- March 3 – George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist, founder of the Pullman Company (d. 1897)
August births
- August 26 – T. Jefferson Coolidge, president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1880–1881 (d. 1920).[7]
Unknown date births
- Eli H. Janney, inventor of the knuckle coupler (d. 1912).
References
- White, John H. Jr. (Spring 1986). "America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders". Railroad History. 154: 9–15. ISSN 0090-7847. JSTOR 43523785. OCLC 1785797.
- Mitchell, Frank (March 1999). "M. W. Baldwin". Archived from the original on February 5, 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2005.
- Valentine, David T. (1866). A Compilation of the Existing Ferry Leases and Railroad Grants Made by the Corporation of the City of New York. pp. 345–346
- Thomas, R. H. G. (1980). The Liverpool & Manchester Railway. London: Batsford. p. 195. ISBN 0-7134-0537-6.
- Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History – June. Retrieved June 13, 2005.
- Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-049-7.
- Bigham, Truman C.; Roberts, Merrill J. (1952). Transportation: Principles and Problems. 2nd edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- The Political Graveyard (March 10, 2005), Politicians in Railroading in Massachusetts Archived 2006-06-18 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 29, 2005.
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