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This article lists events relating to rail transport that occurred during the 1780s.

1780

Births

January births

• January 26 – John Urpeth Rastrick, English steam locomotive builder and partner in Foster, Rastrick and Company (died 1856).

October births

• October 25 – Philip Hone, first president of Delaware and Hudson Railway 1825–1826 (died 1851).

1781

Births

June births

• June 9 – George Stephenson, English steam locomotive builder.

1782

Births

Unknown date births

• Joseph Treffry (born Joseph Austen), railway promoter in Cornwall, England (died 1850).

1783

Events

• Halbeath Railway opens from the colliery at Halbeath to the harbour at Inverkeithing, Scotland.

1784

Births

• December 30 – Stephen H. Long, American steam locomotive mechanical engineer who helped build the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (died 1864).

1785

Births

Unknown date births

• Sir William Cubitt, civil engineer on the South Eastern and Great Northern Railways of England (died 1861).

1786

Births

December births

• December 22 – Timothy Hackworth, English steam locomotive builder (died 1850).

Unknown date births

• William T. James, American inventor of the link motion and spark arrester (died 1865).

1787

Events

Unknown date events

• First production of all-iron edge rail (for underground colliery use), at Plymouth Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales.
• First introduction of plateway (for underground use), at Sheffield Park Colliery, Yorkshire, England, by John Curr.

Births

October births

• October 18 – Robert Livingston Stevens, president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad, the first railroad built in New Jersey (died 1856).

1788

Events

Unknown date events

• First introduction of plateway for surface use, at Wingerworth Iron Foundry, Derbyshire, England, by Joseph Butler.

1789

Events

Unknown date events

• Oliver Evans is awarded a U.S. patent for his "steam carriage," a design that is believed by some historians to have influenced Richard Trevithick's work on early steam locomotives.

Births

October births

• October 8 – John Ruggles, awarded U.S. patent 1 for improved driving wheels (died 1874).

Unknown date births

• Gridley Bryant, inventor of many basic railroad technologies including track and wheels (died 1867)

See also

• Years in rail transport

References

1. "John Urpeth Rastrick". steamindex.com. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
2. Simmons, Jack (2004). "Treffry, Joseph Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/38076. Retrieved 2010-01-12. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Poustie, Mark. "Halbeath Railway". RailScot. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
4. 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.
5. Marshall, John (2003). A Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers (2nd ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901461-22-9.
6. Brown, Peter. "Sir William Cubitt (1785-1861)". Archived from the original on 24 December 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
7. "Timothy Hackworth". steamindex.com. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
8. van Laun, John (2001). Early Limestone Railways. London: Newcomen Society. pp. 203–4. ISBN 0-904685-09-8.
9. Occasional Paper. 184, 192. Railway and Canal Historical Society, Early Railway Group.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
10. Today in Science History: October 18. Retrieved October 18, 2005.
11. Farey, John (1817). General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire. Vol. 3. London: Board of Agriculture.

• 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.
• White, John H. Jr. (Spring 1986). "America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders". Railroad History. 154: 9–15. ISSN 0090-7847. JSTOR 43523785. OCLC 1785797.

• 1780s in rail transport