| Years in rail transport |
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| Timeline of railway history |
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1878.
Events
January events
- January 18 – Construction on the Central Australia Railway route south of Port Augusta, Australia, begins.
February events
- February 5 – The first train is operated on the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad from Renton to Newcastle.
May events
- May 9 – The final segment of the Romanian railway between Vârciorova in the south and Roman in the north opens.
- May – Chemins de fer de l'État formed in France to take over ten small railway companies operating between the Loire and Garonne.
June events
- June 1 – The North British Railway's Tay Bridge across the Firth of Tay in Scotland, is opened to public traffic, making it the longest in the world at that date.
July events
- July 2 – The Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Railway, original predecessor of the BMT Brighton Line, in modern Brooklyn, New York, opens to Brighton Beach on Coney Island.
August events
- August 24 – The narrow gauge Ballymena and Larne Railway starts passenger operations in County Antrim, the first on the Irish 3 ft narrow gauge.
October events
- October 16 – Rimutaka Incline in New Zealand opens.
December events
- December 4 – The first Shay locomotive is completed for the 3-foot narrow gauge Alleyton and Big Lake Railroad of Everett Township, Michigan.
Unknown date events
- Fred Harvey enters a partnership with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to build and operate the Harvey House chain of restaurants and hotels that will serve the railroad's passengers.
- The Richmond & Danville Railroad acquires the Charlotte, Columbia & Augusta Railroad.
- The Canadian Engine and Machinery Company is reorganized after a bankruptcy as the Canadian Locomotive and Engine Company.
- The Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad, lessee of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, declares bankruptcy.
Births
March births
- March 2 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, heir to Cornelius Vanderbilt and president of the New York Central system (d. 1944).
April births
- April 14 – Angus Daniel McDonald, president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of the Southern Pacific, 1932–1941 (d. 1941).
Deaths
March deaths
- March 29 – Mark Hopkins, a member of The Big Four group of financiers in California (b. 1813).
June deaths
- June 27 – Sidney Breese, U.S. senator from Illinois known as the "father of the Illinois Central Railroad," dies (b. 1800).
October deaths
- October 19 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II, designer of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Thomas Viaduct, still in use toda), dies (b. 1806).
December deaths
- December 27 – Daniel McCallum, General Superintendent of New York & Erie Railroad 1855–1858 (b. 1815).
References
- HistoryLink (2018), Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad reaches Newcastle on February 5, 1878.. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
- Thomas, John (1969). The North British Railway, vol. 1. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4697-0.
- Baker, Michael H. C. (1999). Irish Narrow Gauge Railways: a View from the Past. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0-7110-2680-7.
- Patterson, Edward M. (1968). The Ballymena Lines. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 64. ISBN 0-7153-4183-9.
- Koch, Michael (1971). The Shay Locomotive: Titan of the Timber. The World Press. p. 385.
- Yenne, Bill (1985). The history of the Southern Pacific. New York: Bonanza.