Timeline

I only chose from the first instance of steam locomotives to the last time they were in operation.

• 1804 - Richard Trevithick debuted the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive in the Welsh mining town of Merthyr Tydfil.

• 1807 – First passengers started traveling on trains between Swansea tom Mumbles.

• 1808 - Catch Me Who Can locomotive was built by John Urpeth Rastrick and John Hazledine for Richard Trevithick. It was successfully demonstrated in London.

• 1812 – First commercial passenger railway opens in England on the Middleton Railway.

• 1813 - Puffing Billy was built by a team of British engineers called William Hedley, Jonathan Forest and Timothy Hackworth who worked for Christopher Blackett, the owner of the Northumberland colliery at Wylam.

• 1814 - The Blucher was invented in 1814 by a famous British civil engineer called George Stephenson.

• 1815 - Wylam Dilly built by William Hedley and Timothy Hackworth, British engineers who had contributed towards the construction.

• 1825 - George Stephenson builds his famous LOCOMOTION No. 1, capable of pulling 90 tons of coal at 15mph.

• 1826 – Quincy, Mass became first place in North America with working railway. Materials were hauled by horses.

• 1829 - Tom Thumb was the first American-built steam locomotive to operate on a common-carrier railroad.

• 1829 - The Rocket was produced by Robert Stephenson and Company at the Forth Street Works, Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1829 for the Rainhill Trials.

• 1830 - 1st Passenger Service in the U.S. begins operation in South Carolina.

• 1831 - The John Bull was a locomotive built in England and brought to America.

• 1831 - U.S. mail is carried on the rails for the first time.

• 1832 - Charles Fox patented railway track switch.

• 1833 - Andrew Jackson travels from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to ride the rails.

• 1850 - More than 9,000 miles of railroad are in operation in the U.S., as much as in the rest of the world combined.

• 1851 - First refrigerated railcar known to have been built in the U.S. begins service when eight tons of butter were shipped from Ogdensburg, NY, to Boston.

• 1856 – First railroad bridge over river Mississippi enabled expansion of trains to the west.

• 1860 - Chicago, with 11 railroads, becomes America’s leading railway center.

• 1861 - The Civil War becomes the first major conflict in which railroads play a major role.

• 1862 - Transcontinental Railroad Construction Begins.

• 1863 - Congress designates 4 feet, 8.5 inches as the gauge for the transcontinental railroad.

• 1863 – First underground railway started working in London. Success of this track gave birth to the modern subways.

• 1865 - The “golden age” of railroads begins.

• 1865 - Charles P. Hatch of the Empire Transportation Company invents the railroad tank car.

• 1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad completed in North America, successfully bridging Pacific and central United States.

• 1872 – American inventor George Westinghouse patented his first automatic air brake, which soon became primary brake system in all future trains.

• 1893 - On May 10, Locomotive No. 999 of the New York Central hits 112.5 miles per hour between Batavia and Buffalo, New York.

• 1917 - The federal government seizes control of the railroads for the duration of World War I.

• 1929 - The Great Depression forces substantial segments of the rail industry into bankruptcy.

• 1933 - Continuous welded rail is laid for the first time in the U.S. Continuous welded rail.

• 1941 - Railroads remain under private control during World War II and, on average, move twice the monthly volume of freight and passengers as during World War I.

• 1945 - President Harry S Truman is the last “Railroad President.” His successors will rely primarily on planes and automobiles.

• 1960 - The final year of regular Class 1 main line standard gauge steam operation in the United States.