1855 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1855.

Events

January events

• January – The Panama Railway becomes the first railroad to connect the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean by rail as its route across Panama is completed.
• January 28 – The first train travels the entire transcontinental route of the Panama Railway.

February events

• February 23 – The Hudson and Boston Railroad is chartered as the successor to the Hudson and Berkshire Railroad in New York.

March events

• March – The Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad, whose purchase formed the basis of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad, begins operations.

December events

• December – Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor completes a 4–4–0 steam locomotive named General; this locomotive will later become the main object in the Great Locomotive Chase of the American Civil War.

Unknown date events

• The first railway in New South Wales, Australia, from Sydney to Parramatta, using 4 ft 8.5 in gauge (standard gauge) track opens.

Births

November births

• November 5 – Eugene V. Debs, labor leader, founding member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, founder of the American Railway Union, arrested during the Pullman strike in Chicago, Illinois.

Deaths