1879 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1879.

Events

May events

• May – James J. Hill forms the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway from the assets of the bankrupt St. Paul and Pacific.

Unknown date events

• Southern Pacific Railroad engineers experiment with the first oil-fired steam locomotives.
• Ensign Manufacturing Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in Huntington, West Virginia.

Births

April births

• April 24 – Oris Paxton Van Sweringen, American financier who, with his brother Mantis, controlled the Nickel Plate Road and other eastern railroads (d. 1936).

Unknown date births

• Ralph Budd, president of the Great Northern Railway 1919–1932 and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 1932–1949 (d. 1962).

Deaths

References

• (2000), American Experience / Streamliners / People & Events / Ralph Budd. Retrieved February 22 2005.
• President and Fellows of Harvard College (2004), 20th century great American business leaders – Ralph Budd. Retrieved February 22 2005.
• White, John H., Jr. (Spring 1986), America's most noteworthy railroaders, Railroad History, Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, 154, p. 9–15.