1885 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1885.

Events

February events

• February 17 – The Southern Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad are combined under a single holding company, the Southern Pacific Company.

April events

• April 1 – The Southern Pacific Railroad takes over operations of the Central Pacific Railroad.

November events

• November 7 – Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway is completed.

Unknown date events

• Cornelius Vanderbilt II is promoted to president of the New York Central system.

Births

Deaths

July deaths

• July 31 – Robert F. Fairlie, English steam locomotive builder (b. 1831).

December deaths

• December 8 – William Henry Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt and president of the New York Central system (b. 1821).

Unknown date deaths

• John B. Jervis, Chief mechanical engineer of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad who pioneered the use of the leading truck on steam locomotives (b. 1795).

References

• Robert Francis Fairlie. Retrieved February 9 2005.
• White, John H., Jr. (1968). A history of the American locomotive; its development: 1830–1880. Dover Publications, New York, NY. ISBN 0–486–23818–0.