Timeline of railway history

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This is a timeline of rail transport history.

See also Timeline of steam power.

428BC - The precursor of the railway, the rutway, existed in ancient Greek and Roman times, The most signficant early example being the Greek rutway, the Diolkos of Corinth, recorded as in use to transport shipping overland on 8 occasions between 428BC and 30BC.
1550 - Hand propelled tubs known as "hunds" undoubtedly existed in the provinces surrounding/forming modern day Germany by the mid 16th century having been in proven use since the mid-1400s and possibly earlier. This technology was brought to the UK by German miners working in the Mines Royal at various sites in the English Lake District near Keswick. (Now in Cumbria) An excellent and definitive, but currently out of print, book by Michael Lewis "Early Wooden Railways" should be consulted with regard to pre-17th century railways etc.
1603/4 - Between October 1603 and the end of September 1604 Huntingdon Beaumont, partner of the landowner Sir Percival Willoughby, built what is currently the world's first recorded above ground early railway/wagonway. It was approximately two miles in length running from mines at Strelley to Wollaton in Nottinghamshire, England. It is known as the Wollaton Wagonway. Beaumont built three further waggonways shortly after near Blyth in Northumberland related to the coal and salt trade. Shortly after the Wollaton Wagonway was built other wagonways are recorded at Broseley near Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. Further waggonways emerged in the English North East.
1761 Ralph Allen's Waggonway. First iron rails laid at Bath, England.
1782 Scottish engineer James Watt invents first steam engine able to turn wheels. Although James Watt is generally regarded as significant in the evolution of the modern stationary steam engine the principles of using the expansion/condensing power of hot air and steam by the application of heat were known in antiquity as far back as the Roman Emperor Nero who used the technology to operate temple doors.
1789 English engineer William Jessop uses flanged iron wheels on iron edge rails on coal railway at Loughborough, Leicestershire.
1803 Arguably, the world's first public railway, the Surrey Iron Railway opens in south London.
1804 World's first steam locomotive built by Richard Trevithick.
1807 First paying passenger service on the Oystermouth Railway, better known as the Swansea and Mumbles Railway
1814 George Stephenson constructs his first locomotive, Blucher.
1825 Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first steam operated railway opens, carrying freight from a Colliery to a river port.
1829 George and Robert Stephenson's locomotive, The Rocket, sets a speed record of 47 km/h (29 mph) at the Rainhill Trials held near Liverpool.
1830 The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway opens in Kent, England on the 3 May, Engineered by George Stevenson, 3 months before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. A 5¾ mile line running from Canterbury to the small port and fishing town of Whitstable, approx 55 miles east of London. Traction was provided by three Stationary Winding Engines, and "INVICTA"; Invicta was an 0-4-0 Loco, built by the Stevenson company, but only operated on a level section of track owing to the fact she produced a meager 9 hp.
1830 The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opens, and the first steam passenger service, primarily locomotive hauled, is started. The line proves the viabillity of rail transport, and large scale railway construction begins in Britain, and then spreads throughout the world. The Railway age begins.
1831 First Passenger Season tickets issued on the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway.
1832 railway switch patented by Charles Fox
1835 In Belgium a railway was opened on May 5 between Brussels and Mechelen. It was the first railway in continental Europe.
1837 The first German railway line connects Leipzig with Althen near Wurzen, in 1839 the line reaches Dresden.
1837 The first Austro-Hungarian railway line connects Wien with Wagram, in 1839 the line reaches Brno.

1846 James McConnell met with George Stephenson and Archibald Slate at Bromsgrove. It was at this meeting that the idea of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers came about.
1848 Australia first railway Sydney Railway Company (SRC), Australia's first, in 1848. Capitalised at £100,000, it aimed to build railways to connect the port and capital of Sydney with the colony's two main inland towns of Bathurst and Goulburn.
1851 First train in British India, built by British invention and administration.
1852 The first railway in Africa, in Alexandria, Egypt.
1853 Passenger train makes in debut in Bombay, India
1853 Indianapolis' Union Station, the first "union station" in the world, opened by the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, and Bellefontaine Railroad in the United States.
1854 The first line in South America, from Copiapó to Caldera, in Chile.'
1855 the Panama Railway completed, the first transcontinental railway
1856 First railway completed in Portugal, linking Lisbon to Carregado.
1857 Steel rails first used in Britain.
1863 World's first underground railway opened in London.
1863 Scotsman Robert Fairlie invents the Fairlie locomotive with pivoted driving bogies, allowing trains to negotiate tighter curves in the track. This innovation proves rare for steam locomotives but is the model for most future diesel and electric locomotives.
1865 Pullman sleeping car introduced in the USA.
1869 The First Transcontinental Railroad (North America) completed across the United States.
1869 George Westinghouse establishes the Westinghouse Air Brake Company in the United States.
1875 Midland Railway introduces eight and twelve wheeled bogie coaches.
1877 Vacuum brakes are invented in the United States.
1879 First electric railway demonstrated at the Berlin Trades Fair.
1881 World's first public electric railway opened in Germany. One of the first railway lines in the Middle East was built between Tehran and Rayy in Iran.
1882 Lavatories introduced on Great Northern Railway coaches in Britain
1888 Frank Sprague installs the "trolleypole" trolley system in Richmond, Virginia, making it the first working electric street railway.
1890 World's first electric underground railway opened in London.
1891 Construction begins on the 9,313 km (5,787 mile) long Trans-Siberian railway in Russia. Construction completed in 1904. Webb C. Ball establishes first Railway Watch official guidelines for Railroad chronometers.
1895 First mainline electrification on the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
1908 London, Brighton and South Coast Railway opens first suburban electric train service between Victoria station and London Bridge in south London
1913 First diesel powered railcar enters service in Sweden.
1926 First diesel locomotive service introduced in Canada.
1934 First diesel-powered streamlined passenger train in America (the Burlington Zephyr) introduced at the Chicago World's Fair.
1938 In England, the world speed record for steam traction is set by the Mallard which reaches a speed of 203 km/h (126 mph).
1939 In Persia the Trans-Iranian Railway was opened, built entirely by local capital.
1960s-2000s many countries adopt high-speed rail in an attempt to make rail transport competitive with both road transport and air transport.
1964 Bullet Train service introduced in Japan, between Tokyo and Osaka. Trains average speeds of 160 km/h (100 mph).
1970 Penn Central goes bankrupt, the United States' largest corporate bankruptcy up to that time.
1975 British Rail's Advanced Passenger Train achieves 245 km/h (152.3 mph) on 10th. August.
1979 High speed TGV trains introduced in France, TGV trains travel at an average speed of 213 km/h (132 mph) and with a top speed of 300 km/h (187 mph).
1987 World speed record for a diesel locomotive is set in Britain by British Rail's High Speed Train, which reaches a speed of 238 km/h (148 mph).
1990 World speed record for an electric train, is set in France by a TGV, which reaches a speed of 515 km/h (320 mph).
1990s Amtrak introduces the Acela Express on the Northeast Corridor in the United States.