1870 in rail transport
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This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1870.

Events

January events

• January 20 - The Elizabeth City and Norfolk Railroad, which later became the original Norfolk Southern Railroad, is chartered to build a railroad line between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

February events

• February 24 - Delaware and Hudson Canal Company leases the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, which extended from Albany to Binghamton, New York.

March events

• March 24 - Pennsylvania Railroad signs a 999-year lease of the Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad.¹
• March - Construction on the Kansas Pacific reaches Kit Carson, Colorado.

June events

• June - The Denver Pacific Railway completes construction of its mainline between Denver, Colorado, and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

July events

• July 24 - The first railroad car to travel the entire distance from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast of the United States arrives in New York City.

August events

• August - Construction crews on the Kansas Pacific working eastward from Denver and westward from Kansas City meet at Strasburg, Colorado.
• August - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Topeka, reaches Emporia, Kansas.
• August 2 - The Texas legislature approves the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT) charter, which was originally granted by Kansas, allowing the MKT to build into the state.
• August 15 - Construction on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, building westward from Kansas, reaches Denver, Colorado.

September events

• September 24 - Ginery Twichell succeeds Henry Keyes as president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Unknown date events

• The Southern Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad operations are merged under the Southern Pacific name.

Births

July births

• July 29 - Henry Fowler, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway 1909–1923 and of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1925–1931 (d. 1938).

Deaths

April deaths

• April 26 - Zerah Colburn (locomotive designer) (suicide) (b. 1832).²

December deaths

• December - Byron Kilbourn, president of Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad 1849-1852 (b. 1801).
• December 8 - Thomas Brassey, English railway contractor who supervised the construction of more than 6500 miles (10461 km) of track around the world (b. 1805).³

Unknown date deaths

• George S. Griggs, pioneering master mechanic of American steam locomotives (b. 1805).

References

• Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History: August. Retrieved August 15, 2005.
• Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History: July. Retrieved July 22, 2005.
• Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
• Scripophily.com, Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company 1886. Retrieved August 2, 2005.
• Waters, Lawrence L. (1950). Steel Trails to Santa Fe, University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas. pp. 42. 
• 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. 

1. ^ Corporate Genealogy: Erie & Pittsburgh. Retrieved March 24, 2006.
2. ^ Mortimer, John (2005). Zerah Colburn: The Spirit of Darkness. ISBN 1-84549-024-X. 
3. ^ Helps, Arthur The Life and Works of Mr Brassey, 1872 republished Nonsuch, 2006 ISBN 1845880110