1808 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1808.

Events

February 8 – The Washington Bridge Company is granted authority in Washington, D.C., to build the Long Bridge over the Potomac River, a bridge that will eventually be rebuilt to carry the first railroad tracks to cross the river.^[1]

May 27 – The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway becomes the first railway line in Scotland authorised by Act of Parliament.^[2]

July 8 through September 18 – Richard Trevithick's steam locomotive Catch Me Who Can is demonstrated in London.

January 8 – John A. Poor, first president of the Portland Company is born in Andover, Maine (d. 1871).^[3]

February 10 – John Edgar Thomson, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad 1852-1874 (d. 1874).

March 19 – Johann Andreas Schubert, builder of the first German steam locomotive, Saxonia, is born in Wernesgrün (d. 1870).

May 12 – Joseph Hamilton Beattie, locomotive engineer for London and South Western Railway 1850–1871 (d. 1871), is born.^[4]

July 25 – Francis Thompson, English architect working chiefly on railways (d. 1895).

George Muirson Totten, chief construction engineer for the Panama Railway (d. 1884).^[5]

^ Washington, D.C., Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. "Washington, D.C. Railroad History". Archived from the original on February 5, 2006. Retrieved February 8, 2006.
^ Lewin, Henry Grote (1925). Early British Railways: a short history of their origin & development, 1801–1844. London: Locomotive Publishing Co.
^ Holt, Jeff (1985). The Grand Trunk in New England. Railfare. ISBN 0-919130-43-7.
^ Marshall, John (1978). A Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 24. ISBN 0-7153-7489-3.
^ "George Muirson Totten". Archived from the original on 4 February 2005. Retrieved February 9, 2005.