1847 in rail transport

This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1847.

Events

May 24 – The Dee bridge disaster: a cast iron girder bridge across the river Dee at Chester, England, designed by Robert Stephenson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway, collapses under a Shrewsbury and Chester Railway train with five fatalities.^[3]
May 31 – The first railway connection between Rotterdam and The Hague opens in the Netherlands.^[4]

June – The first Bradshaws Continental Railway Guide timetable is published by George Bradshaw in England.
June 26 – Opening of first railway wholly within modern-day Denmark, from Copenhagen to Roskilde.^[5]^{[page needed]}

July 9 – The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway is incorporated as an amalgamation of several important railway lines in Northern England.^[6]
July 28 – Bristol and Exeter Railway's Clevedon branch line opens.

August 9 – Opening of first railway wholly within Switzerland, the Swiss Northern Railway from Zürich to Baden.^[5]^{[page needed]}

September 22 – The Railway Clearing House in Great Britain recommends that Greenwich Mean Time be adopted as the standard time for all railways in the United Kingdom.^[7]

December 1
- The London and North Western Railway opens its Trent Valley Line to give a more direct route for the West Coast Main Line to North West England, bypassing Birmingham.^[9]
- The first time zone in the world is established by British railways with GMT hand-carried on chronometers.

October 6 – Webb C. Ball, watchmaker who introduced the first truly reliable and accurate timepieces on American railroads.

November 16 – Thomas Kirtley, locomotive superintendent of North Midland Railway 1843–1844, and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1847, dies (b. 1811).

^ Bairstow, Martin (2004). Railways Through Airedale & Wharfedale. Leeds: Martin Bairstow. ISBN 978-1-871944-28-0.
^ Balkwill, Richard; Marshall, John (1993). The Guinness Book of Railway Facts and Feats (6th ed.). Enfield: Guinness Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85112-707-1.
^ Lewis, Peter R. (2007). Disaster on the Dee: Robert Stephenson's Nemesis of 1847. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7524-4266-2.
^ BrainyMedia.com (2005). "Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens". Retrieved 2005-05-27.
^ ^a ^b Marshall, John (1989). The Guinness Railway Book. Enfield: Guinness Books. ISBN 0-8511-2359-7. OCLC 24175552.
^ Marshall, John (1969). The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, vol. 1. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-4352-4.
^ "Daylight Saving Time – Standard time began with the railroads". Archived from the original on 15 September 2005. Retrieved 2005-09-22.
^ Holt, Jeff (1985). The Grand Trunk in New England. Railfare. p. 124. ISBN 0-919130-43-7.
^ Clinker, C. R. Railways of the West Midlands – a chronology, 1808–1954. London: Stephenson Locomotive Society.
^ Bedwell, Carolyn (2002). "John Urpeth Rastrick". Archived from the original on 2005-03-09. Retrieved 2005-04-04.