Events January events January 10 – The Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway enters bankruptcy and is sold at foreclosure. January 12 – The second transcontinental railroad line in North America is completed as the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks from Los Angeles, California, meet the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio at the Pecos River. The golden spike is driven by Col. Tom Pierce, the GH&SA president. January 29 – Narrow gauge Bridgton and Saco River Railroad opens to Bridgton, Maine. February events February – Central Pacific Railroad completes construction of the largest locomotive in the world for its time, El Gobernador. February 23 – The Malta Railway, a metre gauge railway, opens between Valletta and Mdina. March events March 30 – Construction on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad reaches Salt Lake City, Utah. May events May 5 – Construction of the Swanage Railway in England begins. June events June 5 – The first Express d'Orient is operated between Paris and Vienna. August events August The Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad enters receivership. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, later to become part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Albuquerque, New Mexico, reaches Needles, California. August 4 – Volk's Electric Railway, the first of its kind in Britain, opens at Brighton. August 11 – The California Southern Railroad receives a court order in its favor ordering the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) to allow it to cross SP tracks at Colton, California. August 18 – Construction on the Canadian Pacific Railway reaches Calgary, Alberta. September events September 5 – Narrow gauge Monson Railroad opens to Monson, Maine. September 8 – Northern Pacific Railway completes its connection to the Pacific coast in Washington Territory with a final spike ceremony at Gold Creek, Montana. September 13 – A month after a frog war with the Southern Pacific Railroad in Colton, California, the first California Southern Railroad train arrives in San Bernardino. September 28 – Formal opening of first electrified section of Giant's Causeway Tramway in Ireland, utilising hydroelectricity. October events October 3–9 – Russian writer Ivan Turgenev's body is returned by train from Paris Gare du Nord to Saint Petersburg Varshavsky railway station with crowds turning out to honor him. October 4 – The first ever Express d'Orient passenger train service leaves Paris for Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), by way of Munich, Vienna, Budapest,