kills 13 people. August 4 – The Ross and Monmouth Railway's line from Monmouth, Wales, to Ross on Wye, England, opens. September events September 15 – Freight services at Shimbashi Station in Tokyo, Japan, are introduced. September 20 – In order to contain the Panic of 1873, brought on by the failure two days earlier of Jay Cooke & Company in financing the Northern Pacific Railway, the New York Stock Exchange halts all trading and closes for ten days. September 22 – Western Counties Railway holds official groundbreaking ceremonies at Lovitt's Wharf, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, Canada. October events October 3 – Grand Trunk Railway begins converting its track between Stratford, Ontario, and Montreal from 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) (broad gauge) to (standard gauge); the conversion is completed within 24 hours. October 8 – Hanko–Hyvinkää railway opens in Finland. November events November 1 – Devon and Somerset Railway opens its complete line from Watchet Junction to Barnstaple. December events December 23 – The first section of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad is opened between Topeka, Kansas, and the Colorado/Kansas border. December 24 – Opening of first steam-operated passenger railway in the North Island of New Zealand, from Auckland to Onehunga ( gauge). Unknown date events Under the direction of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad tracks reach Chicago, Illinois. St. Charles Car Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in St. Charles, Missouri. Matthew Baird retires from his management and ownership position at Baldwin Locomotive Works. Deaths December deaths December 24 – Johns Hopkins, entrepreneur (b. 1795), died without heirs, leaving $7 million, mostly in Baltimore & Ohio Railroad stock, to establish his namesake institutions, the single largest philanthropic donation ever made to educational institutions at that time. References Bibliography Baker Library Historical Collections, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Records, 1879–1896. Retrieved May 10, 2005. Colin Churcher's Railway Pages (August 16, 2005), Significant dates in Canadian railway history. Retrieved September 30, 2005.