Events January events January 1 – Opening to traffic of the Gotthard Tunnel (), completing the Gotthardbahn in Switzerland. January 2 – Building northward from San Diego, California Southern Railroad tracks reach Fallbrook, California. January 9 – The first train from Cincinnati, Ohio, on the Cincinnati Northern Railway, departs for Dayton, Ohio. January 12 – The first train between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Dayton, Ohio, delayed by poor trackwork on the Cincinnati Northern Railway, arrives in Dayton. March events March 6 – Regular service begins on the Cincinnati Northern Railway between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Dayton, Ohio. March 27 – Continuing its northward construction, California Southern Railroad tracks reach Temecula, California. April events April 17 – The St. Clairsville and Northern Railway, connecting St. Clairsville to Barton, Ohio, is incorporated. May events May 15 – Lehrter Stadtbahnhof, the precursor to the current Berlin Hauptbahnhof, opens in Germany. July events July 29 – Narrow gauge Catskill Mountain Railway opens to carry passengers from Hudson River steamboats to connections at Palenville, New York to the Catskill Mountain House destination resort. August events August 21 – The first California Southern Railroad train from National City reaches Colton, California. August 23 – The first Canadian Pacific Railway train arrives in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. August 24 – The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway leases the 97 mile (156 km) long Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad. September events September 1 – The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway begins operations over the leased Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad. October events October 10 – Departure 'Train Éclair de luxe', the test train for the Express d'Orient, the later Orient Express, from Paris (Gare de Strasbourg) to Wien (return arrival at Paris on October 14). October 16 – The Nickel Plate Road runs its first trains over the entire system between Buffalo, New York, and Chicago, Illinois. October 25 – The Seney Syndicate sells the Nickel Plate Road to William H. Vanderbilt for US$7.2 million. Unknown date events Spring – The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, later to become part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Albuquerque, New Mexico, reaches Canyon Diablo, Arizona. Transcaucasian Railway reaches Baku on the Caspian Sea. William Cornelius Van Horne becomes general manager of Canadian Pacific Railway. Minerva Car Works, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in Minerva, Ohio. Accidents Births February births