featuring the first tramway designed by Werner von Siemens. The installation was temporary, and removed after the Exposition closed on November 15. August 22 – The East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) commences operation over a 14.1-mile (2.25-kilometer) run through the Appalachian Mountains. August 26 – The first train operates over the Red River Bridge into Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. October events October 17 – First section of Royal Saxon State Railways narrow gauge railway ( gauge) opens, between Wilkau and Kirchberg in the German Empire. October 20 – First section of Barbados Railway opens on gauge between Bridgetown and Carrington. Unknown date events E.W. Clark & Co., a private banking firm in Philadelphia, purchases the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (a predecessor of the Norfolk & Western) at a foreclosure auction. The Richmond and Danville Railroad leases the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway. Henry Villard becomes president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique purchases a controlling interest in the Panama Railway Company. John Souther retires from the steam locomotive manufacturing company that he founded, Globe Locomotive Works. The first standard gauge railroad in China is opened from Tangshan to Xugezhuang () for coal traffic. Births March births March 22 – Arturo Caprotti, Italian inventor of Caprotti valve gear for steam locomotives (d. 1938). July births July 8 – Mantis James Van Sweringen, American financier who, with his brother Oris, controlled the Nickel Plate Road and other eastern railroads (d. 1935). October births October 30 – Charles E. Johnston, president of Kansas City Southern Railway 1928–1938 (d. 1951). December births December 5 – Martin W. Clement, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad 1935–1948 (d. 1966). Deaths May deaths May 21 – Thomas Alexander Scott, president of Union Pacific Railroad 1871–1872 (b. 1823). October deaths October 30 – Matthias von Schönerer, Austrian railway engineer (b. 1807). Unknown date deaths William S. Hudson, superintendent of American steam locomotive manufacturing firm Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor (b. 1810). References