Events January events January 5 – The Festiniog Railway in North Wales officially opens to passengers, the first narrow gauge railway in the British Isles to do so. January 10 – The California Pacific Railroad absorbs the Sacramento and San Francisco Rail Road Company and the San Francisco and Marysville Rail Road Company. February events February – The Confederate States of America authorize military control of railroads for the American Civil War. February 4 – The assets of Dayton, Xenia and Belpre Railroad in Ohio are sold in bankruptcy proceedings and split between the Little Miami Railroad and Columbus and Xenia Railroad. February 9 – The Colorado and Clear Creek Railroad, predecessor to the Colorado Central Railroad, is chartered. February 15 – The Chicago and North Western Railway and Galena and Chicago Union Railroad merge. March events March – The Central Pacific Railroad hires agents to recruit thousands of Chinese workers from Guangdong Province. March 17 – The Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company shops in Berwick, Pennsylvania, are destroyed by fire. April events April – The funeral train for Abraham Lincoln travels from Washington, D.C., to Illinois. May events May – Opening of Talyllyn Railway in Wales. May 5 – The first train robbery in the United States takes place, in North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), committed by armed guerillas from the American Civil War. May 25 – The first steel rails are rolled at a foundry in Chicago from Bessemer steel made in blast furnaces in Wyandotte, Michigan. June events June 7 – The Rednal rail crash in England, a derailment at a permanent way work site, kills thirteen. June 9 – The Staplehurst rail crash in England, a derailment at a permanent way work site, kills ten and injures 49; Charles Dickens is amongst the survivors. July 31 – Opening of the narrow gauge () main line from Ipswich to Grandchester, Queensland, Australia. August events August 7 – The Lawrence Railroad and Transportation Company, with tracks in Pennsylvania and Ohio, is reorganized as the Lawrence Railroad Company. September events September 1 – The English company John Trevor-Barkley begins construction on the Bucharest–Giurgiu line, the first railroad line built in the territory of Romania. September 13 – Algernon S. Buford becomes president of the Richmond and Danville Railroad. September 14 – The Brockville and Ottawa Railway begins operations between Arnprior and Sand Point, Ontario, a distance of