1865 in rail transport

Events

January 5 – The Festiniog Railway in North Wales officially opens to passengers, the first 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.

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 – The funeral train for Abraham Lincoln travels from Washington, D.C., to Illinois.

May – Opening of Talyllyn Railway in Wales.
May 5 – The first train robbery in the United States takes place, in North Bend, Ohio, 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 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 7 – The Lawrence Railroad and Transportation Company, with tracks in Pennsylvania and Ohio, is reorganized as the Lawrence Railroad Company.

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 about 6 miles.

October 2 – First section of Sri Lanka Railways, at this time known as Ceylon Government Railways, officially opens from Colombo to Ambepussa on 5 ft 6in gauge.
October 18 – Almelo railway station in the Netherlands is opened.

The United Kingdom Institution of Civil Engineers forms the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps.
The Union Pacific Railway, later to become the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and not to be confused with the Union Pacific Railroad, begins operations.
A group of businessmen in San Francisco, led by Timothy Guy Phelps, found the Southern Pacific Railroad to build a rail connection between San Francisco and San Diego.
Erastus Corning resigns from his executive post for the New York Central Railroad.
The Canadian Engine and Machinery Company, predecessor of the Canadian Locomotive Company, is founded from the assets of the bankrupt Kingston Locomotive Works.
Missouri Car and Foundry Company, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in St. Louis, Missouri.
Pittsburgh & Steubenville Extension Railroad Tunnel opens for rail service.