Events May events May 17 – The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in Scotland is authorised; construction begins the following month.
October events October 29 - Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, in England, issues its first prospectus.
December events December 31 - George Stephenson, his son Robert Stephenson, Edward Pease and Michael Longridge form George Stephenson and Company, a railway construction consultancy.
Births March births March 9 - Leland Stanford, a member of The Big Four group of financiers in California.
October births October 2 - Henry C. Lord, president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1868–1869 (d. 1884).
November births November 14 – James Mitchell Ashley, founder and president of Ann Arbor Railroad, is born (d. 1896).
Unknown date births John Cooke, founder of American steam locomotive manufacturing company Cooke Locomotive Works (d. 1882). References