Events
January events
January 23 – Construction begins on the Northwestern Elevated Railroad of the Chicago "L" with the first structure erected at the intersection of Fullerton and Sheffield Avenues.
February events
February 14 – Northern Pacific Railway opens its Union Station in Portland, Oregon. February 24 – Erie Railroad purchases the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad.
March events
March 20 – The Grand Trunk Railway purchases the Central Vermont Railway and begins operating it as a wholly owned subsidiary.
April events
April 6 – The Snowdon Mountain Railway in North Wales, the only Abt rack system line in the British Isles, commences public operation; however, a derailment leading to one fatality causes services to be suspended for a year. April 15 – Passenger rail service of the Henry Flagler Florida East Coast Railway arrives at its new terminus in Miami from West Palm Beach at the persuasion of Julia Tuttle; this quickly leads to incorporation of the city of Miami months later and extensive development of the Greater Miami, South Florida and the Keys.
May events
May 2 – Budapest Metro Line 1 (Hungary), the world's second, is opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. May 9 – First Nord Express, Paris, France/Oostend, Belgium, to Saint Petersburg, Russia. May 13 – The Pretoria–Pietersburg Railway, a predecessor of the Central South African Railways, is incorporated in London. May 30 – Construction of the Uganda Railway starts at Mombasa.
June events
June 29 – The St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad Company (predecessor of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway) is incorporated.
July events
July 23 – Delivery of world's first commercially-built oil-engined locomotive, from Richard Hornsby & Sons of Grantham, England to the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, London ( gauge). July 30 – Atlantic City rail crash: Shortly after 6:30 PM, at a crossing just west of Atlantic City, New Jersey, two trains collide, crushing five loaded passenger coaches, killing 50 and seriously injuring around 60.
September events
September 15 – The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (the 'Katy') conveys 40,000 people to Crush, Texas to witness a staged train wreck as a publicity stunt arranged by its general passenger agent, William George Crush. Three spectators are accidentally killed.
October events
October 5 – Norwegian Railway Museum established at Hamar.
December events
December 14 – Glasgow Subway, the third oldest metro system in the world, begins operations in Glasgow, Scotland. December 25 – Japanese National Railways opens two lines out of Tabata: an extension of the Tsuchiura Line from Tsuchiura, and the Sumidagawa Line to Sumidagawa. December 30 – , the first steel train ferry, makes its first voyage.
Unknown date events
The Green Bay & Western Railroad is formed from the bankruptcy proceedings of the Green Bay, Winona and Saint Paul Railroad. The Loup Creek & Deepwater Railway (predecessor of the Deepwater Railway) is formed. Atlas Car & Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio, begins building steam locomotives. Beyer, Peacock & Company of Manchester, England, deliver the first five New South Wales T524 class 'Australian Consolidation' 2-8-0 type heavy goods locomotives to the New South Wales Government Railways, forerunners of the system's numerically largest class, finally totalling 280 representatives. Narrow gauge Ferrocarril de Tacubaya begins passenger service to Mexico City's Tacubaya amusement park. The first narrow gauge (750 mm) railway in Estonia connecting Valga with Pärnu is opened.
Deaths
January deaths
January 23 – Ferdinand Schichau, German mechanical engineer and founder of locomotive manufacturing company Schichau-Werke, dies (b. 1814).
June deaths
June 4 – Austin Corbin, president of Long Island Rail Road (b. 1827).
October deaths
October 21 – James Henry Greathead, English inventor of the tunnelling shield used for the London Underground (b. 1844).