1801 in rail transport

May

 * May 21 – The Surrey Iron Railway in England is authorised by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the first railway company established by statute and independently of a canal company.

December

 * December 24 – Richard Trevithick demonstrates the first full-sized road locomotive to the public, successfully carrying a number of men up Beacon Hill, Camborne in Cornwall.

Births

 * September 8 – Byron Kilbourn, president of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad 1849–1852 (d. 1870).