1824 in rail transport

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.

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).