1882 in rail transport

January events

 * January 1 – Opening to traffic of the Gotthard Tunnel (15 km), completing the Gotthardbahn in Switzerland.
 * January 2 – Building northward from San Diego, California Southern Railroad tracks reach Fallbrook, California.
 * January 9 – The first train from Cincinnati, Ohio, on the Cincinnati Northern Railway, departs for Dayton, Ohio.
 * January 12 – The first train between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Dayton, Ohio, delayed by poor trackwork on the Cincinnati Northern Railway, arrives in Dayton.

March events

 * March 6 – Regular service begins on the Cincinnati Northern Railway between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Dayton, Ohio.
 * March 27 – Continuing its northward construction, California Southern Railroad tracks reach Temecula, California.

April events

 * April 17 – The St. Clairsville and Northern Railway, connecting St. Clairsville to Barton, Ohio, is incorporated.

May events

 * May 15 – Lehrter Stadtbahnhof, the precursor to the current Berlin Hauptbahnhof, opens in Germany.

July events

 * July 29 – Narrow gauge Catskill Mountain Railway opens to carry passengers from Hudson River steamboats to connections at Palenville, New York to the Catskill Mountain House destination resort.

August events

 * August 21 – The first California Southern Railroad train from National City reaches Colton, California.
 * August 23 – The first Canadian Pacific Railway train arrives in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
 * August 24 – The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway leases the 97 mile (156 km) long Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad.

September events

 * September 1 – The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway begins operations over the leased Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad.

October events

 * October 10 – Departure 'Train Éclair de luxe', the test train for the Express d'Orient, the later Orient Express, from Paris (Gare de Strasbourg) to Wien (return arrival at Paris on October 14).
 * October 16 – The Nickel Plate Road runs its first trains over the entire system between Buffalo, New York, and Chicago, Illinois.
 * October 25 – The Seney Syndicate sells the Nickel Plate Road to William H. Vanderbilt for US$7.2 million.

Unknown date events

 * Spring – The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, later to become part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, building westward from Albuquerque, New Mexico, reaches Canyon Diablo, Arizona.
 * Transcaucasian Railway reaches Baku on the Caspian Sea.
 * William Cornelius Van Horne becomes general manager of Canadian Pacific Railway.
 * Minerva Car Works, later to become part of American Car and Foundry, is founded in Minerva, Ohio.

February births

 * February 4 – L. B. Billinton, Locomotive Engineer for London, Brighton and South Coast Railway 1912–1923 (d. 1954).

August births

 * August 25 – Richard Paul Wagner, locomotive designer for Deutsche Reichsbahn 1922–1942 (d. 1953).

September births

 * September 19 – Oliver Bulleid, chief mechanical engineer of the Southern Railway (Great Britain) 1937–1948, born in New Zealand (d. 1970).

December deaths

 * December 6 – Alfred Escher, Swiss railway promoter (b. 1819)
 * December 24 – Charles Vincent Walker English railway telegraph engineer (b. 1812).

Unknown date deaths

 * John Cooke, superintendent of Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works and founder of Cooke Locomotive Works (b. 1824).
 * John P. Laird, Scottish engineer who designed and patented the two-wheel equalized leading truck for steam locomotives (b. 1826).