I came across a book, "Origins And Firsts" by Jacob M. Braude and it had these railroad related items.
Hobo is a corruption of "hoe boy." As harvesting crept from north to south, migrant workers with hoe-on-shoulder drifted from farm to farm on the West Coast selling their labor, and begging for work. "Hoe boy" became "hobo."
The cable car, invented by Andrew S. Halliday, made it first run up the hill on Clay Street in San Francisco on August 1, 1873.
The first electric locomotive was tested in Washington, DC on April 29, 1851.
Baltimore began operating the first electric street railway in the United States in 1855.
The first elevated railway in the world was on Greenwich Street, New York City in 1867. It was supported on a single column which sacred potential riders, so it went out of business.
On September 27, 1825 the first locomotive to haul a passenger train, the George Stephenson operated in England. The train moved 34 passengers at 15 MPH.
The first locomotive made in the USA was built at the West Point Foundry in 1830. The first practical locomotive, "The Best Friend of Charleston" made its first run over the Charleston and Hamburg Railroad in South Carolina on January 15, 1831.
The first sleeping cars were built in 1838, and were used on the Cumberland Valley Railroad between Harrisburg and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
The first street car in the world made its appearance on the streets of New York City on November 14, 1832. It ran from City Hall to 14th Street, and New Yorkers called them "horse cars."
On September 1, 1897 the first subway in America, the Boston Municipal opened for business.
The first train robbery took place on October 6, 1866 by the Reno Brothers. Brothers John and Simeon boarded an Ohio and Mississippi RR train, clubbed the the Adams Express Agent and looted a safe containing $15,000. They had to abandon another safe containing $30,000 because a posse arrived on handcars. The gang struck again on May 22, 1868 looting a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train for $96,000, three times more than the James Gang ever looted. Three of the brothers and six other gang members were caught and lynched by vigilantes.
