This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1802.

Events

March events

• March 24 – Andrew Vivian and Richard Trevithick of Cornwall, England, are granted the first British patent for a steam engine for propelling carriages and other purposes.^[1]

June events

• June 3 – Carmarthenshire Railway or Tramroad authorised under Act of Parliament, the first granted for a public railway in Wales.^[2] Its acquisition of the Carmarthenshire Dock at Llanelly also makes it the world’s first dock-owning public railway company.^[3]

September events

• September 21 – First traffic passes over the Surrey Iron Railway in England.^[4]

Births

January births

• January 10 – Carl Ritter von Ghega, Austrian civil engineer, builder of the Semmering railway (d. 1860).

February births

• February 2 – Moncure Robinson, builder of the Chesterfield Railroad (d. 1891).

July births

• July 2 – William Norris, American steam locomotive builder and founder of Norris Locomotive Works (d. 1867).^[5]

Deaths