The Sun delayed a train, then history lost seven years

A famous account said geomagnetic interference delayed an Exeter train in 1841, but the named railway line did not yet exist. Timetables, newspapers, solar observations, auroral reports and magnetic records instead converge on 18 October 1848, making a later typographical error the strongest explanation. The disruption remains real and early — just no longer the earliest known technological space-weather event.