Portal:Trains/Anniversaries/September 17


 * September 17


 * 1836 – William Jackson Palmer, builder of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, is born (d. 1909).
 * 1860 – The Atchison and Topeka Railroad, chartered on February 11, 1859, and predecessor to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, is organized.
 * 1901 – Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway inaugurates passenger train service on the Grand Canyon Railway (pictured) between Williams, Arizona, and the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
 * 1947 – The American Freedom Train, carrying the original versions of the United States Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, begins a two-year tour of the United States starting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
 * 1989 &#x2013; The Grand Canyon Railway is reopened for public excursion service.