Portal:Trains/Anniversaries/September 20/More

Events

 * 1850 – The land grant for construction of the Illinois Central Railroad, the first railroad land grant in the United States, is approved.
 * 1853 – Indianapolis's Union Station, the first union station in the United States, opens.
 * 1854 – The Great North of Scotland Railway operates its first passenger train over the 39 mi route from Kittybrewster, in Aberdeen, to Huntly.
 * 1873 – In order to contain the Panic of 1873, brought on by the failure of Jay Cooke and Company in financing the Northern Pacific Railway, the New York Stock Exchange halts all trading and closes for ten days.
 * 1997 – RaiLink Southern Ontario begins operations on the former Canadian National Railway Hagersville subdivision between Nanticoke and Brantford.
 * 2015 – Opening of one line of the Addis Ababa Light Rail in capital-city of Ethiopia: the first light-rail system to be built in sub-saharan Africa.

Births

 * 1820 – Alfred Belpaire, inventor of the Belpaire firebox used on steam locomotives (d. 1893).
 * 1872 – Death Valley Scotty (born Walter Edward Scott), con man who chartered the Scott Special record-breaking run on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1905 (d. 1954).

Deaths

 * 1935 – William W. Atterbury, president of Pennsylvania Railroad 1925-1935 (b. 1866).