October 17, 1839 The Central Railroad of Michigan reaches Ann Arbor from the east.
?
October 17, 1859 A train of Pennsylvania Railroad Directors making a circle tour of Western Lines through Chicago and St. Louis is detained at Martinsburg VA due to John Brown's raid on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry.
?
October 17, 1866 A national convention of railroad presidents convenes in New York. They hear a recommendation for telegraph block system like that in use over the past year between Kensington and New Brunswick NJ.
?
October 17, 1877 The 3-foot gauge Delphos, Bluffton & Frankfort Railroad (later TStL&W, NKP, NS, WBCR] is incorporated in Indiana, although it will mostly operate in Ohio.
?
October 17, 1888 Washington DC gets its first glimpse of an electric trolley, as an experimental car is demonstrated.
?
October 17, 1892 The Great Northern reaches Wenatchee WA.
?
October 17, 1902 The Zanesville & Western (OH, later NYC) is incorporated.
?
October 17, 1943 The Burma Railway is completed.
?
October 17, 1960 Five operating unions and the railroads agree to the creation of a Federal Commission to study work rules and "featherbedding". The railroads have agreed, believing that their viewpoint will prevail.
?
October 17, 1983 SEMTA runs its last commuter train between Pontiac and Detroit.
?
October 17, 2000 A crash near Hatfield, UK points up the dismal state of repairs under Railtrack. This leads directly to the demise of Railtrack, a company founded to privatize state-owned British Rail.
?
Mark Tomlonson
