- September 21
- 1846 – The town of Kendal, England, declares a public holiday for the opening of the Kendal, Oxenholme and Lancaster section of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway; the first revenue trains are operated on September 22.
- 1856 – Illinois Central Railroad connects Chicago to Cairo, Illinois, completing 700 miles (1,100 km) of track to become the longest railway in the United States at the time.
- 1884 – The Arlberg railway (pictured) in Austria, Europe's hardest mountain railway, is completed.
- 1906 – A Grand Trunk Railway passenger train hits a stopped freight train at a crossover in Napanee, Ontario; the engineer stayed at the controls trying to slow his train as much as possible and became the only fatality. The train's passengers later erected a monument in the engineer's honor.
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