Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway

Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway

NC&StL steam locomotive 576 at Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee
Overview
Headquarters	Nashville, Tennessee
Locale	Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia
Dates of operation	1851–1957
Predecessor	Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad
Successor	Louisville and Nashville Railroad
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Previous gauge	5 ft (1,524 mm) and 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm)
Length	1900: 1,189 miles (1,914 km)

The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company operating in the southern United States in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville in December 11, 1845, built to 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge and was the first railway to operate in the state of Tennessee. From this link between two Tennessee cities, it gradually grew until it formed one of the important railway systems of the South by the turn of the twentieth century.

History

The Nashville & Chattanooga Railway, predecessor to the NC&StL Railway, was organized in 1848 by a group of prominent Nashville, Tennessee businessmen. By virtue of his connections to wealth from the Grundy and Bass families of Nashville, and of his vigorous promotion of a line between Nashville and Chattanooga, Vernon K. Stevenson was elected president of the line and served in that capacity for sixteen years. The first locomotive in Nashville arrived in December 1850 on the steamboat Beauty along with thirteen freight cars and one passenger car. The train made its first trip the following spring, 11 miles (18 km) to Antioch, Tennessee. It took nine years to complete the 150 miles (240 km) of line between Nashville and Chattanooga, made difficult by the steep elevations of the Highland Rim and Cumberland Plateau between them. The 2,228 feet (679 m) Cowan Tunnel near Cowan, Tennessee was considered an engineering marvel of the time. Due to terrain difficulties, the rail line crossed into Alabama and Georgia for short distances. Towns sprang up during construction, including Tullahoma and Estill Springs.

During the Civil War, the rail line was strategic to both the Union and Confederate armies. The Tennessee campaigns of 1862 and 1863 saw Union troops force the Confederates from Nashville all the way to Chattanooga, down the line of the railroad. The tracks and bridges were repeatedly damaged and repaired, and the rolling stock was largely destroyed. At different times the trains had carried supplies for both armies. In 1885, the railroad successfully defended itself before the Supreme Court in Nashville, C. & St. L. R. Co. v. United States from repaying postage payments for mail in 1861 that was not delivered because of the war.

NC&StL system map, 1903

After the war. the company purchased the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad and the Hickman and Obion Railroad to Hickman, Kentucky to reach the Mississippi River. In 1873 it was reincorporated as the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway (NC&StL) (though the company's tracks never actually reached St. Louis, Missouri in the north). In early 1877 the NC&StL bought the bankrupt Tennessee and Pacific Railroad from the state government and operated it as a connection to Lebanon, Tennessee.

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, an aggressive competitor of the NC&StL, gained a controlling interest in 1880 through a hostile stock takeover that caused much rancor between the cities of Nashville and Louisville. However, the railroads continued to operate separately before finally merging in 1957. The company gave up steam operations in 1953. After the 1880 takeover, the NC&StL acquired branch lines in Kentucky and Alabama, and expanded from Nashville to Memphis. In 1890 the tracks reached Atlanta, Georgia, by leasing the state-owned Western and Atlantic Railroad.

In 1902, the L&N was acquired by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in a takeover similar to that of the NC&StL, but continued to operate as a separate company. In 1982, the L&N's corporate existence ended when it was merged into ACL's successor, the Seaboard System Railroad. After several other mergers, in 1986 the Seaboard System was renamed as CSX Transportation, which continues to use the original NC&StL route between Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta.

Mileage and revenues

At the end of 1925 NC&StL operated 1259 miles of road on 1859 miles of track; at the end of 1956 mileages were 1043 and 1791.

Revenue freight traffic, in millions of ton-miles

Year	Traffic
1925	1306
1933	851
1944	2766
1956	2073

Revenue passenger traffic, in millions of passenger-miles

Year	Traffic
1925	141
1933	41
1944	376
1956	52

Passenger trains

Postcard promoting the Dixieland

The railroad operated a number of named passenger trains, including:

• Dixie Express (once the coach section of the all Pullman Dixie Flyer and at another time the interim name of the Dixie Limited)
• Dixie Flyer
• Dixie Limited (formerly the Dixie Express, formerly the Chicago and Florida Limited)
• Dixieland (winter season only until the early 1950s)
• Dixiana
• Dixie Flagler (ran every third day; later renamed the Dixieland)
• Dixie Mail aka Dixie Flyer - Mail and Express.

Thus, the railroad came to be advertised as the Dixie Line, beginning in the 1920s. Additionally, the railroad operated the Quickstep (name dropped before 1910, then known as Nos. 3 and 4), Lookout (formerly the Nashville/Chattanooga Express), Georgian, City of Memphis, Volunteer, an unnamed night train (formerly the Memphis Limited), a Nashville-Hickman local, plus a through sleeping car from The Tennessean on Nos. 3 and 4.

Surviving equipment

Two 4-4-0 locomotives, The General, and The Texas from the NC&StL's predecessor road, the Western and Atlantic, are on display in museums in the Atlanta suburbs of Kennesaw and Grant Park, respectively.

In 1953, the NC&StL donated its last remaining steam engine, No. 576, to the city of Nashville. This locomotive, a J3-57 class 4-8-4, originally known as a Yellow Jacket, was manufactured by the American Locomotive Company ("Alco") in 1942. In keeping with its Southern heritage, the NC&StL referred to their version of the 4-8-4 locomotives as Dixies, while most other railroads called them Northerns. It has been on display in Centennial Park since then. In 2016, a group called the Nashville Steam Preservation Society obtained a 23 year renewable lease on the locomotive from the city of Nashville. The goal is to relocate the locomotive to the Tennessee Central Railway Museum for restoration. The move will occur either in late 2018 or early 2019. Once restored to working order, the locomotive will be used for weekend excursion runs from Downtown Nashville east to Watertown, TN.

Two other NC&StL steamers also survive. The steamers are 0-4-0T's that used to work in the shops. They are stored in Taylorsville Tennessee and are in either Private ownership or abandoned. But they have been confirmed to be actual NC&StL steamers. Photos of the engines can be found in the steam locomotive.com page. They even appear to still have yellow painted handrails.

In 2004, a former NC&StL diesel locomotive 710, an EMD GP7 was restored to its original paint scheme by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. The TVRM also has the tail car from the city of Memphis on display at its Grand Junction Yard in Chattanooga, TN.

In 2007 former NC&StL GE 44 ton Diesel (1950) Huntsville terminal switcher number 100 was moved from Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee to Cowan, Tennessee at the Cowan Railroad Museum. Though subsequently an L&N engine (number 3100), she was cosmetically restored to original scheme and number. In the process, the locomotive was found to be runable. It is important as the first transitorized remote control locomotive in the US (converted in 1962)

See also

• Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works
• List of Louisville and Nashville Railroad precursors Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway section

References

Bibliography

• Anon. (June 1996) [January 1953]. Official Railway Equipment Register. The Railway Equipment and Publication Company, reprinted by National Model Railroad Association. ISBN 0-9647050-1-X.
• Drury, George H. (1985). The Historical Guide to North American Railroads. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Company. pp. 200–201. ISBN 0-89024-072-8.
• Prince, Richard E., Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway: History and Steam Locomotives. Indiana University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-253-33927-8.

External links

• NC&StL Preservation Society, Inc.