NC&StL
Nashville Division

The NC&StL Nashville Division consisted of a line from Nashville, Tenn., to Hickman, Ky., a distance of 171.8 miles. Also included was a 60.6 mile branch from Colesburg, Tenn., to Allens Creek.

The mainline (Nashville-Hickman) can trace its formal beginnings to January 22, 1852. On this date, the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad was chartered to build westward from Nashville to a point on the Mississippi River just below the mouth of the Ohio. Hickman, Kentucky would be the terminus, and construction slowly proceeded. By 1861, the N&NW was operating out to Kingston Springs, 24 miles from Nashville. Also, the construction of the west end, from Hickman to McKenzie, was well underway. (The Hickman-Union City section was originally the Hickman & Obion RR, chartered in 1853 and purchased by the N&NW in 1855.)

In June of that fateful year of 1861, Tennessee seceded from the Union. However, the state of Tennessee did not exercise its independence for long. With the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862, much of Tennessee quickly came under Federal occupation. Nashville soon became a very important supply base for Union armies advancing further south. However, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad was subject to frequent guerrila attacks and disruptions, and the Cumberland River was often too low for reliable navigation. So in early 1864, rails were hastily laid by U.S. Military Railroad forces from Kingston Springs to the east bank of the Tennessee River. There an entire town was built around a water-to-rail transfer facility. In honor of Tennessee military governor (and later U.S. President) Andrew Johnson, this new town was named Johnsonville.

Following the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865, construction was resumed on the N&NW RR. The year 1867 saw the completion of track laying from Nashville to Hickman, but the N&NW was insolvent and unreliable. With the blessings of the state of Tennessee, the Nashville & Chattanooga RR leased the N&NW in 1868, and purchased the line in 1872. The N&C renamed itself as the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway in 1873, reflecting the vision of the management to link the Southeast with the Midwest. However, those plans were curtailed with the purchase of a majority of NC&StL stock by the L&N in 1880. Two lines owned by the NC in Illinois and Kentucky were quickly transferred to L&N ownership, yet NC expansion in West Tennessee did not stop with L&N control.

(More to follow)

Sources:

Various Official Railway Guides and NC&StL timetables.

Lessons 1-18, NC&StL Employes [sic] Educational Service. 1940?-1942.

Steenburn, Col. Donald H. Silent Echoes of Johnsonville. Rogersville, Ala.: Elk River Press. 1994.

"What CTC Did for the Dixie Line." Railway Age. 7 Feb 1955: 42-3.