Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway
The Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company was chartered in
Tennessee in 1845. The main line from Nashville 
to Chattanooga, running a distance of 151 miles, was opened in
early 1854.
A key link in the line, the 2,228-ft. Cumberland Mountain Tunnel near Cowan, Tennessee, opened in 1852.
From Chattanooga, the line twisted its way westward through the mountains of the Cumberland Plateau, generally following the route of today’s I-24. At several places on the west side of Lookout Mountain, the rails crossed into Georgia, but seldom 
more than a few hundred feet. At Georgia’s northwest corner, the railroad turned southwest to Stevenson, Alabama, then northwest to Nashville.
The Nashville and Chattanooga acquired the Nashville and Northwestern (Nashville to Hickman, Kentucky) in 1870, and the two roads consolidated in 1872. The name was changed to Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway in 1873.
L&N acquired 55% of NC&St.L 's stock in 1880.
In 1890, NC&St.L leased the Western and Atlantic Railroad from the State of Georgia.
NC&St.L was merged into L&N in 1957.
The branch from Kingston to Rome was bought from the Rome Railroad in 1894. It was abandoned in 1943.
In 1944 the NC&St.L had 1,072 miles of track, most of which was in Tennessee.
Suggested Reading:
Dain L. Schult, Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis; A History of the Dixie Line (Lynchburg, VA: TLC Publishing, 2002).
Charles B. Castner, Jr., Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway; The Dixie Line (Newton, NJ: Carstens Publications, 1995).
Richard E. Prince, Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway; History and Steam Locomotives. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001, Reprint. Originally published by Richard E. Prince in Green River, Wyoming, 1967.)
Links:
Maps and Timetables:
1870 timetable (182K)
1895 timetable (178K)
1895 map (275K)
1944 map (36K)
Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey.
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