Appalachian Railroads

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Appalachian Railroads

Ohio River to the Atlantic Ocean

Building the best route across the southern and central Appalachian Mountains was the goal of quite a few railroads, ports, entrepreneurs, and communities. With a multitude of natural resources within the region, population centers and well-established manufacturing to the north, and seaports and a fast growing region with a temperate climate to the south, the financial incentives were quite compelling.

Connecting and bridging the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River across the Appalachians was not easy, but would be well worth the investment of time and money to those who succeeded.

Road and Railroad Conventions of the 1800s in the Southern U.S.

In an effort to work together to bring roads, and eventually railroads to their regions, local and state officials held meetings and conventions to develop plans and consensus that would hopefully lead to charters for the first railroads. As you can imagine, consensus was not easy, and initial efforts brought both success and failure.

The Mountains and Coal in the Middle

By the 1870s, railroads proliferated in both the north and to a lesser degree in the south. But the Appalachian Mountains had not been crossed at 90 degrees between Nashville TN and Washington DC.

Even with the Transcontinental Railroad being completed by this time, as you can see by the map, the Appalachian region was almost completely void of rail transportation. The lone rail line ran an easy east to west route through the Appalachian Great Valley.

After the Civil War, there were multiple efforts to cross the mountains. Even with a high price of construction, and with challenges due to several economic downturns, the period between 1870 and 1915 saw exponential growth in new rail lines that brought the region to ‘railroad parity’ with the industrial northern U.S.

Five Mountain Gateways

With vast improvements in construction capability, the best routes across the Appalachian Mountains were made possible through East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The five primary gateways across the mountains, thanks to rivers and mountain gaps were:

  • Chattanooga TN
  • Cumberland MD
  • Harrisburg PA
  • Knoxville TN
  • Johnson City / Kingsport TN
  • Roanoke / Lynchburg / Charlottesville VA
U.S. Railroads in the1870s

Nine Primary Routes

Once the early railroads either failed, succeeded, were bought, or merged, there were nine primary routes connecting the Ohio River southward to the Atlantic Ocean in the 600 miles between Washington DC and Nashville TN:

  • Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 1852- via Potomac River, Cumberland Maryland, supplying the port of Baltimore MD
  • Pennsylvania Railroad 1853 – via the Juniata River, Allegheny Gap, and the Kitteny Path, supplying the port of Philadelphia
  • Nashville, Chattanooga & St Louis Railway 1896 – via the Tennessee River via Chattanooga and on to Atlanta
  • Chesapeake & Ohio Railway 1873 – via Allegheny VA, Jackson & James River, supplying port of Newport News VA
  • Norfolk & Western Railway 1892 – via Christiansburg VA, Roanoke & New Rivers, to port of Norfolk VA
  • Southern Railway 1880 – via Southern’s CNO&TP, then to Knoxville/Asheville via the French Broad River, to various ports in NC, SC, and GA
  • Louisville & Nashville Railroad 1902 – in the North, handing off to Atlantic Coast Line in the South – via Knoxville/Atlanta, to ports in SC and GA
  • Virginian Railway 1909 – connecting with the NYC/C&O at Deepwater WV to the final leg to the Ohio River – via the Roanoke River, Roanoke VA, the New River, Loup Creek, and the Kanawha River. Delivered to a port in Norfolk VA.
  • Clinchfield Railroad 1915 – connecting with the Chesapeake & Ohio in the North……handing off to Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line to the South – via Dante VA, Big Sandy-Clinch-Nolichucky Rivers, to ports in NC, SC, and GA

All nine ran various types of trains…..coal drags, manifest and perishable freights, passenger, chemical, auto carriers, and many more. After a few decades, there was an endless parade of trains carrying natural resources and finished goods through the region. The mountains and economic downtowns delayed the timing of success for the southern Appalachia railroads (C&O, Clinchfield, NC&StL, N&W, L&N, Southern, and Virginian), but these railroads eventually made substantial profits by bridging the Mid-West and the South and also hauling coal. The railroads were so financially successful that they ‘almost’ always paid dividends during financial downturns and most avoided the bankruptcies that plagued the industry in the depression and in the later 1900s.

Appalachian Railroads, Atlantic Ocean to Ohio River, Successes and Failures

The following are the railroads that shared the Atlanta-to-Ohio River vision…….some made it, and some did not. And, some were a dress-rehearsal for a later success story.

Interactive Map – Ohio River to the Atlantic Ocean

Appalachian Railroads - Interactive Map

See the railroads and their routes that succeeded and failed at crossing the Appalachians. Click here for a custom Google Interactive Map. Be sure to zoom and to move around the map to better see the various routings.

Early Railroads of the Region (In Chronological Order)

This section is under development. More will be added in the days ahead

Virginia & Tennessee Railroad

  • Lynchburg VA to Bristol VA
  • Completed in 1856
  • V&T Railroad Page (Southern-Railroads.org)

East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad

  • Knoxville TN to Bristol TN/VA
  • Completed in 1858
  • ET&V Railroad Page (Southern-Railroads.org)

East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad

  • Dalton GA to Knoxville TN with a branch to Chattanooga TN
  • Completed in 1859
  • ET&G Railroad Page (Southern-Railroads.org)

Charleston, Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad – 1886

  • Chartered in 1886
  • Some say it is the longest railroad roadbed that never saw completion
  • Sold in foreclosure in 1893
  • 3Cs Home Page

Ohio River & Charleston Railroad – 1893

  • Bought the CC&C in foreclosure in 1893 by Charles E. Heller
  • At purchase, 171 miles were operational between Camden SC and Marion NC, and 20 miles between Johnson City and Chestoa TN.
  • Still under construction and non-operational were 145 miles from Johnson City TN to Dante VA
  • Heller sold the southern portion of the line in North and South Carolina in 1897
  • Heller sold the remaining Johnson City TN to Boonford NC segment to George L. Carter in 1902
  • OR&C Railroad Page

Virginia & Southwestern Railroad – 1899

  • Bristol TN to Appalachia VA
  • Bristol TN to Elizabethton TN and Mountain City TN
  • George Carter purchased the South Atlantic & Ohio and the Bristol Elizabethton & North Carolina in 1899, giving the new company the name Virginia and Southwestern Railroad
  • V&SW Railroad Page (Southern-Railroads.org)

South & Western Railroad – 1903

  • After purchasing the final segment of the OR&C, George Carter gave his new railroad holdings a name that would not divulge his intended route or business strategies
  • Carter hired M.J. Caples in 1905 as General Manage and Chief Engineer. Caples persuaded Carter to invest much more money to construct and complete the railroad with minimal grades and fewer curves. This expensive initial capital investment allowed for reduced operational costs over many years.
  • The S&W name was eventually changed to the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway (CC&O). A few years later in 1924, the railroad was jointly leased by the Atlantic Coast Line and the Louisville & Nashville Railroads and its name was changed to the much simpler ‘Clinchfield Railroad’ (CRR).
  • S&W Railway Page (Clinchfield.org)

For More Information – Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the history and operation of the Appalachian Railroads. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Appalachian-Railroads.org. Much of the collective railroad history data points on this website are verified across multiple sources.

Contact Us

Would enjoy hearing from you if you have questions, suggestions, edits, or content that you are willing to share. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have similar interests in the railroads or model railroading.

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3Cs Websites

Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org