3Cs | Searching for the Charleston Cincinnati & Chicago

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Charleston Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad - 3Cs

Searching for the 3Cs by Scott Jessee

One of the historical documents Scott Jessee uses as he searches for abandoned CC&C 3Cs roadbed is a document from the Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University. It is a list of 3Cs roadbed segments, some of which were acquired by the Clinchfield/CC&O and other railroads. Document: Charleston, Cincinnati, and Chicago Railroad Company; Carolina, Clinchfield, and Ohio Railway Records.

Scott’s article below and this document provide great guidance for those of us who are trekking in pursuit of the CC&C roadbed.

3Cs Started, but Never Finished Townes Tunnel

“I often wondered about Charleston, Cincinnati, and Chicago’s tunnel work near CRR’s Townes tunnel.
My CSX Kingsport Sub trainmaster duties required me to monitor crews for rules compliance. Between derailments and rules checks, I probably traveled the Miller Yard dirt road 30 round trips or more.

Circa 2001, James Goforth and I journeyed to Miller Yard. Mr. Goforth pointed to his right and casually mentioned right there is where the 3Cs tunnel would had been. I had driven by the place many times and never suspected it. After turning onto VA Route 608 Miller Yard Lane, about .70 miles later the road starts uphill and along that area to the right is where the 3Cs tunnel would had been.

CC&C 3Cs Roadbed Near Elkhorn City

Now what about the 3Cs at Elkhorn City, KY?

Several months ago I was on Google Maps and followed the railroad south out of Elkhorn. Something caught my eye, I scrolled back, and noticed Old Three C Road near Bartlick.

Who ever knew that?

November 2022 Ken Marsh and I made our way to check out Old Three C Road. The first portion was obviously not roadbed as the road was on a hill but then we started a descent. Pavement turned into gravel and due to my vehicle and weather conditions, we turned around.

(Photo and narrative by Scott Jessee)

At CSX’s Toms Bottom defect detector, we stopped and spoke to a CSX signal maintainer. He said the road eventually works its way across from the main line at Towers.

Part of the grading south of Pool Point and along Old Three C Road may have been what the January 26, 1888 Johnson City Comet article was discussing.

Captain H. Lumsden would pass on March 24, 1888. I wonder if the primitive and rugged work conditions attributed to his demise?

Searching for the 3Cs Roadbed – KY to SC


There are plenty of Three C roadbed locations from Unicoi north if you know where to go and what you are actually looking at.

With the advancement of Google Maps and other map making programs, if you know where the Three C route was, it can easily be traced. Even using the above document, if you go 3000 feet south of Pool Point and connect that area to Old 3 C Road, it gives you an idea of the 3C alignment versus the CC&O’s.”

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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.

  • Personal Maps & Memorabilia: Documents, maps, timetables, and track charts
  • Associations, Historical Societies and their Archives
  • Archives of Appalachia: ETSU, Johnson City TN
  • Newspaper Articles: Newspapers.com
  • Magazines/Online: ‘Trains‘, ‘Classic Trains‘
  • Books
    • Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads
    • Appalachian Region
      • Grant: ‘The Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Rail Road’
      • Graybeal: ‘The Railroads of Johnson City
      • Huddleston: ‘Appalachian Crossings – The Pocahontas Roads‘ and ‘Appalachian Conquest‘
      • Poole: ‘A History of Railroading in Western North Carolina‘
      • Timko and Young: ‘Appalchian Coal Mines and Railroads, Vol. 1, 2, & 3‘
      • Roberts: ‘Sand Patch, Clash of the Titans‘
      • Yanosey: ‘Tidewater Triangle’
    • Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
      • Calloway: ‘Atlantic Coast Line, The Diesel Years‘
      • Griffin: ‘Atlantic Coast Line, The Standard Railroad of the South‘
      • Goolsby: ‘Atlantic Coast Line Passenger Service, The Postwar Years‘
    • Baltimore & Ohio Railway
      • Jacobs: ‘The History of the Baltimore & Ohio’
      • McGuirk: ‘Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the Potomac Valley‘
      • Ori, Salamon and Oroszi: Baltimore & Ohio/Reflections of the Capitol Dome‘ and ‘Baltimore & Ohio/Sunburst Trail to Chicago’
    • C&O Railway/Chessie System
      • Dixon: ‘Chesapeake & Ohio, Superpower to Diesels‘, Chesapeake & Ohio in the Coalfields, ‘C&O Allegheny Subdivision‘, and ‘Chesapeake & Ohio Railway – A Concise History and Fact Book‘, and ‘The Chessie Era’
      • Dorin: ‘The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway’
      • Huddleston: ‘Riding the New River Train‘
      • Ori – ‘Chessie System‘
      • Paton: ‘Allegheny with an A’
      • Turner: ‘Chessie’s Road‘
    • Clinchfield Railroad
      • Beach: ‘The Black Mountain Railway’
      • Goforth: ‘Building the Clinchfield‘ and ‘When Steam Ran the Clinchfield‘
      • Helm: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad in the Coal Fields‘
      • Irwin & Stahl: ‘The Last Empire Builder: The Life of George L. Carter‘
      • King: ‘Clinchfield Country‘
      • Marsh: ‘Clinchfield in Color‘
      • Poteat & Taylor: ‘The CSX Clinchfield Route in the 21st Century‘
      • Stevens & Peoples: ‘The Clinchfield No. 1 – Tennessee’s Legendary Steam Engine‘
      • Way: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad, the Story of a Trade Route Across the Blue Ridge Mountains‘
    • CSX Railroad
      • Springirth: ‘CSX Transportation Heritage‘
    • ET&WNC: Listed on the website’s ET&WNC pages
    • Interstate Railroad
      • Wolfe & Wolfe: ‘Appalachian Coal Hauler’
      • Wolfe: ‘The Interstate Railroad‘
    • L&N Railroad
      • Castner, Flanary & Dorin: Louisville & Nashville Railroad The Old Reliable‘
      • Flanary: The Louisville & Nashville Cumberland Valley Division
      • Flanary, Oroszi & McKee: ‘The Louisville & Nashville in the Appalachians‘
      • Oroszi & Flanary: ‘Dixie Lines, The Louisville & Nashville Railroad‘
    • NC&StL Railway
      • Prince: ‘Nashville Chattanooga & St Louis Railway‘
    • Norfolk Southern
      • Esposito: ‘Norfolk Southern Railroad’
      • Lindsey: ‘Norfolk Southern 1995 Review‘
    • Norfolk & Western Railway
      • Newton: ‘Rails Remembered, Volumes 1-6
      • Warden: ‘Norfolk & Western: Diesel’s Last Conquest‘ and ‘Norfolk & Western’s Passenger Service’
      • Wolfe, Wilson & Mandelkern: ‘Norfolk & Western’s Clinch Valley Line‘
    • Pennsylvania Railroad
      • Jacobs: ‘The History of the Pennsylvania Railroad‘
    • Seaboard Air Line, Seaboard Coast Line, Seaboard System
      • Calloway and Withers: ‘Seaboard Motive Power‘
      • Carleton: ‘Locomotives of the Seaboard System‘
      • Griffin: ‘Seaboard Coast Line and Family Lines Railroad‘ and ‘All Lines North of Raleigh‘
      • Johnson: ‘Through the Heart of the South‘
    • Southern Railway
      • Davis: The Southern Railway, Road of the Innovators‘
      • Flanary, Lindsey & Oroszi. The Southern Railway‘
      • Webb: ‘The Southern Railway System: An Illustrated History‘
      • Wolfe: ‘Southern Railway Appalachia Division‘
    • Virginian Railway
      • Reisweber: ‘Virginian Rails’
      • Wiley & Wallace: ‘The Virginian Railway Handbook‘
  • Online Article: Flanary: ‘The Quick Service Route, The Clinchfield Railroad‘; Scientific American: ‘The Costliest Railroad in America‘
  • Online Videos: Ken Marsh on Kingsport area railroads and region’s history Video #1 | Video #2:
  • Websites:

3Cs Websites

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