Ashland, Kentucky

Ashland, located in Boyd County on the Ohio River at coordinates 38°28′06″N 82°38′23″W and an elevation of 551 feet (168 m), traces its roots to 1786 when the Poage family settled and established Poage’s Landing. Renamed Ashland in 1854 after Henry Clay’s estate to highlight its burgeoning iron industry—spurred by 1800 iron deposits—the city was incorporated in 1856. Early growth relied on river trade, but the 19th-century industrial boom in pig iron, coal, and manufacturing transformed it into a regional hub, with population rising from 1,836 in 1860 to over 10,000 by 1900. Railroads played a pivotal role, connecting Ashland’s resources to national markets, fostering economic expansion, and employing thousands amid the Appalachian coal and steel surge.

Key railroads and arrival dates include:

Ashland Coal and Iron Railway (AC&I): Established in 1880 as a 25-mile short line connecting local mines and iron works to the Ohio River, it served industrial needs until merging into the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) in 1933.
Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad (EL&BS): Arrived in Ashland in 1881, extending eastward from Lexington to tap Big Sandy Valley coal; acquired by C&O in 1910.
Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad (C&O): Fully integrated into Ashland by the 1890s, building a passenger depot in 1895; it became a major employer, hauling coal and freight through the Big Sandy Division.

Today, Ashland’s railroads are operated by CSX Transportation, successor to C&O since 1986, with the nearby Russell Yard—a massive classification facility—handling freight like coal, chemicals, and intermodal cargo. Amtrak’s Cardinal stops thrice weekly at the Ashland Transportation Center (former C&O depot, 1906), connecting to Chicago and New York. Declining coal has reduced traffic, but railroads remain vital for logistics, with CSX employing locals and supporting the economy

More Rails Across the Appalachians information will be added to this page and website in the days ahead. Please let me know if you have any questions, see any edits that should be made, or have any content you are willing to share. Would enjoy hearing from you if you have similar interests in Appalachian Railroads, the region, or model railroading.

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:
- American-Rails.com
- AppalachianRailroadModeling.com
- Carolana.com – North Carolina Railroads, South Carolina Railroads
- Diesel Shop
- HawkinsRails.net
- Multimodalways
- StateOfFranklin.net which hosts Johnson’s Depot
- RailFanGuides.us for Johnson City and for Erwin
- SteamLocomotive.com
- VirginiaPlaces.org – Railroad History of Virginia
- Wikipedia.org
- WvncRails.org – North Carolina and West Virginia Railroads

3Cs Websites

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