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. 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 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 rest of the nation.

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

Seven Primary Routes

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

  • Baltimore & Ohio Railroad – via Potomac River, Cumberland Maryland, supplying the port of Baltimore MD
  • Nashville, Chattanooga & St Louis Railway – via the Tennessee River via Chattanooga and on to Atlanta
  • Chesapeake & Ohio Railway – via Allegheny VA, Jackson & James River, supplying port of Newport News VA
  • Norfolk & Western Railway – via Christiansburg VA, Roanoke & New Rivers, to port of Norfolk VA
  • Southern Railway – 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 in the North, handing off to Atlantic Coast Line in the South – via Knoxville/Atlanta, to ports in SC and GA
  • Clinchfield Railroad – 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 seven 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, but these railroads eventually made substantial profits by bridging the Mid-West and the South. The railroads were so financially successful that they ‘almost’ always paid dividends during financial downturns and they avoided the bankruptcies that plagued the industry in the 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.

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 content on the website is verified across multiple sources.

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