Appalachian Railroads
- Home Page
- Appalachian Railroads: AT&O | B&O | BR | C&O | Chessie | CNO&TP | CRR | LC&C | L&N | NC&StL | N&C | N&W | OR&C | SOU | VGN
- Charleston Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad: History | Locos | Maps | John T. Wilder | Railfan Guide
- ET&WNC: History | Maps | Locomotives | Timetables | A. Pardee | G. Hardin | T. Matson
- Appalachian Railroad Cities: Asheville | Cincinnati | Erwin | Johnson City | Knoxville | Lynchburgh | Roanoke | Spartanburg | and more
- Railfan Guides
- Abandoned Lines & Railroads
- 3Cs Model Railroad: CRR, SOU, ET&WNC & the 3Cs
- Sources & Resources: Scholars & Authors | Books | Museums | Organizations | Links
- Appalachian-Railroads.org: Site Map | Editor
- Related: Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org
Page Contents
Appalachian Railroads
Ohio River to the Atlantic Ocean
Building the best shortest and fastest route across the Central Appalachian Mountains, was the goal of several great railroads. With a multitude of natural resources in the Center of the region, population centers and well-established manufacturing to the North, and seaports and a fast growing warm region to the South, the financial incentives were quite compelling.
Connecting and bridging the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River was not easy, but would be well worth the investment of time and money to build these railroads.
Road and Railroad Conventions of the 1800s
In an effort to work together to bring initially roads, and eventually railroads to their regions, local and regional 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 had both successes and failures.
- Estillville Convention (1831)
- Jonesborough Convention (1835)
- Knoxville Convention (1836)
The Mountains and Coal in the Middle
By the 1870s, railroads proliferated in both the north and the south. But the Appalachian Mountains had not been crossed 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 east to west through the Appalachian Great Valley.
After the Civil War, there were multiple efforts to cross the mountains. With a high price of construction, and with several economic downturns, the period between 1870 and 1900 saw some successes, but also many bankruptcies.
Best Routes: East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia
Over time with improved construction techniques, the best routes across the Appalachian Mountains were through East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Knoxville TN, Johnson City TN, Roanoke VA, and Lynchburg VA were cities that benefited due to their location in river valleys and near mountain gaps that made it easier for the lines to cross the mountains.
Eventually, Six Primary Routes
Once the early railroads either failed, succeeded, were bought, or merged, there were six primary routes connecting the Ohio River to the Atlantic Ocean:
- Baltimore & Ohio – via Potomac River, Cumberland Maryland, supplying the port of Baltimore MD
- Chesapeake & Ohio – via Allegheny VA, Jackson & James River, supplying port of Newport News VA
- Norfolk & Western – via Christiansburg VA, Roanoke & New Rivers, to port of Norfolk VA
- Southern Railway – via Knoxville/Asheville, French Broad River, to various ports in NC, SC, and GA
- Louisville & Nashville in the North, handing off to Atlantic Coast Line in the South – via Knoxville/Atlanta, to ports in SC and GA
- Clinchfield/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 five ran various types of trains…..manifest and perishable freights, passenger, coal drags, chemical, auto carriers, and a endless parade of trains carrying natural resources and finished products. 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 following are all the railroads that had the correct vision…….some made it, some did not
Appalachian Railroads, Atlantic Ocean to Ohio River, Successes and Failures
- Baltimore & Ohio Railroad – Started: 1828, Succeeded: 1852
- Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Railroad – Started: 1835 Failed: 1881
- Blue Ridge Railroad – Started: 1852 Failed: 1880
- Atlantic Tennessee & Ohio Railroad – Started: 1852 Failed: 1894
- Chesapeake & Ohio Railway – Started: 1853 Succeeded: 1888
- Southern Railway – Started: 1869 Succeeded: 1880
- Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad – Started: 1879 Succeeded: 1896
- Charleston Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad – Started: 1886 Failed: 1893 (Sold to Ohio River & Charleston)
- Carolina Knoxville & Western Railway – Started: 1887 Failed: 1894
- Norfolk & Western Railway – Started: 1890 Succeeded: 1892
- Louisville & Nashville Railroad – Started: 1892 Succeeded: 1902
- Ohio River & Charleston Railway – Started: 1893 Failed: 1902
- Clinchfield Railroad – Started: 1905, Succeeded: 1915
Interactive Map – Ohio River to the Atlantic Ocean
See the railroads and their routes that succeeded and failed at crossing the Appalachians. Click here for a custom Google Interactive Map. It will enable to zoom and move around the map to better see the various routings.
For More Information – Sources and Resources
The following are wonderful resources for those interested in Appalachian Railroads. They also serve as sources of information for Appalachian-Railroads.org
- Association/Archives: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Historical Society
- Association/Archives: Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society
- Association/Archives: Louisville & Nashville Railroad Historical Society
- Association/Archives: Norfolk & Western Historical Society
- Association/Archives: Southern Railway Historical Association
- Archives of Appalachia: ETSU, Johnson City TN
- Book: Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads
- Book: Flanary, Lindsey & Oroszi: The Southern Railway
- Book: Goforth: ‘Building the Clinchfield’ and ‘When Steam Ran the Clinchfield’
- Book: Graybeal: ‘The Railroads of Johnson City’
- Book: Irwin & Stahl: ‘The Last Empire Builder: The Life of George L. Carter’
- Book: King: ‘Clinchfield Country’
- Book: Marsh: ‘Clinchfield in Color’
- Book: Poole: ‘A History of Railroading in Western North Carolina’
- Book: Poteat & Taylor: ‘The CSX Clinchfield Route in the 21st Century’
- Book: Stevens & Peoples: ‘The Clinchfield No. 1 – Tennessee’s Legendary Steam Engine’
- Book: Way: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad, the Story of a Trade Route Across the Blue Ridge Mountains’
- Book: Wolfe: Southern Railway Appalachia Division
- Magazine: ‘Trains‘
- Magazine: ‘Classic Trains‘
- Website: Carolana.com – North Carolina Railroads, South Carolina Railroads
- Website: HawkinsRails.net
- Website: StateOfFranklin.net which hosts Johnson’s Depot
- Website: RailFanGuides.us for Johnson City and for Erwin
- Website: SteamLocomotive.com
- Website: WvncRails.org – North Carolina and West Virginia Railroads
- Video: Ken Marsh on Kingsport area railroads and region’s history Video #1
- Video: Ken Marsh on railroads and region’s history Video #2:
- Article: Flanary: ‘The Quick Service Route, The Clinchfield Railroad‘
- Articles: ‘Johnson City Comet‘
- Article: Scientific American: ‘The Costliest Railroad in America‘
- Personal Maps & Memorabilia: Documents, maps and track charts
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.
3Cs Websites
Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org
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.