L&N | History

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Louisville & Nashville Railroad | L&N

Louisville and Nashville Railroad Historical Timeline

L&N | History

Photo Credit: L&N, Family Lines and Personal Collection

1850s: Founding and initial construction

  • 1850: Chartered by Kentucky as the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
  • 1851: Tennessee authorized extension of the line to Nashville.
  • 1853: Track laying begins in Louisville.
  • 1855: First short train run from Louisville, covering eight miles.
  • 1859: Main line completed, with the first train running from Louisville to Nashville.

1860s: Civil War and reconstruction

  • 1861: Civil War begins; the L&N initially tried to remain neutral.
  • 1862: L&N sided with the Union after Confederate attacks on its property.
  • 1861–1865: Repeated damage to tracks, bridges, and equipment.
  • 1865: Rebuilding efforts began immediately after the war.

1870s: Expansion and growth

  • 1872: Financing of the South & North Alabama Railroad, providing access to Montgomery.
  • 1870s: Expanded into the Tennessee and Alabama coal and iron regions.
  • 1870s: Secured control of lines into Gulf ports like Mobile and New Orleans.

1880s: Milton H. Smith’s presidency

  • 1881: Milton H. Smith became president, beginning a long period of expansion.
  • 1881: Acquired lines to connect with Cincinnati.
  • 1884: Began construction of the Birmingham Mineral Railroad.
  • 1887: Built the new L & N Station in Birmingham.

1890s: Continued expansion

  • 1890s: Expanded rail network across Tennessee and Kentucky.
  • 1890s: Gained extensive access to Appalachian coalfields.

1900s–1920s: The Progressive Era and WWI

  • 1905: Completed a direct mainline to Atlanta.
  • 1910s: Built additional track and acquired other railroads in the eastern Kentucky coalfields.
  • 1920s: Transported large amounts of dairy products from central Kentucky.
  • 1921: A new headquarters building was constructed in Louisville.

1930s–1940s: The Great Depression and WWII

  • 1930s: Survived the Great Depression, retaining its “Old Reliable” nickname.
  • 1939: Purchased its first diesel locomotive.
  • 1940s: Pivotal role in WWII, moving troops and freight.
  • 1946: Steele v. Louisville and Nashville Railroad Supreme Court case ends union discrimination based on race.
  • 1946: Introduced new streamlined passenger trains, The Humming Bird and The Georgian.

1950s–1960s: Dieselization and mergers

  • 1954: Largely dieselized its locomotive fleet.
  • 1956: Last steam locomotive retired.
  • 1957: Merged with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway.
  • 1969: Acquired part of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, gaining a route to Chicago.

1970s–1980s: Part of a larger system

  • 1971: Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, which owned part of the L&N, purchased the remaining shares.
  • 1971: Merged with the Monon Railroad.
  • 1980: Seaboard Coast Line Industries merged with the Chessie System to form CSX Corporation.
  • 1982: Merged into the Seaboard System Railroad.
  • 1986: Seaboard System merged with the Chessie System to become CSX Transportation.

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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