Louisville and Nashville Railroad

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Louisville and Nashville Railroad logo
Louisville terminus with the headquarters of L&N (the skyscraper on the left).

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad (LN, L&N) was a Class I railroad company in the United States based in Louisville, Kentucky . It was founded in Kentucky in 1850 and operated an extensive railroad network in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama and also reached the surrounding states with individual routes. The main main routes ran from Cincinnati via Louisville , Nashville and Birmingham to New Orleans , from Cincinnati via Knoxville to Atlanta , from St. Louis and Chicago via Nashville to Atlanta and from Nashville to Memphis . In 1982, L&N merged with Seaboard Coast Line Railroad to form Seaboard System Railroad , which in turn was later merged with CSX Transportation .

history

Beginning with the Civil War

On March 5, 1850, the Kentucky railway company was officially established, construction work had already begun. It received a concession from the states of Kentucky and Tennessee to build and operate a railway line between its eponymous cities and branches to Lebanon and Memphis, but was not allowed to enter the city of Nashville. The terminus had to be on the opposite side of the Cumberland River from the city center . In March 1850 the first section between Louisville and Lebanon Junction was opened, from where a branch line to Lebanon (Kentucky) was put into operation in November 1857. The section from Nashville to Bowling Green only went into operation in August 1859 , before the entire line was officially opened on November 1, 1859. In April 1861, the branch line from Bowling Green to Memphis was completed after traffic on parts of the route had already started in September of the previous year. The section to the border with Tennessee belonged to the L&N, the line from there to Paris to the Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad and the section west of Paris to the Memphis and Ohio Railroad . As is customary in the southern states, the Russian broad gauge (5 feet or 1524 mm) was chosen as the gauge for the entire network .

Route network (approx. 1890)

During the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, the L&N network was divided between the Northern and Southern states, as Tennessee was part of the Confederate States and Kentucky remained with the United States. For this reason, especially in the first two years of the war, the line was badly damaged by the war. The operation was maintained as far as possible and resumed in full after the end of the war. In 1865, the L&N acquired the Bardstown and Louisville Railroad with its railway branching off south of Louisville from the main line to Bardstown . L&N had been in charge of operations since the opening of this line on February 24, 1860.

Further network expansion up to the First World War

$ 1000 Gold Bond from the Louisville & Nashville Railroad dated June 2, 1890

The branch to Lebanon was successively extended to the east after the end of the war. In July 1866 Crab Orchard was reached, in January 1868 Brodhead, in November 1868 Mount Vernon, in July 1870 the Rockcastle River and in September 1870 Livingston . Also in 1868 a branch line went into operation from this railway line to Richmond .

From September 1, 1867, Louisville & Nashville leased Memphis & Ohio and on February 17, 1868 took over management of the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville. On October 2, 1871, L&N merged first with MC&L, and on October 9, 1872 with Memphis & Ohio. This meant that the entire route to Memphis was owned by L&N.

On July 1, 1872, Louisville & Nashville leased the Nashville and Decatur Railroad , the main line of which was the southern extension of the L&N main line to Decatur . In the same year this route was extended to Montgomery .

The Evansville, Henderson and Nashville Railroad and the Edgefield and Kentucky Railroad were bought up in March and April 1879, respectively, making the L&N network stretch to Evansville . In 1880 the network finally reached Pensacola and New Orleans through the purchase of the Montgomery and Mobile Railroad , Mobile and Texas Railroad , Pensacola Railroad and Pensacola and Selma Railroad . The L&N also leased the Western Railway of Alabama . In the 1870s, other smaller railroad companies were leased or bought in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, which increased the network in these states. Shortly thereafter, L&N acquired 55% of the shares in the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad , which had become a dangerous competitor. They bought the Evansville – East St. Louis route from this company and incorporated them into their network.

On November 1, 1881, the L&N acquired the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railway and reached Cincinnati in this way. The line of this company was built in the unusual gauge of 1454 millimeters. As in all of the southern states, however, the entire L&N rail network was converted to the track width of 4 feet 9 inches (1448 mm) in the years that followed.

The Kentucky Central Railway could be acquired on February 1, 1891. It operated a main line from Cincinnati to Livingston, which was connected at both ends to the L&N network and a branch line from Lexington via Frankfort to Maysville . 1902 reached the L&N Georgia by buying up the Knoxville Southern Railroad and the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad . In the same year the southern extension of the former Kentucky-Central line to Knoxville was opened. The newly acquired route in Georgia led to Marietta a few kilometers from Atlanta. It was very winding and steep, which prompted L&N to build a route parallel to it. This new line went into operation in 1906 and was much faster to drive. The Louisville & Nashville network was largely completed. The entire network had already been converted to standard gauge by 1900 .

The way to the Seaboard System Railroad

Louisville Union Station

As early as 1898, L&N leased 50% of its own lease shares in the Georgia Railroad , the Western Railway of Alabama and the Atlanta and West Point Railroad to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL). In 1902 the ACL acquired 51% of the shares in Louisville & Nashville. That same year, the L & N acquired along with the Southern Railway , the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railroad , but continue on its own initiative to operate on their network.

Beginning in the early 1940s, Louisville & Nashville converted its locomotive park entirely to diesel locomotives by 1956. In addition, the railway company started using streamlined trains in passenger transport from 1946. The Humming Bird operated on the north-south main line from Cincinnati via Louisville, Montgomery to New Orleans. The Georgian drove from Chicago and St. Louis to Atlanta. In addition, several express trains operated by other railway companies ran on the L&N network.

On August 30, 1957, L&N merged with its previous competitor, the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad, after the company had bought the remaining shares. In 1969 the L&N network reached Chicago. The railway company acquired the Evansville to Woodland, Illinois railroad from the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad . L&N also bought the Nashville to Crossville (Tennessee) route from the Tennessee Central Railroad, which was in liquidation . The Monon Railroad was incorporated into the L&N in 1971.

On December 29, 1982, the L&N merged with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad , in turn a product of the merger of the ACL and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad . The new railway company was named Seaboard System Railroad , the Louisville and Nashville Railroad was dissolved at the same time. Today the L&N network belongs to CSX Transportation , which emerged from the Seaboard System Railroad.

Presidents of L & N

attachment

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Travelers' Official Guide of the Railway and Steam Navigation Lines in the United States and Canada. Issued June 1881. Philadelphia: National Railway Publication Co. page VI.
  2. ↑ Monon Railroad Timeline

literature

  • George H. Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads 2nd Ed. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 2000, ISBN 0-89024-356-5 .
  • Kincaid A. Herr: The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 1850–1963. University of Kentucky Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8131-2184-0 .
  • Maury Klein : History of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. University of Kentucky Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8131-2263-2 .
  • Richard E. Prince: Louisville & Nashville Steam Locomotives, 1968. Indiana University Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-253-33764-1 .

Web links

Commons : Louisville and Nashville Railroad  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files