in 1891, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad anticipated building from Cumberland Gap to The Breaks
Source: Library of Congress, Preliminary map of Kentucky 1891
in 1891, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad anticipated building from Cumberland Gap to The Breaks
Source: Library of Congress, Preliminary map of Kentucky 1891
The Louisville, Cincinnatti and Charleston Railroad was intended to create a mainline truck railroad connecting the Ohio River to a port city on the South Atlantic coast. The mainline was routed west of Cumberland Gap, but a branch line was planned into Virginia.
Different states chartered separate corporations to build segments of the proposed railroad. A convention in Knoxville in 1836 brought together the entrepreneurs, business leaders, and political officials interested in creating a network of railroads in southern states. The Louisville, Cincinnatti and Charleston Railroad project ended in 1848, but later railroads provided the link to South Carolina ports. By 1859, trains could go from Louisville to Charleston.
In 1890, the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) Railroad finally provided the branch line envisioned before 1836. It completed track from Cumberland Gap to a connection with the Norfolk and Western Railroad, at a site which developed into Norton.2
Fairfax Harrison, A History of the Legal Development of the Railroad System of Southern Railway Company, 1901, pp.8-9, p.12, p.14, p.17, https://books.google.com/books?id=0IkjAQAAMAAJ (last checked June 26, 2020)
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad cut the shortest railroad tunnel in Virginia between the towns of Big Stone Gap and Appalachia. The track with the 48-foot long Bee Rock Tunnel was abandoned in the mid-1980's, and it is now a rails-to-trails path.2
"Bee Rock Tunnel," Kingsport Public Library, https://www.kingsportlibrary.org/kpt_archives/bee-rock-tunnel/; "Bee Rock tunnel," Bob Lawrence, Blogging the Railroad Tunnels, May 3, 2012, https://thetunneldiaries.com/2012/05/03/bee-rock-tunnel/; "Roaring Branch Trail and Bee Tunnel," Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Foundation, https://www.myswva.org/outdoors-venue/roaring-branch-trail-and-bee-tunnel; "They can't wait to get on the trail," Coalfield Progress, October 26, 2017, http://www.thecoalfieldprogress.com/news/they-can-t-wait-to-get-on-the-trail/article_8536efbe-b9f2-11e7-a08c-db9faf1b7a03.html (last checked November 17, 2018)
Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1896
Source: Library of Congress, Post route map of the state of Virginia and West Virginia (1896)
the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1901 stretched to Norton in Virginia
Source: Poor's Manual of Railroads (1901), Map of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and dependencies (p.341)