Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis

The Nashville & Chattanooga and the Nashville & Northwestern merged in 1872 to form the Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis (NC&StL).  The Western & Atlantic was leased to the NC&StL in 1890.  The NC&StL came under the control of the Louisville & Nashville by 1880, but did not formally merge with it until 1957.  Thus the NC&StL survived as an identifiable entity for more than eighty years.

Louisville & Nashville

The Louisville and Nashville emerged from the Civil War in relatively good condition and with its corporate identity intact (it was never officially taken over by the U.S. Military Railroad).  The L&N absorbed several lines shortly after the war ended:  the Nashville & Clarksville (created during the war by the USMRR from parts of the Edgefield & Kentucky and the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville) in 1871; the Memphis & Ohio in 1872; and the Nashville & Decatur (also known as the Tennessee & Alabama before USMRR control) in 1872.

The L&N became the dominant Middle Tennessee system when it gained control of the NC&StL in 1880 (although formal merger did not occur until 1957).  It retained its corporate identity for more than 110 years, before being absorbed into an even more  massive national system in the 1970s.  The L&N became one of the "Family Lines" of the Seaboard Coast Line in 1972; these became the Seaboard System in 1983; and ultimately were absorbed into the massive CSX system in 1986.

   Return to Tennessee railroads after the Civil War

Last update:  March 31, 2000