Railroad History
The setting for the Sequatchie Valley Railway Village is rich in history, yet scenic for enjoying and experiencing a railroad era long gone for the Sequatchie Valley. The significant mining industry that flourished in the Valley has two worthy museums to tell the Valley’s mining story. Yet the railroad history for the Valley has not been preserved. This is the heart of our Non-profit's mission: Creating the first railroad museum in this Valley.
One can experience the railroad era that started with NC&StL constructing a short rail line in
1867 from NC&StL’s Bridgeport, Alabama main line through Marion County, Tennessee.
Construction up the Sequatchie Valley required four major construction phases that ultimately
reached Pikeville in 1891.
The first train rolled into Pikeville on the evening of June 30, 1891. Now with train service also
came the mail by train that previously had been forwarded from Bridgeport, Alabama by carrier
on horseback. Albert O. Neal was the first depot agent for the new Pikeville depot that was
located just opposite of today’s Old Mill Farm and Feed. The line ran to today’s Save-A-Lot
where a Wye allowed trains to back and then pull forward for their return trip down the
Sequatchie Valley.
Depots and passenger waiting sheds were constructed up the railroad from Dunlap including
Lee Station Depot, College Station Depot, and the Mt. Airy passenger shed. Morning
passenger service from Pikeville to Chattanooga and then returning on the evening train
allowed business and shopping for the Valley. This passenger train had “Uncle” Billy French as
engineer and Pete Rankin as conductor. With paved roads coming to Pikeville in the 1920’s
came bus service that eliminated the need for a dedicated passenger train which made its last
run in August 1929.
As mining developed in the Sequatchie Valley, the railroad expanded, taking iron ore and coal
initially to South Pittsburg, Tennessee, today known as Cast Iron City USA. Local demand for
coal grew with the Penn Dixie Cement Plant operation that began in the early 1900’s at
Richard City, Tennessee and TVA’s Widows Creek Steam Plant in Alabama that began
operation in the early 1950’s, both plants now closed.
In the records of the legal history of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad (NC&StL),
its Sequatchie Valley Branch (SVB) Railroad was composed of three separate lines of differing
origins, which NC&StL formed into a single railroad. The three branch railroads are the Jasper
Branch Railroad (Bridgeport to Jasper), completed 1867; the Inman Branch Railroad (Inman to
Victoria), completed 1883; and the Pikeville Branch Railroad (Jasper to Pikeville), completed 1891.
The Sequatchie Valley Branch Railroad (SVB) began life as the Jasper Branch Railroad of the
Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, originally authorized in 1860 but interrupted by the Civil
War. Work was completed to Jasper in 1867.
In 1868, the Sequatchie Valley Railroad Company began an effort to extend the railway from Jasper to
Pikeville. The tracks were laid as far as Victoria in 1877 when the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St.
Louis Railroad (NC&StL) purchased it, completing the line into Dunlap in 1888 and Pikeville in 1891.
The Inman Branch Railroad was completed in late 1882 by the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railway
Company from its Inman Mines to a junction with what was then still called the Jasper Branch Railroad
at Victoria. The NC&StL took ownership of the line January 1, 1883.
The railroad was completed to Pikeville in 1891. And by 1894, the railway from Bridgeport to Pikeville
was in full operation (according to the records of the NC&StL), headquartered in Jasper. In 1917, the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N), parent of the NC&StL, consolidated operations of the NC&StL
with the SVB at a new depot in Bridgeport. By 1921, the SVB was offering service all the way into
Chattanooga over the lines of its parent, the NC&StL, the junction with these being at Bridgeport,
Alabama.
During the Siege of Chattanooga in the Civil War, the entire length of the Sequatchie Valley saw
fighting during Wheeler’s Raid on Union supply lines (October 1-9, 1863), the most spectacular action in
the valley being at Anderson’s Cross Roads, where his troops captured 800 supply wagons and nearly
600 troops.
A few of the depots had mere waiting sheds to service passengers and platforms for freight, the
majority had depots, some surprisingly large.
Research for this history section largely from Chuck Hamilton.
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