The C&O maintained a large terminal at Lexington known as Netherland Yard (often rendered "Netherlands" in contemporary sources). Most of the right-of-way west of Ashland was removed in the mid-1980s. An eastern stub from Ashland to the Boyd–Carter county line remains to serve local industry and, for a time, municipal solid-waste trains to the Big Run Landfill.[4][5]
History
The L&BS was chartered in September 1852 to connect Lexington with the Big Sandy River near Catlettsburg. By 1857–58, about twelve miles were open from Ashland to Princess/Coalton, including the Princess Tunnel; the Panic of 1857 halted further work. The EL&BS was organized in 1869 and built west from Lexington to Mt. Sterling in 1872. In 1879–81, Collis P. Huntington’s Newport News and Mississippi Valley Railroad completed the central section; the last spike was driven near Denton in December 1881, opening the full Ashland–Lexington route. The NN&MV/EL&BS properties were consolidated into the C&O in 1892, after which the route appeared as the Lexington Subdivision.[6][7][1]
Passenger service continued into the Amtrak era, ending on May 1, 1971, when Amtrak did not retain service over the subdivision.[1]
Route
From the C&O connection at Ashland, the line ran southwest along the East Fork of the Little Sandy through Princess and Coalton (Boyd County) to Olive Hill (Carter County), crossed to Morehead (Rowan County), then entered the Bluegrass via Salt Lick, Olympia, and Preston (Bath County) to Mt. Sterling (Montgomery County), Winchester (Clark County), and Lexington (Fayette County).[2][3] At Morehead the subdivision interchanged with the Morehead and North Fork Railroad, which served timber, clay, and quarry operations south of town.[8]
Route table (principal points)
Location
County
Notes
Ashland
Boyd
Junction with C&O mainline; east-end tunnels at Ashland and Princess[7][6]
Princess / Coalton
Boyd
Clay/brick industries; later landfill and steel mill rail traffic
Olive Hill
Carter
Historic C&O depot (Prairie style); approach to Aden/Means tunnels[2]
Connection with the narrow-gauge Owingsville & Olympia Railroad (1915–1918)[9][10]
Preston
Bath
Agricultural shipments
Mt. Sterling
Montgomery
Bluegrass market town; beginning of denser population corridor
Winchester
Clark
Crossing/connection with L&N
Lexington (Netherland Yard)
Fayette
C&O division terminal; “Netherland—Lexington Yard” in timetables[5]
Engineering
The east–west alignment crossed north–south drainages, requiring tunnels and major trestles. Surviving bores include the Ashland and Princess (Eastham) tunnels at the east end and the Aden (Needle’s Eye) and Williams Creek (Means) tunnels between Olive Hill and Morehead. The Ashland and Princess tunnels date to 1881; in 2013 CSX raised clearances at Princess by notching and relining to accommodate taller equipment.[7][6][11]
Operations
Freight east of Mt. Sterling historically included timber, stone, clay/brick, and modest coal; westward the Bluegrass generated agricultural shipments. Netherland Yard (Lexington) functioned as the division terminal; C&O employee timetables list “Netherland—Lexington Yard.”[5][12]
Decline and abandonment
Resource depletion, highway competition (notably US 60 and later I-64), and system rationalization reduced traffic after mid-century. Most of the Lexington Subdivision between Winchester and the Ashland area was authorized for abandonment in 1984–85 and removed soon after; track between Winchester and Lexington had already been lifted earlier in the decade.[1][3]
An east-end stub between Ashland and Coalton remained to serve Kentucky Electric Steel and other local customers. In 2005 a three-track yard was added to handle municipal-solid-waste trains to the Big Run Landfill; to support taller equipment, CSX increased clearances at the Ashland and Princess tunnels (2013). A 2015 agreement required the landfill to end out-of-state rail deliveries by mid-2016, and Big Run shut its rail operation in April 2016.[6][13][14]
Relationship to the Eastern Kentucky Railway
Grayson was on the separate Eastern Kentucky Railway (EK), which ran Webbville–Grayson–Riverton (now Greenup) and connected with the EL&BS/C&O via a junction at Hitchins. The Lexington Subdivision itself did not serve Grayson.[15]
Legacy
Physical remnants—tunnels, embankments, culverts, and depots—remain along the route. The former C&O depots at Olive Hill and the Morehead freight depot (NRHP-listed) document the line’s architectural and commercial history.[2][3]
Gallery
Olive Hill C&O passenger depot (Carter County)
Former C&O depot (Mount Sterling, Montgomery County)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
