Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain Railway

Last updated March 19, 2019

The Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain Railway was a historic, 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge ^[1] railroad that operated in the southeastern United States.^[2]

The company was chartered in 1887 and started operations in 1889, running from Chattanooga, Tennessee to the Lookout Inn, a hotel at the summit of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.

Chattanooga is a city located in southeastern Tennessee along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia. With an estimated population of 179,139 in 2017, it is the fourth-largest city in Tennessee and one of the two principal cities of East Tennessee, along with Knoxville. Served by multiple railroads and Interstate highways, Chattanooga is a transit hub. Chattanooga lies 118 miles (190 km) northwest of Atlanta, Georgia, 112 miles (180 km) southwest of Knoxville, Tennessee, 134 miles (216 km) southeast of Nashville, Tennessee, 102 miles (164 km) east-northeast of Huntsville, Alabama, and 147 miles (237 km) northeast of Birmingham, Alabama.

Lookout Mountain is a town in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,832 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The railroad was apparently not a financial success as it was abandoned in 1899. It was subsequently purchased by the Chattanooga Railway and Light Company and rebuilt for electric streetcar operation in 1913. Regular daily services ran on this line until 1920, when services were reduced to operating only on days that the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway was shut down for essential repairs. This substitute service ended in 1924, but the line remained in place until sometime after August 28, 1928, when mountaintop car service was discontinued.

This line should not be confused with the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, a heritage railroad that opened in 1895 nearby, and is still in operation.

Lookout Mountain Incline Railway railway line in Tennessee, United States

The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway is a 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ instandard gauge inclined plane funicular railway leading to the top of Lookout Mountain from the historic St. Elmo neighborhood of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Passengers are transported from St. Elmo's Station at the base, to Point Park at the mountain summit, which overlooks the city and the Tennessee River. It is just a short drive to three of Chattanooga's main tourist attractions, Ruby Falls, Cavern Castle, and Rock City. The railway is approximately one mile (1.6 km) in length. It has a maximum grade of 72.7%, making it one of the world's steepest passenger railways. It obtained Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark status in 1991. The cable system for the cars was made by the Otis Elevator Company.

Heritage railway railway used for heritage/historical/tourism purposes

A heritage railway is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period in the history of rail transport.

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A mountain railway is a railway that operates in a mountainous region. It may operate through the mountains by following mountain valleys and tunneling beneath mountain passes, or it may climb a mountain to provide transport to and from the summit.

Southern Railway (U.S.) railway company in the United States, active 1894–1990

The Southern Railway is a name of a class 1 railroad that was based in the Southern United States. The railroad is the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894.

Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway transport company

The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company operating in the southern United States in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville in December 11, 1845, built to 5 ft gauge and was the first railway to operate in the state of Tennessee. By the turn of the twentieth century, the NC&StL grew into one of the most important railway systems in the southern United States.

The Tennessee Central Railway was founded in 1884 as the Nashville and Knoxville Railroad by Alexander S. Crawford. It was an attempt to open up a rail route from the coal and minerals of East Tennessee to the markets of the midstate, a service which many businessmen felt was not being adequately provided by the existing railroad companies. They also wanted to ship coal and iron ore to the Northeastern US over the Cincinnati Southern Railway, which was leased to the Southern and operated as the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway [CNOTP], through their Cincinnati gateway. The N&K was only completed between Lebanon, where it connected to a Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway branch from Nashville, and Standing Stone.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum Railroad museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee

The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a railroad museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The St. Elmo Historic District, or St. Elmo for short, is a neighborhood in the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is situated in the southernmost part of Hamilton County within the valley of Lookout Mountain below the part of the Tennessee River known as Moccasin Bend. St Elmo is at the crossroads of two ancient Indian trails, and was first occupied by Native American hunters and gatherers in the Woodland period, then agricultural Mississippians, including Euchee and Muscogee, and for a brief period between 1776 and 1786, the Cherokees in a community called Lookout Town. St. Elmo became part of the city of Chattanooga when it was annexed in September 1929.

The Huntsville and Madison County Railroad Authority was created in 1984 to operate on 14 miles (23 km) of track that was abandoned by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.

The Belt Railway of Chattanooga is a historic railroad in the United States. The railway was originally organized from the Union Railway Company and Chattanooga Union Railway in 1895, but was reorganized later that year by the Alabama Great Southern Railroad. The BRC operated about 45 miles (72 km) of track in and around Chattanooga, Tennessee. The railroad started near Warner Park and made its way several miles past the East Tennessee, Virginia line ending at Boyce Station. Map of Chattanooga Railroad Series

The Chattanooga and Durham Railroad was established in 1897 from the failed attempt of a railroad that stretched from Durham, Georgia to Chickamauga, Tennessee, United States. The 17-mile railway was used to haul coal from Lookout Mountain in 1894. The railway was built atop a range of hills and ran from the foot of Lookout Mountain to the top. The Chattanooga and Durham was foreclosed in 1900 and changed to the Chattanooga, Rome and Southern Railroad. The Central of Georgia bought the railroad the next year and ran it for another fifty years before it became vacant in 1950.

The Chattanooga Southern Railway was founded in 1887 and began operations in 1891. It ran about 93 miles (150 km) of track between Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Gadsden, Alabama, hauling mainly iron, timber, and coal from the Lookout Mountain area. The railroad's nickname, The Pigeon Mountain Route, came from several miles of track that ran along the base of Pigeon Mountain. In 1896 the railroad ran into financial trouble and was reorganized as the Chattanooga Southern Railroad. The company operated under that name for about 15 years at which time it was again reorganized and began operating as the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railway.

The Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railroad was created through a reorganization of the Chattanooga Southern Railway in 1911. A few years later, in 1922, the line's name was changed to the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railway and was also known as the TAG Route. The TAG ran from Chattanooga, Tennessee, through northwest Georgia, and into Gadsden, Alabama. The trackage began at Milepost 1 in Alton Park (Chattanooga) and continued southwest to the southern terminus in Gadsden, some 91.7 miles distant.

The Smoky Mountain Railroad was a standard gauge class-III Shortline that operated from Knoxville, Tennessee to Sevierville, Tennessee from 1909 until 1961.

The Tennessee and Pacific Railroad was a 19th-century American company that operated a rail line from Lebanon, Tennessee, to Nashville, Tennessee.

The Alabama Great Southern Railroad is a railroad in the U.S. states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It is an operating subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS), running southwest from Chattanooga to New Orleans through Birmingham and Meridian. The AGS also owns about a 30% interest in the Kansas City Southern-controlled Meridian-Shreveport Meridian Speedway.

Richard H. Koch was a judge, railroad magnate, and prominent member of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

References

↑ Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage
↑ Railroads of Chattanooga, 2003, p. 100

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[1] Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage

[2] Railroads of Chattanooga, 2003, p. 100