Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad

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Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad
Overview
HeadquartersLexington, Kentucky
Reporting mark L&BS
LocaleKentucky (Fayette, Clark, Montgomery, Bath, Rowan, Carter, Boyd; built segment in Boyd)
Dates of operation1852–1869
SuccessorElizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad

The Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad (L&BS) was a standard-gauge railroad chartered in 1852 to connect Lexington with the Big Sandy River near Catlettsburg (later revised to Ashland). [1] [2]

Contents

Before the Panic of 1857 halted further work, the company opened roughly 10 to 12 miles (16 to 19 km) west from Ashland to Princess/Coalton, including the 975 feet (297 m) Princess Tunnel. [3] Financial reversals left the project incomplete. In 1869, investors organized the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad (EL&BS) as successor to the L&BS and began completing the central gap toward Lexington. [4]

By 1881, the through route via Mt. Sterling, Morehead, and Olive Hill reached Ashland; EL&BS was the first railroad through Rowan County and was completed there in 1881. [5] Between 1880 and 1892, the C&O leased and then purchased the EL&BS, operating it thereafter as the Lexington Subdivision. [6]

An 1853 promotional map for the L&BS prepared by J. B. Westbrook (Library of Congress). Map of the Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad showing the connections, 1853, J. B. Westbrook, Chief Engineer. LOC 98688693.jpg
An 1853 promotional map for the L&BS prepared by J. B. Westbrook (Library of Congress).

History

Charter and early construction (1852–1858)

The Kentucky legislature chartered the L&BS in 1852 to build from Lexington to the Big Sandy. [7] Construction progressed on the eastern end: by 1857–1858 about a dozen miles from Ashland to Princess/Coalton were in service, including the Princess Tunnel, before the financial panic checked expansion. [8]

Reorganization and completion (1869–1881)

Following the war, the enterprise was reorganized in 1869 as the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad. [9] The eastern works (Ashland–Princess–Coalton) continued as the L&BS’s Eastern Division and were later renamed the Ashland Coal & Iron Railway (March 31, 1881). [10] The Lexington–Ashland route was finished in stages and was open through Rowan County by 1881. [11]

Absorption into the C&O

Between 1880 and 1892 the C&O leased and then purchased the EL&BS (including the former L&BS works) and operated the corridor as its Lexington Subdivision. [12]

Route

The original L&BS charter envisioned a line from Lexington across the Bluegrass and the Eastern Kentucky uplands to the Big Sandy. The portion actually built by the L&BS company proper lay in Boyd County from Ashland through Princess to Coalton; successors extended the line west through Carter and Rowan (Morehead) and across Bath, Montgomery (Mt. Sterling), and Clark (Winchester) to Lexington. [13]

Legacy

Although the L&BS corporate life ended with the 1869 reorganization, its works—especially the Ashland–Princess–Coalton segment and the Princess Tunnel—became the eastern anchor of the Lexington–Ashland corridor finished in 1881, later the C&O’s Lexington Subdivision. [14] [15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bath County v. Amy". CourtListener. Free Law Project. 1873. Retrieved August 20, 2025. "incorporated, A.D. 1852, the Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad Company."
  2. ↑ "Map of the Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad showing the connections, 1853, J. B. Westbrook, Chief Engineer". Library of Congress. 1853. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  3. ↑ "Princess Tunnel". Bridges & Tunnels. May 11, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  4. ↑ "Tracy (Treacy) v. Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad". Midpage. 1882. Retrieved August 20, 2025. Refers to "the act incorporating the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad Company (Session Acts, 1869)."
  5. ↑ "Historical Railroads in Rowan". Rowan County (official site). Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Morehead Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Freight Depot (NRHP nomination)". National Park Service. pp. 8–9. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Bath County v. Amy". CourtListener. 1873. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  8. ↑ "Princess Tunnel". Bridges & Tunnels. May 11, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  9. ↑ "Tracy (Treacy) v. Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad". Midpage. 1882. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Ashland Coal & Iron Railway Company: Corporate records (OCLC 34899005)". ArchiveGrid. OCLC. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  11. ↑ "Historical Railroads in Rowan". Rowan County (official site). Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Morehead Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Freight Depot (NRHP nomination)". National Park Service. pp. 8–9. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  13. ↑ "Morehead Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Freight Depot (NRHP nomination)". National Park Service. pp. 8–9. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Princess Tunnel". Bridges & Tunnels. May 11, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  15. ↑ "Historical Railroads in Rowan". Rowan County (official site). Retrieved August 20, 2025.

Further reading

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