Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad

Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad
Overview
HeadquartersLexington, Kentucky
Reporting markL&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]

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]

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

  • Ambrose, William M. Bluegrass Railways. Lexington: Limestone Press, 2009.
  • Poor, Henry V. Poor’s Manual of Railroads (annual series, 1870s–1890s), entries for L&BS, EL&BS, and AC&I.
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