My travels recently took me through the city of Franklin, Tennessee, south of Nashville. I had always heard of Franklin’s antique district, so I decided to check it out. True to the reports, Franklin does have several dealers of antiquities. Some are located in historic buildings of Franklin.

Important to my quest for Chattanooga memorabilia was the contents of one display case. Through the glass, I spotted some artifacts of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway (the NC&StL). They were also in my price range of not very expensive. I knew that the antique store owners wouldn’t believe me if I asked that they donate the items to me because I was from the “History Detectives” show on PBS.

At first, I thought that the various dark blue booklets contained railroad passenger tickets. However, a closer inspection revealed that these documents were route maps, like a railroad employee might carry in a pocket of his overalls. They were carefully drawn blueprints of the details of the rail lines. Each map had been published by the Office of Chief Engineer of the NC&StL in Nashville, and each covered a “profile and alignment” of a particular section of the rail system.

Local railroad history enthusiast David Kaplan said that the term “profile and alignment” on the route maps indicates that they primarily concern the changes in elevation and the direction of the line. Elevation is extremely important in moving a heavily-laden train along the terrain. For instance, the engineering of the railroad between Nashville and Chattanooga required diverting the rails to the south around the Cumberland Plateau to Bridgeport, then crossing the Tennessee River.

The map that interested me was the one of the Sequatchie Valley Branch, for my grandparents had owned a large farm on Browder Switch Road near Jasper, Tennessee. It was along the railroad that one of their cattle-herding dogs, either Shep III or Shep IV, had met his maker. I noticed that Browder was listed on the route map.

The Sequatchie railroad has an interesting history. The rail line had been planned as early as 1860, but was delayed by the Civil War. The Sequatchie Valley Railroad Company began work on the line after the war, and completed tracks as far north as Victoria. The profit motive of the entrepreneurs was in transporting the coal from the mines which had been established in the valley. South Pittsburg and Richard City were also growing as manufacturing centers. The NC&StL acquired the company in 1877, and completed the railroad to Pikeville.

The NC&StL maintained a presence in Chattanooga for many years at the Union Station at the corner of Broad and Ninth streets. The company merged with the L&N Railroad in 1957. Many of the routes of the NC&StL continued to be used throughout Tennessee and other states, though the company never actually reached St. Louis.

If you have information on the Sequatchie Valley Branch railroad, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.