Chattanooga Railroad Series: The Unfinished Line To Stevenson (Part 4)

The new route from Chattanooga to Stevenson, Ala., planned by Southern Railway in the early 1900s veered close to the Tennessee River at the current McBrien Lane off Highway 41.

The route roughly followed the direction of McBrien Lane that gradually reaches just above the banks of the river.

The engineers had selected for the crossing a very narrow section of the river that was long known as The Narrows. The drawbridge was to be about a mile north of Oats Island.

After approval for the railroad bridge was granted by Congress, workmen constructed the piers in anticipation of later connecting them with the bridge framework and rails. When the work was abruptly halted, the piers at The Narrows stood for many years. Lights were placed on them at night to warn approaching boats.

Finally, when it became apparent that the line really had been abandoned, the Tennessee River piers for the Stevenson Extension were blown out of the water.

The bridge was constructed to near Moore Hollow Creek near what is today Mullins Cove Road. The Jerry McNabb family residence and nearby barn is at the spot where the bridge was anchored on the north side of the river. The Mullins cove abutment was intact for years before it was destroyed when the McNabb house was built. A nearby quarry was apparently created to supply material for the bridge and its approaches.

 

Mullins Cove Road follows the route of the old rail bed as it headed toward a gap in the line of mountains that had encompassed the river through the remote Tennessee River Gorge. At the junction of Mullins Cove Road and Bennett Lake Road, the old rail line is along the path of Bennett Lake Road. It crosses over one of the sturdy culverts built by the construction workers.

The line went through what is now a gated quarry before again reaching an open section of Bennett Lake Road on the other side of the quarry.  The county carried the right of way on the books until the owners were notified that it was being conveyed to them. This is when the owners of the cement company quarry fenced the road, which until then had been an open road. The line then went away from the river until it crossed today's Griffith Highway.