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                                                                             THE LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE RAILROAD



The railroads played an important role the early development of Lewis County as it did with most every other town and community.  The following article was solicited
and provided by Edison H. Thomas, manager of the news bureau for the FAMILY LINES SYSTEM, Louisville, KY.  The date was April 7, 1975.

This is all I could find regarding the Centerville Branch.  I hope it will be of help.

THE CENTERVILLE BRANCH

The part of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad known today as the Centerville Branch was chartered in 1877 as the Nashville and Tuscaloosa Railroad, to build a rail
line from a point at or near Burn's Station, Tenn, through Centerville and Lawrenceburg to the state line in the direction of Florence, Alabama.

Under a contract dated July 29, 1880 between the Nashville and Tuscaloosa and the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, the latter agreed to extend the line
from Graham, Tenn, which was as far as the N & T had completed it, the remainder of the way to Centerville.  This was completed, and on March 13, 1883, the
NC&St.L purchased the entire property and made it a branch from Dickson.

At the time of the purchase the NC&St.L agreed to extend the line from Centerville 13 miles to Kimmins just across the line in Lewis County.  This was completed on
June 20, 1884.  From Aetna, just north of Kimmins, the Southern Iron Company of Alabama had built 18 miles of railroad to Minnie on Allen's Creek in Wayne County
to serve various iron and phosphate producing areas.  On September 24, 1892 this portion of the branch was purchased by the NC&St.L.  The line was never built
any closer "in the direction of Florence,"  Minnie became Allen's Creek and was the end of the branch.

Originally built as a three-foot narrow gauge, the branch was changed to standard gauge in 1894.  Two years later an eight mile line was built from Centerville to Swan
Creek to serve phosphate mines in the vicinity.  This branch was abandoned in 1931.  In 1942 the 10.38 mile segment of the line from Hohenwald to Allen's Creek was
abandoned and the track removed.  Hohenwald is now the southern terminus.

The branch originally was quite a busy one.  At it's height of operation, 14 freight trains and three passenger trains a day served the communities along the line.  
Some of the products moved over the branch during the years included phosphate rock, crossties, charcoal, chemicals and chemical wood.

In 1957 the NC&St.L Railway was merged into the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, a line that had owned controlling interest in it since 1880.  Since 1972 the L&N has
been a part of the Family lines System, a group of railroads owned by the Seaboard Coast Line Industries, Richmond, Va., and Jacksonville, Fla.

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