Welcome to
The Louisville & Nashville
Railroad
Historical Society
The Louisville & Nashville Railroad Historical Society was organized in 1982 for
the purpose of collecting, organizing, preserving, and sharing information and
material relating to the L&N, its predecessors and its successors. At its
zenith, the L&N was a 6,000-mile railroad system that served 13 states. The
railroad was economically strong throughout its lifetime, operating both freight
and passenger trains in a manner that earned it the nickname, The Old Reliable.
The society is a non-profit educational organization, incorporated in the
Commonwealth of Kentucky, and functions strictly with volunteer members serving
as officers.
With the impending move of the L&NHS Archives and general operations from Bowling Green, KY to the Tennessee Valley Railway Museum in Chattanooga, TN (in concert with the Southern Railway Historical Association), we felt a Chattanooga photo was in order. On November 19, 1979, photographer Richard D. Action, Jr. captured this fine image of southbound freight number 691 curving toward the city after passing Lookout Mountain. The lead unit is GE U23B number 2722, a 1973 product built at Erie, PA.
Featured Photo
Ed Theisinger captured this fine action scene of the southbound Eastern Kentucky Division passenger local, number 3, near Sloan, KY on May 23, 1952. This was quite a comedown for streamlined K-7 Pacific number 295. The famed L&N locomotive was rebuilt from three to two cylinders and streamlined in 1940 for the Louisville-Montgomery leg of the Chicago-Miami "South Wind." Displaced by diesels before 1950, the 295 became a regular on the EK trains, and continued in this service a little longer after the streamlining was later removed and she was painted black. (Image courtesy of Kalmbach Media Services)