South Atlantic & Ohio Railway

SA&O Stats

Founded: 1882
Operated: 1886 – 1899
Abbreviation: SA&O
Predecessor: Virginia & Kentucky Railroad, Bristol Coal & Iron Narrow Gauge Railroad
Initial Route: Bristol/Abingdon VA to Big Stone Gap to Cumberland Gap VA
Final Length: 70 Miles to Appalachia VA
Noteworthy: ‘The Natural Tunnel Route’
Headquarters: Bristol
Cities: Bristol, Hiltons, Mendota, Gate City, Big Stone Gap, Appalachia VA
Key Individuals: John M. Bailey and Jonas Wilder
Successor: Virginia & Southwestern Railway, Southern Railway
Today: Norfolk Southern Railway. The segment from Bristol to Moccasin Gap was abandoned. The eastern segment from Bristol to Mendota is now the Mendota Trail (Rails-to-Trails).

South Atlantic & Ohio Railway History

In 1882, The Bristol Coal and Iron Narrow Gauge Railroad was renamed the South Atlantic and Ohio Railway.

Once the railroad reached Moccasin Gap, it was then extended through Natural Tunnel, and eventually ran northward to Big Stone Gap VA.

Virginia & Southwestern, George L. Carter

George L. Carter acquired the South Atlantic and Ohio in 1899. He also acquired the Bristol, Elizabethton, and North Carolina Railroad. He then built an additional 36 miles to Mountain City, TN.

Carter then reorganized the railroads under a new name, the Virginia & Southwestern Railway.

As Carter began to make plans for his new venture which eventually became the Clinchfield Railroad, he sold the Virginia & Southwestern to the Southern Railway in 1906.

More Southern Railway information will be added to this page and others in the days ahead. Please let me know if you have any edits that should be made or any content you are willing to share by utilizing the comment form below. Would enjoy hearing from you if you have similar interests in the railroads, the region, or model railroading.

Big Cut on the SA&O by Ron Flanary

Big Cut, VA, February 7, 1989: CSX westbound empty hopper train Extra 8247 West crests the grade on its trip from Erwin, TN to Loyall, KY. Most early railroad builders tried to follow established watershed drainages where possible. In this case, the train has reached the top of the watershed for Little Moccasin Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the Holston River. It now tips over the divide into the drainage of Troublesome Creek, a tributary of the Clinch River. The route will remain in various tributaries of the Clinch until Oreton, where it will go into the Powell River watershed. All are larger tributaries of the Tennessee River.

South Atlantic & Ohio Railway - Ron Flanary

“Big Cut” was excavated mostly by hand before the Civil War by the Virginia & Kentucky Railroad, a line that was projected from Abingdon, VA to Cumberland Gap. Except for some grading, cuts and fills in various places, it was never built. It was going to be used by the Charleston, Cincinnati & Chicago (the “Triple C”), but eventually was chosen by the erstwhile Bristol Coal & Iron Narrow Gauge Railroad. Alas, those weren’t completed either, but eventually the South Atlantic & Ohio (later Virginia & Southwestern, Southern Railway and finally NS) used the cut.

Successor to the unfinished “Triple C” was the Ohio River & Charleston, South & Western, Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio, Clinchfield, which took a totally different a much superior route on the south side of Clinch Mountain (upper right in the photo) to Speers Ferry and then north along the Clinch River.

The grades on both sides of Big Cut are about 1.8 percent. The east approach is free of extreme curvature, but the west side is known as the “Goose Neck.” The winding, sharp reverse curves were necessary to keep the grade (against eastbound loaded coal trains) to 1.8 percent.

There’s always far more to a railroad than just the trains.

Photo and Narrative by Ron Flanary

Southern-Railroads.org Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the Southern Railway and its predecessors. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Southern-Railroads.org. Much of the content on the website is verified across multiple sources.

Association: Southern Railway Historical Association
Personal maps, timetables, track charts, and memorabilia
Book – Flanary, Lindsey & Oroszi: The Southern Railway
Book – Graybeal: The Railroads of Johnson City
Book – Harshaw: ‘Trains Trestles & Tunnels, Railroads of the Southern Appalachians’
Book – Lindsey: ‘Norfolk Southern 1995 Review’
Book – Poole: ‘A History of Railroading in Western North Carolina’
Book – Reisweber: ‘Southern Railway Power’
Book – Scales: Natural Tunnel, Nature’s Marvel in Stone’
Book – Stout: ‘Southern Railway: Through Passenger Service’
Book – Ward: ‘Southern Railway Varnish 1964-1979’
Book – Webb: ‘The Southern Railway System: An Illustrated History’
Book – Wiley & Wallace: ‘The Southern Railway Handbook’
Book – Withers & Sink: ‘Southern: A Motive Power Pictorial’
Book – Wolfe: Southern Railway Appalachia Division
Magazines – ‘Trains‘ , ‘Classic Trains‘
Website – Carolana.com – North Carolina Railroads, South Carolina Railroads
Website – Hawkinsrails.net
Website – Johnson’s Depot hosted by StateOfFranklin.net
Website – Multimodalways.org: Norfolk Southern Track Charts
Website – RailFanGuides.us for Johnson City
Website – SteamLocomotive.com
Website – TheDieselShop.us
Website – VirginiaPlaces.org – Railroad History of Virginia

Contact Us

Would enjoy hearing from you if you have questions, suggestions, edits, or content that you are willing to share. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have similar interests in the Southern or Model Railroads.

3Cs Websites

Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org