Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad Chartered in Tennessee in 1845, the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad opened between its namesake cities in 1854. At Chattanooga, it connected with the recently completed Western & Atlantic, which allowed rail access to Atlanta and further connections to Savannah and Charleston. The railroad played a major role in the Civil War, first supporting Confederate forces and later serving as a key link in the Union supply line during Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. U. S. Military Railroad train on temporary trestle west of Whiteside, TN. The original Nashville & Chattanooga bridge here had been destroyed earlier in the Civil War. The site is about a mile north of the Georgia state line. (From: The Photographic History of the Civil War, vol. 5, p. 299. Online at Internet Archive here.) According to Poor's 1868-69 railroad manual, the N&C's rolling stock consisted of the following: locomotives (passenger 8; freight, 24; and service, 3), 35; and cars (passenger, 17; baggage, mail, and express, 5; box freight, 417; stock, 6; and platform, 122), 567. In 1872, the Nashville & Chattanooga merged with the Nashville & Northwestern (Nashville to Hickman, Kentucky); the following year the railroad's name was changed to Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway.     Maps, Timetables, and Other Information: Civil War period map (312K) Civil War period map, Chattanooga area (215K) 1863 timetable (102K) 1870 timetable (182K)      RailGa.com. Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. © Steve Storey Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home