Sources & Credits — The Lexington Subdivision

This site presents a private research collection on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway's Lexington Subdivision. The narrative history is compiled overwhelmingly from the publications and archives of the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society (cohs.org), whose decades of research, preservation, and scanning made every page of it possible. This is an independent project, not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the Society. Photographs and documents remain the property of their respective owners and are gathered here for personal research and reference.

Nearly every statement in the History carries its source in parentheses — the citations below expand those tags.

Principal Sources

McChord, Wendell H. “On the Road to Louisville: The story of the C&O's Lexington Subdivision.” C&O Historical Society Newsletter, November 1976.
Dixon, Thomas W., Jr. “Pullmans to the Bluegrass: A History of C&O Passenger Train Operations between Ashland and Louisville.” C&O Historical Society Newsletter, November 1976.
Huddleston, Eugene L. “Collis P. Huntington in Perspective.” Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Magazine, May 1994.
Huddleston, Eugene L. “Lexington Subdivision Steam Passenger Power.” Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Magazine, June 1998.
Huddleston, Eugene L. “South and West from Ashland: The Region that Put the ‘I' into AC&I.” C&O Historical Society Newsletter, September 1976.
Bogart, Charles W. “Captain Otho McFarland — A C&O Conductor.” C&O Historical Society Newsletter.
Bogart, Charles H., ed. “Max M. Harnett, C&O Conductor.” C&O Historical Society Newsletter, April 2005.
“Flash Flood at Aden.” C&O Historical Society Newsletter.
Stuart, Jesse. “Blue Grass and Green Hills.” TRACKS, August 1955; condensed in the COHS Newsletter.
“Kentucky Coal” and other operating notes on the Lexington Subdivision. C&O Historical Society Newsletter.
“Current News” item on dispatcher console reassignments (Console C, Russell). C&O Historical Society Newsletter; the exact issue date is not preserved with the clipping, but it is internally dated ca. 1984–85.
“I Remember the Night the Bridge Came In” and other oral recollections, Leon, Kentucky. C&O Historical Society collection (“RR Stories”).
Brown. “Lexington's Final Chapter.” C&O Historical Society Newsletter, November 1988.
“Mount Sterling Depot.” C&O Historical Society Newsletter, May 2002 and 2008.
“Farmer Depot.” C&O Historical Society printed articles collection.
Boy, D. C. “Products of Kentucky's Famous Olive Hill District Move Via C.&O. and P.M.” Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Magazine, February 1932.
Salyers, Neal. Carter County Brick Yards & Clay Mines. Mountain Press, 2012.

Newspapers & Later Accounts

“A railroad trip through Carter County.” The Ashland Independent, 1881.
“Chessie Seeks to Abandon Lexington Sub.” Lexington Herald-Leader, September 11, 1984.
“Little Hope for Lexington Line.” Olive Hill (Ky.) Times, March 26, 1985.
“Chessie Bids Bye-Bye to the Bluegrass.” C&O Historical Society Newsletter, 1985.
“Remnant of Lexington Sub Sold.” Huntington Herald-Dispatch, June 19, 1986.
“Inaction Halts Lexington-Big Sandy Rail Trail.” Lexington Herald-Leader, July 25, 2003.
“WHERE IN THE WORLD? Gone But Not Forgotten: Union Depot.” Winchester Sun, January 7, 2022.
Cahal, Sherman. “Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Lexington Subdivision.” Abandoned (abandonedonline.net).
“Railroad Study Gets the Green Light.” Louisville Courier-Journal, February 2, 1984; reprinted in the C&O Historical Society Newsletter.
“Kentucky Electric Steel, Inc.” Encyclopedia.com / FundingUniverse company histories.
Bruggers, James. “Trash trains bring stench, misery to Ky. county.” The Courier-Journal, 2015.
Malloy, David E. “Ashland's Big Run Landfill shuts down rail operation.” The Herald-Dispatch, April 21, 2016.
Additional accounts from WSAZ (2015), Waste Dive (2016), Richland County (Ohio) history publications, Rowan County historical resources, Wikipedia (“Morehead and North Fork Railroad”), and company histories of Kentucky Electric Steel.

Online & Reference Sources

Interstate Commerce Commission. Valuation Reports, Vol. 24 (Chesapeake and Ohio Railway) — the Lexington–Louisville trackage-rights entry, main-track mileage, and payment terms.
“Louisville & Nashville Railroad (‘Old Road’)” and “Union Station.” Lexington History Museum wiki (wiki.lexhistory.org).
“Central Station (Louisville, Kentucky).” Wikipedia.
“History of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.” Kentucky Rail Task Force (trainweb.us).
“Last passenger train at Union Station, 1957.” Kentucky Photo Archive, June 19, 2017.
“Kentucky Railroads: Map, History, Abandoned Lines.” American-Rails.com.

Original Documents

Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, Ashland Division employee timetables: No. 133 (May 6, 1945), No. 134 (September 28, 1947), 1958 issue, and No. 153 (April 24, 1966). C&O Historical Society Archives.
C&O Lexington Subdivision track charts, 1924–1984; ICC valuation maps (V-33 series); side track records; Chief Engineering Department, Maintenance of Way, Branch Line, and “X” drawings. C&O Historical Society Archives.
C&O “List of Officers, Agents, Stations, Etc.,” 1892–1957 (all-time station list).
C&O Historical Society Photo Collection, accession numbers as cited in the text — including cohs-21288 through cohs-21299 (the 1948 Truman whistle-stops) and cohs-80022 through cohs-80029 (accident-investigation photographs of the May 29, 1935 wreck at Gulfco).
“Truman’s Remarks at Olive Hill” (photograph and audio recording). C&O Historical Society Lexington Subdivision collection.
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1948. “Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in Kentucky and West Virginia,” October 1, 1948.
President Truman's rear platform remarks in Kentucky, October 1, 1948 — sound recordings SR65-29-6, SR65-30-1 through SR65-30-4, and SR65-31-1. U.S. Army Signal Corps; Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, catalogued unrestricted.

About This Site

The Photographs and Archive sections bring together the C&O Historical Society's scans of the Lexington Subdivision — 281 photographs and 769 documents — each browsable by county, location, decade, or collection and viewable full size. The Library gathers the timetables, track charts, articles, clippings, and recordings the History is built on.

Photographs are credited to their photographers in the original COHS captions wherever the photographer is known; scan and accession credits appear beneath each image in the viewer. Special acknowledgement is due to the photographers whose work fills the gallery — among them Eugene L. Huddleston, T. W. Dixon, Jr., J. D. Allen, and many others — and to the Society members who scanned and catalogued the collection.