C&O passenger trains in the Big Sandy Valley

The mid-July 1963, Sunday evening arrival of train No. 39, affectionaly known by many as the "Big Sandy" at Ashland, KY marked the end of rail passenger travel in the Big Sandy valley, so aptly named in author Henry P. Scalf's book, Kentucky's Last Frontier. C&O trains Nos. 36 and 39 were the last local passenger trains operating in Kentucky. The Budd RDC consist of the last train was an anemic reminder of a once-- robust lineup of trains that started serving the area in 1881.

Permanent settlement of the valley is generally recognized as having begun when 25 pioneer families arrived in the upper Big Sandy in 1796. They established largely self-- sufficient mountain farms. The few roads that were developed generally radiated out short distances from local trading centers. Goods were brought into the area by horseback or on boats propelled by men using pushpoles. Steamboats appeared on the river in 1837, but their use was seasonal due to low water.

The first coal shipped from the valley was loaded into boats made of logs and whipsawed lumber and floated down the river. After the coal was sold, the boats were dismantled and the lumber sold. During the Civil War the lack of roads created a barrier for both Northern and Southern armies. The Union campaign was going to commandeer wagons to haul their supplies but found fewer than 50 wagons in the entire valley.

The only rail line in Eastern Kentucky was the line running from Ashland to Rush that began operating in 1856. This line, as with many others built at that time, was built to move goods from inland areas to a river port, and was to become part of the Lexington Division and remains in service today doing what it was originally built to do. After the Civil War the Great Western Mining and Manufacturing Company revived its mining interest at Peach Orchard. It was recognized that it would be necessary to provide rail service between Peach Orchard and Ashland where there was sufficient depth of water to permit year around loading of barges. The Chattaori Railway Company was incorporated on March 11, 1873. A narrow-gauge line was commenced, however construction was halted a few miles from Ashland. By 1880, the gaps in the rail line from Ashland and Lexington were rapidly being closed. The C&O was building west from Huntington. Chattaroi construction was resumed with a change to standard gauge. The north end of the line ended at a wye connection with the Ashland Coal & Iron Railway at present day 6th. St in Ashland. At the river and 13th St. a Union Station served the Chattaroi and AC&I Railways. The C&O ran paralleling the Chattaori from Catlettsburg to Ashland. South from Catlettsburg to a point three miles south of Louisa where it crossed the river the line generally followed a route of the present CSX line. From that point three alternate routes were surveyed. The present route was preferred but right-of-way problems were encountered, so the railroad was originally built on route number one. Rail service to Louisa commenced on April 10, 1881, reaching Peach Orchard in the winter of 1882. Construction was continued down Nat's Creek reaching the river at Richardson on May 1, 1883. Soon the Chattaori was taxed to its utmost moving coal, freight and passengers. Early timetables indicate four hours running time for the 43-mile line. In 1887 the line was extended from Richardson to Whitehouse, a distance of 8.1 miles. In 1892, a new line was built on the third route that is the present-day route from Walbridge to Richardson allowing the abandonment of the original line. Between 1902 and 1906 the line was extended from Whitehouse to Elkhorn City, connecting with the Clinchfield Railroad creating a route to the south that had been long sought after.

Chattaori motive power consisted of six locomotives. Rolling stock was four passenger cars, two combination baggage, and express-mail and passenger cars. Freight equipment included twenty-six boxcars of 15-ton capacity, 30 flat cars and between 80 to 100 coal cars with capacity of 900 to 1200 bushels. Twelve tons would have been the maximum capacity for one of these coal cars. Ten service cars were in use. In 1888, two cabooses were obtained and put in service. The entire line was laid with 60-pound rail. As with many rail lines constructed in this era money was scarce. Getting the line in operation was the primary focus. The Chattaroi was called the "stump-dodging line"-it was said the builders would rather lay track around a tree stump than expend money for blasting powder. Review of right- of-way maps document many line relocations that were necessary as traffic increased. The original line from present-day M.P. 27 to Richardson must have been an operating nightmare. It consisted of 34 wooden trestles, a tunnel that was 7/8 of a mile long, with a switchback located on south side of the tunnel along with steep grades.

The Chattaori operated until 1889 when the property was transferred to the Ohio & Big Sandy Railroad Company, which operated it until July 1, 1892. At that time, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway assumed control of the O&BS as part of its plans to develop the Big Sandy coal fields.

Passenger service, consisting of two round trips daily between Ashland and Peach Orchard, was established. These were mixed trains. Records indicate that by 1894 there were 24 stations between Ashland and Richardson, with two trains daily in each direction. The trains required four hours and 45 minutes to move over the line.

Passengers could connect at Ashland with the Chesapeake & Ohio; Scioto Valley Railway (N&VW); Ashland Coal & Iron/Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad, and steamboats. At Richardson, courageous travelers could secure varying ways to travel further. Prior to the streetcar line being completed between Catlettsburg and Ashland the Chattaroi/O&BS operated shuttle trains between those communities, but this service was discontinued shortly after the streetcar service began.

Mr. J. A. Powell, a mail agent who transferred from the river to rail when the trains began transporting mail, worked these trains for 22 years. He made brief notes on the trains and his service. He relates being the first to deliver mail by rail to Whitehouse, Paintsville, Prestonsburg, Pikeville, and Hellier and Elkhorn City. These trains consisted of about six cars. A large train would have 15 cars. The mail compartment measured six by eight feet was portioned off in a baggage/passenger combine coach that had eight seats. Nails driven into the walls served as hangers for mail sacks; no mail catchers or cranes existed. There were no banks or money order post offices nor a saloon in the Big Sandy valley. All valuables were sent registered mail averaging 300 pieces each trip along with as many as 150 shipments of spirits from mail-order saloons in Catlettsburg. Mr. Powell reports on one trip that 300 homeward-bound timber raft men boarded the southbound train at Catlettsburg. His notes have brief information on frequent derailments.

Very well known among the early conductors and engineers were Conductor William F. (Uncle Billy) Myers, Engineer Thomas Songer, and Brakeman "Bearer" Warnick, who ably served the public traveling on these early trains until well into the 1920s. Conductor Myers and Engineer Songer brought the first passenger train into Pikeville on June 5, 1905. On February 23, 1909, an intoxicated passenger on train No. 38 named Alf Pruitt struck Conductor Frank Blevins in the back of the head, while the latter was assisting detraining passengers at Whitehouse, Ky. As Blevins arose, an unknown assailant shot him in the back. He died the next day.

By the time of the First World War, four passenger trains daily were serving the public from Ashland to Elkhorn City, with connecting trains serving the branch lines. These trains were very busy being the primary means of transportation in the area with many passengers, much mail and express. There were 68 stations and flag stops averaging about two miles apart on the Big Sandy. Many passengers, such as Alberta Copley and Frances Jones, who were estimated to have ridden the train 100,000 miles between their homes at Potters to Louisa, were short-distance travelers. Cash fares were the norm; many ran from a 25-cent minimum to 35 cents. Passengers and crewmen were well acquainted with each other. In Lawrence County, students regularly rode the trains to and from school. An elderly lady recalled leaving Ashland one morning for a visit that was to last for several days. Shortly after leaving the station, she remembered that she had not disconnected her iron. Since her home was near to the tracks and, rather than see her trip postponed, the train was stopped while her husband rushed into the house and disconnected the iron.

Excursions and special trains to and from picnics, fraternal meetings, and dedicaLions of commercial enterprises are noted from the earliest days. On Christmas Eve in 1882, a brutal murder of two teenaged girls and a crippled boy resulted in a troubled period in Ashland's history. When the three accused killers were arrested, the Chattaroi ran a special train to the arraignment that was conducted in Catlettsburg. Later, as the prisoners were being transported to Maysville by boat, the boat was fired upon from a Chattaori train by a group of Ashlanders who had traveled to Catlettsburg demanding custody of the prisoners. On May 30, 1882, a two and one-half day trial was held at Catlettsburg for one of the accused, who was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. This sentence was not well received. Between eleven and twelve o'clock on the night of the sentencing, a Chattaori train and crew was commandeered in Ashland by a group of 18 masked men who ordered the train to run to Catlettsburg. Once there, the prisoner was taken from the jail, the train started toward Ashland, stopping near present day 28th Street in Ashland, the prisoner was removed from the train and hanged on a tree near the site of the murders. Among the 40 Spanish-American War volunteers who departed from Louisa on May 20, 1898, by train was Walter L. Dalton, a great uncle of this writer. He waved to his family as the train passed their home at Fullers. They did not hear from him until after the war, when a fellow soldier; Willis Buck Roberts carried him, wrapped in an army blanket from the morning train at Fullers. He had contacted malaria; Mr. Roberts had literally carried him home from Cuba.

Walter C. Caines told of being a brakeman in the early twenties on a special train chartered by the Ku Klux Clan traveling to a rally. While arranging the charter, they had requested that people of certain ethnic and religious groups not be included in the crews operating this train. Upon reporting for duty it was realized that a crewman was of a religion that the Clan disagreed with. Not knowing whom among the masked and robed passengers might recognize this fellow crewman it was decided to hide him in the coal tender for the duration of the trip. In the early spring, additional cars would be added to No. 36 to accommodate high school trips to Washington, D.C. These cars would be added to an excursion train at Ashland. I remember seeing the special train at Louisa that had borne the body of Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson home for services and burial.

My father hired as a Brakeman in 1920 and through working with my Uncle Walter C. Caines met my mother. Dad worked these trains regularly and for many years they were his regular assignment. I am sure as in many railroad homes, holiday celebrations and family get-togethers were planned around railroader's work assignments.

From the early forties until their end, I can remember uncountable trips on these trains between Catlettsburg and Louisa, along with many journeys all the way to Elkhorn City. My grandfather or my mother would frequently take me with them "Up Sandy" to visit; there were many older members of our family I would never have known if it were not for these trips. Mom, particularly, liked to go to Louisa on the evening train No. 38, visit with friends and relatives then return home on No. 39. During those busy years no 39 never seemed to be on time, this allowed her more time to visit, she would have me walk to the depot to inquire of the agent if No. 39 was late. I well remember the warm agent's office in the depot on a cold winter evening, smelling the lit kerosene lanterns sitting along the wall, the mysterious sounding telegraph. If my dad happened to be on No. 39, there would always be some good-natured teasing from the agent about him and his crew's ability to keep the train on time. My grandfather, a widower lived with my family, although he was only home on weekends. He was a carpenter foreman, living on camp cars during the week, and on occasion, if his "cars" were located near home, I would take a short afternoon train ride to visit him, returning home that evening. On Saturday mornings, I went with him to do his errands, this included riding No. 37 from Catlettsburg to Ashland where he reported to his supervisor. We would return home on train No. 8, a local that came out of Cincinnati. Leaving westward trains at Catlettsburg, walking home watching the signal at Mile Post 514.5 go from green to red to yellow and return to green as the train headed into Ashland always marked the end of a memorable occasion.

During the forties, No. 38 and No. 37s consist would include a combination mail/express and baggage car and four coaches pulled by one of the classic F-15 locomotives. Trains 36 and 39 would have two closed mail storage cars, a mail/express combine, baggage car and four coaches. An F-16 locomotive was frequently seen, and in the late forties the Pacifics brought down from Michigan were also seen frequently. From the mid-fifties until the arrival of the Budd RDC's in 1958, the consist of trains 36 and 39 had shrunk to two coaches on weekends with a single coach being sufficient on weekdays. A large group of weekend passengers were employees going home and then returning to their jobs at many locations over the system.

In the mid-fifties, while working at the Ashland depot [see "Ashland Interlude," C&O HistoricalMagazine, May 1999], I was involved with preparation of this train for its daily trip "Up Sandy." It was estimated that an average of 100 employees would at some time in the course of their workday be involved with a passenger train moving across an operating division. Considering the onboard crew, mail clerks, express messengers, the dispatchers and agents/operators, station personnel, and car department people, this would seem to be an accurate estimate. By the mid-fifties this equated to more employees than passengers on the local trains. However, heavy mail and express head-end traffic remained. When No. 4 arrived from Cincinnati, three mail storage cars were removed from the train. These cars constituted most of No. 36s head end. One of the cars was designated for Allen, and another for Pikeville. The third one had mail for Louisa, Paintsville, and Prestonsburg and the many small post offices located near the railroad. A railway post office/express car was added at Ashland to complete the head-end consist. The RPO clerks began their day shortly after No. 4's arrival receiving first class mail to be sorted enroute. Pre-sorted parcel post and bulk mail whch had accumulated at Ashland was loaded into the designated mail storage cars, and Railway Express business was loaded. During this time the coaches were added to complete the makeup of the train.

Part of the process of preparing the train for its trip was loading company mail in the baggage car, along with a hammer to be used to disconnect steam lines when the mail storage cars were set out at Allen and Pikeville. One morning I forgot to put the hammer in the baggage car, and this caused the train to be delayed at Allen until a hammer could be found. The next day Conductor Clyde Sanders appeared at the agent's office to discuss this matter, as well as another occurrence from a few days before-the trains departure from Ashland had been delayed when the communicating signal was activated by an improperly placed mail sack in one of the closed mail storage cars. Since I was responsible for the absent hammer and had been present when the improperly placed mail sack was found, Agent Calvin Pope summoned me to his office, where he was assuring Conductor Sanders that every possible effort would be made to eliminate these areas of negligence. Since a new hammer had been procured, Mr. Pope gave me the old hammer with instructions that when I was on duty it was my personal responsibility to see that a hammer was in the baggage car, and to accompany Conductor Sanders while he inspected the train, sealing the mail cars after he had inspected them. I still have that hammer as a reminder of those inspections with Mr. Sanders over 45 years ago, and of his attention to details that are essential to good performance.

The Budd RDC's used in the trains' last years had the ability to pull one unpowered trailer car. I am not certain, but it seems apparent that part of the mail contracts was lost to trucks at that time. As examples of Budd's RDC-4 model, these two cars had been built to transport mail, express, and newspapers on short trips. When built for their original owner, the Minneapolis & St. Louis, small compartments seating 18 passengers were added, and this unique arrangement was retained by the C&O [see C&O Historical Magazine, December 2000]. The seats had straight backs with leather upholstery. They were uncomfortable, compounded by sealed windows and a lack of air-conditioning that made the passenger areas very unpleasant in hot weather. The air compressors, located under the desk in the baggage and express compartments, always seemed to be extremely noisy. Shortly after these cars went into C&O service, a journey to Elkhorn City and return assured me of their complete lack of amenities normally expected when traveling on a Chesapeake & Ohio train.

Traveling over the good roads that have been built in eastern Kentucky in the last 25 years, it is difficult to remember the era when these trains were so vital to the transportation needs of the area=

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