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Lexington and the NC&StL Railroad

 

The City of Memphis at the Lexington Depot, late 1950’s. Photo provided by W. Clay Crook

The City of Memphis at the Lexington Depot, late 1950’s.
Photo provided by W. Clay Crook

 

A little after 5:00 p.m., on a cold evening in December, 1956.  The air is clear and the skies cloudless in Lexington, Tennessee, and the sound carries a tremendous distance.   The thrum of diesel engines, and the clank-clack of steel wheels running across a sea of steel rails, comes from the area of Timberlake, south into the quiet city.   Having built to top average speed of 47 miles per hour, the engines of the City of Memphis cycle down as it approaches the industrial and residential districts, becoming a crawl as it approaches the street crossing at Natchez Trace Drive.  Horns blaring at the crossing, lights begin to flash and bells ring.  Traffic knows to stop, and is greeted by the blinding upper nose light of the blue and sliver locomotive.  As it runs behind Brown Shoe Company, passengers are briefly…

For the complete story, see the December 28th edition of The Lexington Progress.

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3 Comments

  1. Terry Coats on February 1, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    Hello, I am the Vice President of the Nashville Chattanooga and St.Louis Railway Preservation Society a historic railroad society.
    I am trying to procure a copy of the article from the Dec. 28, 2016 edition of the Lexington Progress on the City of Memphis NC&St.L train that once transversed the rails though Lexington. An electronic copy will suffice.

    • Editor on February 6, 2018 at 7:26 pm

      Terry – Please contact our office at 731-968-NEWS (6397) during normal business hours and we will be happy to assist you.
      THANKS,
      The Lexington Progress, Inc.

  2. Jim Thomason on February 8, 2020 at 5:00 pm

    I am writing my Memoir and would like to know more about what happened to the Depot and tracks that ran through Lexington in the late 1930s and early 1940s when, as a young boy, I would arrive in Lexington with my grandparents from Louisville via Nashville. I see it has all disappeared from the maps of Lexington.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Jim Thomason

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