The Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad was a 19th-century

railway company A railway company is a company within the rail industry. It can be a manufacturing firm or an operator. Some railway companies operate both the trains and the track, while, particularly in the European Union, operation of the track is undertaken ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It operated from 1882, when it purchased the

Paducah and Elizabethtown Railroad The Paducah and Elizabethtown Railroad was a 19th-century railway company in western Kentucky in the United States. It operated from 1877, when it purchased the Louisville, Paducah and Southwestern Railroad, until 1882, when it was purchased by th ...

and the Memphis, Paducah and Northern Railroad, until 1896, when it was purchased by the

Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad The Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad was a 19th- and early-20th-century railway company in Kentucky in the United States. It operated from 1878, when it purchased the Central Mississippi Railroad, Central Mississippi, until 1951, when it ...

. It later made up part of the

Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

network and its former rights-of-way currently form parts of the class-II

Paducah and Louisville Railway The Paducah & Louisville Railway is a Class II railroad that operates freight service between Paducah and Louisville, Kentucky. The line is located entirely within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The line was purchased from Illinois Central Gul ...

. It connected with the

Owensboro and Nashville Railway The Owensboro and Nashville Railway was a 19th- and early-20th-century railway company in western Kentucky in the United States. It operated from 1881, when it purchased the defunct Owensboro & Nashville and Tennessee & Kentucky railroads, unti ...

(subsequently part of the L&N network) at

Central City In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central city i ...

Muhlenberg County Muhlenberg County () is a County (United States), county in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,928. Its county seat is Greenville, Kentucky, Greenville. History Muhlenberg ...

See also