The Cumberland Valley Subdivision ( CV Subdivision) is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line owned and operated by the CSX Railroad (

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

) in the U.S. states of

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 ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The line runs from Corbin, Kentucky, east to Big Stone Gap, Virginia, along a former

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...

line. At its west end, the

CC Subdivision The CC Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. State of Kentucky. The line runs from Taylor Mill, Kentucky, to Corbin, Kentucky, for a total of . At its north end the line continues as a branch of the Cincinnati Te ...

heads north to

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, and the KD Subdivision heads south to Etowah, Tennessee. The east end is at an interchange with the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

Appalachia District, where CSX trains can proceed south to the

Kingsport Subdivision The Kingsport Subdivision (also KP Subdivision) is a 133.2-mile (214.4 km) railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. It was formerly part of the Huntington West Division. It beca ...

at Frisco, Tennessee, via trackage rights.CSX Huntington West Division Timetable
/ref>

History

In 1886, the

(L&N) began to work toward a route through the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield and Southwest Virginia in an effort to connect to the

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

(N&W) somewhere near Norton, Virginia. Surveyors identified a route via Middlesboro, Kentucky, a tunnel under Cumberland Gap, and up the Poor Valley. The line was completed to Middlesboro in 1889, and then on to a place called Intermont, Virginia (now

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

) where it connected with the Atlantic and Ohio (later Southern Railway). The route was completed to Norton, Virginia (then Prince's Flat) in April 1891. The L&N began to make way into

Harlan County, Kentucky Harlan County is a county located in southeastern Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,831. Its county seat is Harlan. It is classified as a moist countya county in which alcohol sales are prohibited (a dry county), but conta ...

by taking over the under-construction Wasioto and Black Mountain Railroad, completing that line to Harlan, Kentucky in 1911. Further progress was made in 1930, when L&N completed what was then the Martin's Fork Branch and constructed a 6,244-foot tunnel under the Cumberland Mountain at

Hagan, Virginia Hagan is an unincorporated community in Lee County, Virginia, 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. ...

. Original plans called for an extension to connect with the Carolina, Clinchfield, and Ohio Railway (better known as the Clinchfield Railroad). However, plans were scrapped due to financial uncertainty, and the L&N decided instead to connect the new tunnel to the existing Middlesboro–Norton mainline via a switchback.

References

CSX Transportation lines Rail infrastructure in Kentucky Rail infrastructure in Virginia Louisville and Nashville Railroad {{Virginia-transport-stub