The Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad is a defunct

shortline railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

based in

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 ...

. Despite its name, it had no connections with

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 ...

. The Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad ran between

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city; the population was 28,602 at the 2020 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the prin ...

, and

Paris, Kentucky Paris is a home rule-class city in Bourbon County, Kentucky. It lies northeast of Lexington on the Stoner Fork of the Licking River. Paris is the seat of its county and forms part of the Lexington–Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. As ...

, with a major stop in

Georgetown, Kentucky Georgetown is a home rule-class city in Scott County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 37,086 at the 2020 census. It is the 6th-largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the seat of its county. It was originall ...

; a distance of . It was at Georgetown that it crossed the Southern Railway.Parrent p.8-3

Early days

The Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad was originally known as the Kentucky Midland Railway. Construction of the route began at Frankfort in the early months of 1888, and reached Georgetown in June 1889, and Paris in January 1890. Some of the route laid upon the Buffalo Trace. The total cost of the construction was over $500,000. Its name changed to the Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad in 1899. There were efforts to extend the route to

Mount Sterling, Kentucky Mount Sterling, often written as Mt. Sterling, is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city in Montgomery County, Kentucky, Montgomery County, Kentucky. The population was 6,895 at the time of the 2010 U.S. census. It is the county seat of Mo ...

, and

Alton, Kentucky Alton is an unincorporated community located in Anderson County, Kentucky, United States. Its post office is closed. The community was originally known as Rough and Ready after the nickname of United States President Zachary Taylor Za ...

, but it never happened. The total length of the railroad was . When it started, the Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad had "serious financial reverses" before it even laid its first piece of rail. It even went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...

in 1894. But by 1899 it was touted as a major factor in the stimulation of Frankfort's 1890s growth. The route between Georgetown and Paris helped distribute the local fine

Bourbon whiskey Bourbon () is a type of barrel-aged American whiskey made primarily from corn. The name derives from the French Bourbon dynasty, although the precise source of inspiration is uncertain; contenders include Bourbon County in Kentucky and Bourbo ...

to markets. On October 28, 1909, the F&C was almost purchased by the

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 ...

(L&N), but the Kentucky Railroad Commission objected and the sale was annulled on April 22, 1912. In January 1927 the railroad was sold in

public auction In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

, with its owners a collection of citizens of Frankfort and

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

.Sulzer p.228

End of the railroad

On December 31, 1952, the Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad abandoned passenger service, as the advent of wide-scale automobile usage made passenger trains unprofitable. ''

The Cardinal ''The Cardinal'' is a 1963 American drama film produced independently, directed by Otto Preminger and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was written by Robert Dozier, based on the novel of the same name (1950) by Henry Morton Robi ...

'' broke an axle on Christmas Eve, and for the last week of passenger service the F&C Superintendent A.E. Parker used his own sedan to transport what few passengers the F&C still had from Frankfort to Paris. In 1961 the company was purchased by

Pinsly Railroad Company Pinsly Railroad Company, based in Westfield, Massachusetts, is a short line railroad holding company. It is one of the oldest such companies in the United States, and has owned railroads continuously since its founding in 1938. Pinsly's sole rail ...

group of shortlines. The line between Georgetown and Paris was abandoned by the F&C in 1967; pressure by bourbon manufacturers kept the rest of the line active. The

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...

allowed the F&C to abandon more of the line, reducing the line to Frankfort to Elsinore, Kentucky. The railroad had shrunk so much that by 1984, it did not own any freight cars, and maintained only one interchange at Frankfort with the L&N. A trestle bridge was damaged by a derailment in 1985, and the F&C could not afford to fix the bridge, leaving the F&C to close. By 1987 all the rails of the F&C were removed. ''The Cardinal'' was eventually placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1998. It is currently at the

Kentucky Railway Museum The Kentucky Railway Museum, now located in New Haven, Kentucky, United States, is a non-profit railroad museum dedicated to educating the public regarding the history and heritage of Kentucky's railroads and the people who built them. Originall ...

New Haven, Kentucky New Haven is a home rule-class city in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 855 at the 2010 census. Geography New Haven is located adjacent to the Nelson- Larue county line at the intersection of US Route 31E and Kentucky ...

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frankfort Cincinnati Railroad Defunct Kentucky railroads Railway companies established in 1888 Railway companies disestablished in 1985 American companies established in 1888 1888 establishments in Kentucky 1985 disestablishments in Kentucky Transportation in Scott County, Kentucky Transportation in Bourbon County, Kentucky Frankfort, Kentucky Transportation in Franklin County, Kentucky

Early days

End of the railroad

See also

References