The Paducah, Tennessee and Alabama Railroad was formed in July 1889 by the merger of the decades-old

Paducah and Tennessee Railroad Paducah ( ) is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River, Tennessee and the Ohi ...

Company of Kentucky, with the newly established Paducah and Tennessee Rail''way'' and Paducah and Tennessee RailroadOrganized in Tennessee on March 20, 1888. Companies of Tennessee. Construction began in 1890 at

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...

, and the road was completed to

Lexington, Tennessee Lexington is a city in Henderson County, Tennessee, United States. Lexington is midway between Memphis and Nashville, lying south of Interstate 40, which connects the two cities. The population was 7,956 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat ...

, in November 1892, totaling of track. Directors were listed as John T. Davis, Thomas H. West, William L. Huse, Alvah Mansur, Daniel Catlin, John A. Scudder, T. J. Moss, and J. H. Allen, all of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

; John Overton Jr. of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

; A. B. Lamb of

Paris, Tennessee Paris is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,316. A replica of the Eiffel Tower stands in the southern part of Paris. History The present site of Pari ...

; T. H. Puryear of Paducah, Kentucky; and E. B. Johnson of

St. Elmo, Illinois St. Elmo is a city in Fayette County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,254 at the 2020 census. St. Elmo was established in 1871. Geography St. Elmo is located at (39.026709, -88.852062). According to the 2021 census gazetteer fi ...

. Officers were listed as T. J. Moss, President; Thomas H. West, First Vice-President and Chairman of the Board; T. H. Puryear, Second Vice-President; J. W. Harrison of St. Louis, Missouri, Treasurer; Benjamin Wilson of Memphis, Tennessee, General Manager; J. W. Fristoe of Paducah, Kentucky, Secretary; and A. R. Meyers of Paducah, Kentucky, Auditor. The rolling stock was listed as 11 locomotive engines, four passenger cars, two baggage cars, 175 box cars, 45 flat cars, ten stock cars, 35 coal cars, two cabooses, and ten other cars. Of these 283 total cars, 266 were paid off as of December 31, 1892. The

Tennessee Midland Railroad Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

, whose lines ran from Memphis through

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Q ...

to Perryville, was sold on April 2, 1892, to T. J. Moss, the principal owner of the Paducah, Tennessee and Alabama Railroad. Both lines went into receivership, operated by W. L. Huse and John Overton Jr. from November 1, 1893, to December 14, 1895. On that date, they were sold at foreclosure to

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 ...

NC&StL Preservation Society
Retrieved 30 June 2011. and then leased to the

Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville on December 11, 1845, ...

for a term of 99 years.

References

{{reflist, 2 Defunct Kentucky railroads Defunct Tennessee railroads Predecessors of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Railway companies disestablished in 1895 Railway companies established in 1889 American companies established in 1889