MC&L – Railfanning.org

Looking Back at the Budds Creek Railroad Disaster 153 Years Later

July 28, 2022, marks 153 years since the devastating Budds Creek railroad disaster in Montgomery County, Tennessee, along the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad.

Was Sabotage to Blame for 1869 Budds Creek Disaster?

The record as to the precise cause of the 1869 wreck at Budds Creek is somewhat hazy.

The Road to the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad

The movement to develop railroads in the Volunteer State dates to January 1830, when the state Senate approved a measure to support state aid for internal improvements.

Crossing the Cumberland

By all accounts, August 6, 1860, started as a typical Monday. But, by the time Benjamin Bartle eased the locomotive W. B. Munford onto the bridge crossing the Cumberland River in Clarksville, Tennessee, he was entering the annals of history. His train was the first to cross the bridge, a major hurdle in building a vital portion of the rail line linking Memphis and Louisville.

A Deadly Explosion on the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville

Around 4 p.m. on February 10, 1870, locomotive No. 9, a Norris & Son-built 4-4-0 steam locomotive, was pulling a freight train over the Red River trestle roughly near Clarksville, Tenn., when tragedy struck.

Railfanning.org Editor Publishes Book About Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville

A new book chronicles the history of the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad, and is believed to be the first-ever complete history of the line.

Remembering the Budds Creek Disaster of 1869

The 1869 disaster at Budds Creek in Tenessee left five people dead and more than two dozen injured. The tragedy garnered a considerable number of headlines in newspapers nationwide, but what happened is a mystery.

Montgomery County, Tennessee, Declares July 28 as Budds Creek Disaster Day of Remembrance

Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett declared July 28 as Budds Creek Disaster Day of Remembrance.

The Tennessee Central’s Long and Sordid History

The Tennessee Central Railway, which at its heyday operated a line between Harriman and Hopkinsville, Ky. Like other railroads in the latter half of the 19th century, the Tennessee Central grew after combining a slew of smaller short lines, many of which bore the name “Tennessee Central.”

Rebuilding the ‘Clarksville’ after the War

Following the Civil War, the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad was in near ruins.