NC&StL Ferry

This web page concerns an interesting railroad car ferry operation of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad. The NC&StL operated between Atlanta and Memphis, with a major line to Paducah; the center of the railroad was located at Nashville. The NC&StL also had numerous branch lines, including one to Gadsden, Alabama. This particular branch line ran between a junction with the NC&StL main line at Dechard, Tennessee and Gadsden with the help of a ferry boat that traversed the Tennessee River from Hobbs Island (near Huntsville, Alabama) to Guntersville, Alabama. In earlier days, railroad operations on this line included passenger service.

Car Ferries

Railroad water ferry operations were found in many areas of North America. These operations ranged from elaborate Lake Michigan overnight ships such as Spartan, Badger, City of Milwaukee and others which were operated by major railroads such as the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Ann Arbor. These car ferries allowed for railroad car movements that avoided railroad traffic congestion at Chicago, saving transportation time which resulted in favorable economics for a relatively expensive car ferry operation. Information on these car ferries can be found at: www.carferries.com/. S.S. Badger is still in operation as of June, 2003.

Other railroad ferry operations allowed poorly capitalized railroads to cross rivers without the costs of constructing an expensive bridge. Such ferry operations eventually disappeared, either because the railroad went out of business or because the railroad became successful enough to build a bridge. In addition to car ferries, car float operations allowed railroads to cross smaller bodies of water. In some cases, these float operations brought cars to islands across bodies of water that were relatively calm. In other cases, the car float operations delivered freight cars to “pocket railroads”.

Car Float Operations

Such operations were more commonly found in areas with greater population density. As an example, the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Railroad of New York City was such a pocket railroad, one with no connection to other railroads across land. Freight cars were brought to the BEDT from other railroads on floating barges pushed by harbor tugs. The BEDT was located on the East River in the heart of the Brooklyn, an area which had high population density. So, the construction of a traditional railroad would have been prohibitively expensive, yet the area required the delivery services of a railroad.

Brooklyn East District Terminal Railroad

The BEDT yard was surrounded by expensive real estate, making the construction of a connecting railroad line on land a costly proposition. The car float operation allowed industries to operate successfully in an urban environment. Car floats from various major railroads in New York and New Jersey were brought to the BEDT carrying cars destined for industries in the Brooklyn; note the different numbered slips (one for each railroad) at the top of the drawing. These cars were unloaded at the BEDT yard and then distributed to various industries in the railroad’s service area. In similar fashion, car loads generated from these same industries were then reloaded onto the floats and transferred to other railroads for shipment to any place that had railroad service. As a result of those shipments, the BEDT collected a portion of the freight tariff charges of that shipment since it had originated the car load. In an ideal situation, a car originated on the BEDT that traveled to Seattle produced a large amount of originating fees for the BEDT yet the costs of originating that car were same as a shipment to nearby New Jersey, a shipment which produced incrementally lower origination fees.

The NC&StL Ferry

The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis car ferry operation was operationally similar to car ferry operations such as the BEDT, but it operated over greater distances and was in service long after it should have been discontinued. The NC&StL completed the “Huntsville Branch” in 1893, connecting Gadsden, Alabama, a major industrial area, to the NC&StL main line system. Gadsden, in turn, was part of a larger industrial area which began at Birmingham, Alabama and stretched up to major industrial operations at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Birmingham was an area where deposits of coal, iron ore and limestone converged, all the major requisites for steel making. In turn, railroad development extended out from Birmingham to reach other mineral deposits and to connect to other industries that were established because of Birmingham’s presence. Gadsden was such an area; several steel related operations were located there.

NC&StL Ferry Loading

A twenty two mile segment of the Huntsville Branch involved a car float operation which connected Hobbs Island (just below Huntsville) with Guntersville. This unusual railroad operation continued until 1957 or 1958, when service was discontinued. That the NC&StL ferry operation continued as long as it did is a subject of great interest. The reasons were based in the presence of revenue generating industries at Gadsden. Freight car origination fees were generated for the NC&StL by this railroad branch, largely produced at Gadsden. Although this city had railroad service from several other railroads, the financial hopes of the NC&StL were to originate freight service from shippers on their trackage, then transport this freight as far as possible on the NC&StL before transferring the freight load to another railroad. Given that there were other railroads in Gadsden, ones that did not have expensive car ferry operations, one would think that the freight traffic would naturally flow to the more efficient railroads. Yet this was not the case. At that time, the railroads were governed by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

In part, attempts by the railroads to cut costs were slowed considerably by the conservative presence of the Interstate Commerce Commission, which regulated almost all railroads in the United States. The ICC had been formed after political pressure was exerted by railroad customers who had themselves been mistreated by the railroad companies. Virtually every aspect of the railroads' business was regulated by the ICC; rates, service, closures, construction, all were controlled by the ICC. Once this vast network of railroads had been built, the track structure of the US stayed largely in place because of the ICC.

The nature of the ICC was covered well in an article in the Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2001. In a review of John Steel Gordon's book "The Business of America", reviewer John Lilly states:

More typical is Mr. Gordon's evident enthusiasm for free and fair markets. In "R.I.P, ICC" he presents an unflattering obituary of the Interstate Commerce Commission, which ended its days in 1995, having "outlived the problem it was created to manage by several decades."

That problem was 19th-century railroad freight rates, which could be intensely competitive on major "trunk" lines but virtually without competition on "branch" lines, where high rates made up for low money-losing ones elsewhere. To put an end to such "price gouging", the federal government set up the ICC. Soon, though, the railroads learned how to manipulate the agency, and politicians too, so that the ICC became a kind of broker for the railroad cartel, stripping away risk and ensuring "regulated" profits. In the 1930's, Mr. Gordon notes, trucking challenged the railroads' freight business, but the ICC simply moved over to regulate trucking.

So, the ICC served to both insure regulated rate of return to the railroads and also removed elements of risk for the railroads. At the same time, peculiar inefficiencies crept into the transportation system. Because freight moving between two points had an established tariff, choice of a particular railroad was not necessary. If two railroads operated between the same two cities, the tariff for that route was the same regardless of the operating company which hauled the freight. The tariff for that route was based upon the costs of transportation between those two points. An inefficient railroad had little incentive to become more efficient, since their rate of return on investment was already locked into the tariff.

As a result, odd little railroad operations such as the NC&StL car ferry operation continued long after they should have been closed. All freight rates between the points served by the NC&StL via this car ferry were the freight rates which all railroads charged shippers, even though their operations were likely quite more efficient. This situation continued for many years. The NC&StL later merged with the Louisville & Nashville in 1957 and the car ferry operations ended shortly after that.

Railroad Operations

The NC&StL car float operations continued in spite of their inefficiency. In the early days of operation, from 1893, the car float was propelled by the sternwheel paddle boat Huntsville. This boat was replaced in 1946 by the diesel powered tow boat Guntersville. While the Huntsville was only able to push one car float, the Guntersville was able to push two car floats for a total capacity of about twelve freight cars.

The Huntsville branch offered passenger service until about 1928, with the line becoming “freight only” until service was discontinued in 1957. Although there may have been trains which were devoted solely to passenger service on this line at one time, it is assumed that in the later years passenger service was offered on a mixed train of both freight cars and a passenger car. It is also assumed that railroad passengers exited the passenger car during the car float portion of the journey on the Huntsville branch. NC&StL car No. 851, a baggage & coach combination car, was used on the Huntsville branch for many years. Presumably, 851 was used on the Huntsville branch trains instead of a caboose car.

Photographs of the car float operations indicate that the NC&StL had a separate locomotive for the segment of track between Guntersville and Gadsden. It is likely that other locomotives were stationed at Gadsden for the purpose of switching cars with the local industries served by the NC&StL. Initially, these locomotives could have been transported to Gadsden via other railroads to avoid the problem of moving the heavier locomotives on the car float. Or, the car float could have moved the locomotive singly, keeping the engine on home road rails and avoiding paying transportation charges to another railroad.

Closure of the ferry operations occurred shortly after the NC&StL merged with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, which had controlled the NC&StL since 1897. The L&N had two lines which served Gadsden, and the ferry operation was an unnecessary expense. Because of the access allowed by the L&N lines, former NC&StL shippers were not affected by the discontinuance of the car float operations. The float operations ceased “in the late 1950’s” (Castner).

Interestingly, the rail portions of the Huntsville Branch remain largely intact and in service as of this writing. In the 1970’s, the L&N would be merged with a group of other Southeastern railroads to become known as the “Family Lines”, which would in turn be merged with the Chessie System to form the present day CSX. The fact that the Huntsville Branch continues in service indicates the continued presence of viable shippers. In any case, this Tennessee River railroad car ferry operation was an unusual one for the southeastern United States.

Source Data

Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, The Dixie Line by Charles B. Castner, Jr; (Carstens Publications, Inc., 1995). ISBN 911868-87-9), (photos and caption information).

The Historical Guide to North American Railroads compiled by George H. Drury; (Kalmbach Books, 1985). ISBN 0-89024-072-8, (information on NC&StL and L&N).

Comprehensive [Railroad] Atlas of North America, Southern States by Mike Walker; (Steam Powered Publishing, 2001). ISBN 1-874745-14-5, (maps).


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