The Ohio & Kentucky Railway connected the Lexington & Eastern Railway near Jackson to Cannel City, Kentucky.
The Kentucky Block Cannel Coal Company incorporated the Ohio & Kentucky Railway (O&K), which had leased 5,400 acres of cannel coal in Caney in Morgan County. The railroad was headed by W. DeL. Walbridge and headquartered in Cannel City. 1 Construction of the O&K began in October 1899 from the Lexington & Eastern Railway (L&E) 1.37 miles from Jackson, and the first 26 miles were completed on June 10, 1901. 1 The route included the 300-foot timber-lined Hampton Tunnel at the head of Frozen Creek and Claney Tunnel.
The L&E initially operated the line under contract until July 1, 1904. 1 When the contract expired, only O&K passenger trains ran into Jackson over trackage rights with the L&E; freight trains had to be dropped off at the junction with the L&E.
The 3½-mile Caney & West Liberty Railroad (C&WI) was constructed between Cannel City and Caney via Spring Branch, where it climbed a large hill via switchback and descended into the White Oak Creek valley to serve the White Oak Cannel Coal Company mines at Piedmont. 1 After the C&WI went into bankruptcy, it was renamed the Caney, Piedmont & Morehead Railroad and operated until December 1907.
The O&K was extended north by 12.8 miles between 1910 and 1911 to access additional coal deposits and a small but growing lumber industry along the Licking River west of West Liberty. 1
The entire nearly 40-mile O&K line was abandoned on November 1, 1933. 1
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Sources
- Sulzer, Elmer G. “Cannel Carrier.” Ghost Railroads of Kentucky. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998. 43-50. Print.
3 Comments
Add Yours →My Grandfather Dorsey Lee Patton was the engineer on the O and K. He lived with his family (my Mother) in Cannel City, Kentucky from approximately 1920 to 1929, when he died at age 30,
Charley Moore was the last O&K Depot Agent at Helechawa, KY
My grandfather was a station master on the O and K at VanCleve