Nashville History Corner

Nashville and Gallatin Interurban Company was better known as the Bluegrass Line

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

In an earlier issue of The Contributor, I wrote about the Franklin Interurban Railway. Another interurban railway, one that connected Nashville with Gallatin, was named the Nashville and Gallatin Interurban Company.

It was often called the Bluegrass Line, as it opened electric rail car service over a single track line connecting the public squares of the two cities in 1913. Driven by electric power taken from overhead lines by a trolley, the cars negotiated the 27 miles in approximately one hour. Occasionally, deep snows, such as one in 1929, interrupted service.

Nevertheless, the electric cars were well patronized by commuters and shoppers until the depression when improved highways and an increase in the use of automobiles caused it to fail in the mid- 1930s.