WHY THE LEBANON BRANCH?

Railroading was once not just a mode of transportation but a way of life. A large portion of the population of the central Kentucky region was either employed by the railroad or was related to someone who was. Many communities owe their existence to the railroad. The railroad was a town’s connection to the world, with railroads providing transportation services to the public for both passengers and freight. The town’s depot was a gathering place of the community, where mail and parcels arrived, or where loved ones departed for adventures across the globe. The Lebanon Branch Preservation Trust hopes to preserve and tell the stories of those people.

 
The Lebanon Branch was a vital transportation link serving the central Kentucky region for over a century, facilitating trade and economic activity, and providing employment for so many. 
Following the deregulation of the nation’s railroads in the 1980s, many railroads merged and as result began purging what they considered “duplicate” routes between major cities from their rail networks. Done in the name of efficiency and cost cutting, this process left the communities along these removed lines stranded without the rail connection they had relied upon for over a century. Unfortunately, the Lebanon Branch suffered this fate and was abandoned in the late 1980s with final track removal completing in 1991.  The abandonment of the Lebanon Branch being justified with railroad officials stating there was no industrial growth expected along the line, even within Lebanon. How wrong those officials would be, as while the tracks were being pulled up, manufacturing in the Lebanon area was starting to explode with growth. Had the rail line remained intact, it would no doubt would play an essential part in powering the local economy and tourism today. 

Across the nation, multiple organizations have leveraged their local railroad and its history to power and support tourism and community development.  The Lebanon Branch Preservation Trust hopes to do the very same in our effort to preserve the history and legacy of the railroad lines that crossed Kentucky’s heartland- most notably the Lebanon Branch of the L&N railroad.