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Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad

Marker #2408, “Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad,” 206 Russell Cave Rd, Bourbon County.

Historical Marker #2408 explains the Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad Depot, located one quarter of a mile north of the Bourbon –Fayette County line, on the Russell Cave Road, in Bourbon County near Centerville. The building also served as the office for the Centreville Commission Company, dealers in coal, grain and fertilizer. There was a battery service and gas pump as well. The second story was once the lodge for Modern Woodmen of America. The first locomotives were steam powered, some converted to diesel after World War II. Passenger service included an intercity bus engine, painted red and called the “Cardinal.” It is now restored and located at the Kentucky Railroad Museum in New Haven, Kentucky.

Centerville, halfway between Lexington and Cynthiana, and between Paris and Georgetown, was always a bustling commercial center of Bourbon County. During World War II, potatoes grown in Idaho were shipped by the carloads to the distilleries in Frankfort and Stamping Ground to be used in the manufacture of butyl rubber, an important product for the war effort.

Because it served so many distilleries it was known as “The Whiskey Route.” When the F & C tried to abandon the entire railroad in 1967, Frankfort distilleries objected, but in 1970 the final 18.2 miles of the railroad were abandoned between Georgetown and Elsinore, KY.

George R. Burberry was the first station agent for the F & C Railroad (1892-1938), and from 1938 to 1960 his son Clyde Burberry and his daughter, Kittie Burberry May, ran the depot.

Steam Engine
Steam engine on the Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad. Forty Miles per hour was an amazing speed for the time.

Map of Railroad
Map of F & C Railroad

Map of Roadbed
Map of F & C Roadbed