Late 19th Century Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway (NC&Stl) Cast Iron Heart Shaped “Old Lake” Lock with Chain - No Key. The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville on December 11, 1845, built to 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge and was the first railway to operate in the state of Tennessee. By the turn of the twen