The Southwestern Railroad started a gauge spur line from Sparta, Tennessee to McMinnville, Tennessee to connect with the McMinnville and Manchester Railroad.The Southwestern Railroad Company was chartered in 1851–52 to build a railroad from Danville, Kentucky to McMinnville in less than ten years. The company received several extensions to complete the road during and after the American Civil War.[1] Former Confederate general George Gibbs Dibrell served as president.[2] The company went bankrupt in 1871 having constructed only a small part of the road from McMinnville to Sparta.Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway (NC&StL) purchased the assets.[1] In 1884, NC&StL finished the 26miles segment to Sparta to reach the coal mines at Bon Air, Tennessee.[3]
The track is operated today by the Caney Fork & Western Railroad (CFWR).