The Nashville & Chattanooga Railway, predecessor to the NC&StL Railway, was organized in 1848 by a group of prominent Nashville, Tennessee businessmen. By virtue of his connections to wealth from the Grundy and Bass families of Nashville, and of his vigorous promotion of a line between Nashville and Chattanooga, Vernon K. Stevenson was elected president of the line and served in that capacity for sixteen years. The first locomotive in Nashville arrived in December 1850 on the steamboat "Beauty" along with 13 freight cars and one passenger car. The train made its first trip the following spring, to Antioch, Tennessee. It took nine years to complete the of line between Nashville and Chattanooga, made difficult by the steep elevations of the Highland Rim and Cumberland Plateau between them. The Cowan Tunnel near Cowan, Tennessee, was considered an engineering marvel of the time. Due to terrain difficulties, the rail line crossed into Alabama and Georgia for short distances. Towns sprang up during construction, including Tullahoma and Estill Springs.