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 gauge and was the first railway to operate in the state of Tennessee. By the turn of the twentieth century, the NC&StL grew into one of the most important railway systems in the southern United States.

Vernon K. Stevenson was an American businessman. He served as the president of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railway for 25 years, and as the president of the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was a real estate investor in Manhattan, New York City.