The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is a

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

and

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

based in Bryson City,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

, United States. Since late 1999, the railroad is currently owned and operated by American Heritage Railways, Inc., which also owns and operates the

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, often abbreviated as the D&SNG, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on of track between Durango and Silverton, in the U.S. state of Colorado. The railway is a fe ...

(D&SNG) in Colorado. The railroad operates

excursion train An excursion train is a chartered train run for a special event or purpose. Examples are trains to major sporting event, trains run for railfans or tourists, and special trains operated by the railway company for employees and prominent customer ...

s on the former Southern Railway Murphy branch line between Dillsboro and

Nantahala, North Carolina Nantahala Township ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism ...

railroads in the United States, with about 200,000 passengers each year.

Background

The Great Smoky Mountains Railway (GSMR) owns of the '' Murphy Branch'', a former branch line of the Southern Railway between Dillsboro and Nantahala, North Carolina. GSMR began operations in 1988, through a lease agreement between the NCDOT and Malcom and Joan MacNeill. With help of a team of investors, the MacNeils secured the lease within 48 hours of the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (3 ...

dispatching work trains to the Murphy Branch to begin dismantling the track. The GSMR route uses a route which passes through "fertile valleys, a tunnel and across river gorges" in the

Great Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...

of Western North Carolina. Several miles of the line between the far western end of the Nantahala Gorge and Andrews are out of service. The GSMR tourist excursions use the line between Bryson City and Nantahala ( in length) and the line between Bryson City and Dillsboro ( in length). In late 1999, the MacNeills sold the GSMR property to the American Heritage Railways, who were the owners of the

(D&SNG) in Colorado. Additionally, the bright and colorful blue, yellow and red "circus train" livery was dropped in favor of the new Tuscan red and gold stripe livery. On March 9, 2000, the Great Smoky Mountain Railway was renamed to the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. The GSMR would eventually become one of the most popular tourist railroads in the United States with about 200,000 passengers each year. In addition to operating tourists trains, the railroad has transported freight via an interchange with the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad in Sylva near Jackson Paper Manufacturing. In 2004, GSMR debuted its " Polar Express" train ride, based on the newly released movie and licensed through Warner Brothers. This ride has annually been a major economy boost for the railroad and the town of Bryson City. In 2019, GSMR broke all attendance records, with more than 91,000 people riding the Polar Express excursion alone. In 2007, GSMR made the decision to close their Dillsboro depot and relocate their headquarters from Dillsboro to Bryson City due to their dispute with the Dillsboro Town Council not being resolved.. However, the ''

Tuckasegee River The Tuckasegee River (variant spellings include Tuckaseegee and Tuckaseigee) flows entirely within western North Carolina. It begins its course in Jackson County above Cullowhee at the confluence of Panthertown and Greenland creeks. It flows ...

'' excursions between Dillsboro and Bryson City continued with the trips starting at Bryson City and lay over in Dillsboro. In March 2020, the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

pandemic outbreak caused the GSMR to suspend operations. They resumed operations on June 4, 2020, with provisions for public health, such as social distancing.

Roster fleet

Locomotives

The railroad has five operational

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whe ...

GP9 The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1959. The GP9 succeeded the GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, incorporating a new sixteen-cylind ...

s Nos. 1751 and 1755,

GP30 The EMD GP30 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois between July 1961 and November 1963. A total of 948 units were built for railroads in the United States and Canada ( ...

(upgrade to a GP30-3) No. 2467, GP35 (upgrade to a GP38-3M) No. 1009,

No. 777, GP7 No. 711 and GP38-3 No. 2668.. GSMR owned one operational

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

;

S160 The United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class is a class of 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive, designed for heavy freight work in Europe during World War II. A total of 2,120 were built and they worked on railroads across much of th ...

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels ...

"Consolidation" type No. 1702, which was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in September 1942 for the U.S. Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1991, it was purchased by the GSMR until 2005, when it was taken out of service due to firebox issues. In 2012, the GSMR made an agreement with the Swain County of North Carolina donating US$700,000 to construct a new steam locomotive workshop for the restoration of No. 1702 and installing a new

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

in Bryson City for the locomotive to be turned around. Afterwards, the restoration work of No. 1702 began in mid 2014 and completed in late July 2016 with the locomotive reentering excursion service. The railroad owns another 2-8-0 steam locomotive, Southern Railway Ks-1 No. 722, which originally worked on the former Murphy Branch from 1904 to 1952 and operated for the Southern Railway's steam excursion program from 1970 to 1980 until GSMR purchased it in late 2000, where it currently remains in storage. As of 2022, there are no known plans of restoration. The GSMR had purchased a third steam locomotive, a former

Swedish State Railways The Swedish State Railways ( sv, Statens Järnvägar) or SJ, originally the Royal Railway Board ( sv, Kungl. Järnvägsstyrelsen), was the former government agency responsible for operating the state-owned railways in Sweden. It was created ...

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the absenc ...

#1149, in 2010 from the defunct

Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. This engine was originally slated to be moved to the GSMR in spring 2011. However, the engine continued to remain on the B&ML for two more years. Ultimately, the GSMR deemed the engine's move too costly and instead sold the engine to the Discovery Park of America in Union City, Tennessee.

Towns and attractions served

* Dillsboro * Whittier *

Bryson City Bryson City is a town in Swain County, North Carolina in the United States. The population was 1558 as of the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Swain County. Located in what was historically the land of the Cherokee, Bryson City was founded as ...

Fontana Lake Fontana Lake is a reservoir impounded by Fontana Dam on the Little Tennessee River, and is located in Graham and Swain counties in North Carolina. The lake forms part of the southern border of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the northern ...

* The Nantahala Outdoor Center

Smoky Mountain Trains Museum

The railroad owns the Smoky Mountain Trains Museum in Bryson City, North Carolina, adjacent to the GSMR depot. The museum features a collection of over 7,000 Lionel model engines, cars and accessories, a large

model train Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced Scale (ratio), scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, ...

layout, a children's activity center, and a gift shop.

Popular culture

The famous train wreck scene in the 1993

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

blockbuster movie '' The Fugitive'' starring

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

and

Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' T ...

was filmed in Dillsboro along the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.. The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad was also used in the filming of 1996 Warner Brothers comedy ''

My Fellow Americans ''My Fellow Americans'' is a 1996 American political comedy film directed by Peter Segal. It stars Jack Lemmon and James Garner as feuding ex-presidents, with Dan Aykroyd, Lauren Bacall, Esther Rolle, John Heard, Wilford Brimley, Bradley Whi ...

'' starring

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...

and

James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including '' The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's ''The Ameri ...

when they stumble on to a charter train full of UNC-Chapel Hill fans headed for the NCAA Final Four. Train scenes in the 1999

DreamWorks SKG DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

film '' Forces of Nature'' starring

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educatio ...

and

Sandra Bullock Sandra Annette Bullock (; born July 26, 1964) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, Bullock was the world's highest-paid actress in 2010 and 2014. In 2010 ...

were also filmed on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. GSMR's No. 1702 steam locomotive was featured in the 1966 film, '' This Property Is Condemned'', starring

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award from four nominations, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, the Ceci ...

, and

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and wa ...

References

Bibliography

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External links