The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is a freight and heritage railroad based in Bryson City, North Carolina, 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 trains on the former Southern Railway Murphy branch line between Dillsboro and Nantahala, North Carolina. Since then, the GSMR became one of the most popular tourist railroads in the United States, with about 200,000 passengers each year.

Background

The Great Smoky Mountains Railway (GSMR) owns of the ''

Murphy Branch The historically important Murphy Branch is the westernmost part of what was the Western North Carolina Railroad, later the Richmond and Danville, Southern Railway, the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and today the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad. Th ...

'', 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 (31 ...

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 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'' 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 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 whee ...

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 The EMD GP7 is a four-axle ( B-B) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between October 1949 and May 1954.Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973) pp. 53 Power was provided by an EMD 567B 16 ...

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 locomot ...

;

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 The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

in September 1942 for the U.S. Army during World War II. 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 Swain County is a county located on the far western border of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,117. Its county seat is Bryson City. Four rivers flow through the mountainous terrain of Swain County: t ...

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 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

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 abse ...

#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 * Fontana Lake * 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. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

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

Popular culture

The famous train wreck scene in the 1993 Warner Brothers 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 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'' 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 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 film '' Forces of Nature'' starring Ben Affleck and

Sandra Bullock Sandra Annette Bullock (; born July 26, 1964) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Sandra Bullock, various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, Bullock was ...

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,

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...

, 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 war ...

References

Bibliography

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External links