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Great Smoky Mountains Railroad 8/17/2007

Chris Parker and I met at 7:30 AM and drove down to the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad parking lot in Bryson City then walked towards the station.

The Murphy Branch of the Western North Carolina Railroad delivered thousands of mountaineers from the wilderness of their landlocked hills. A year after iron rails reached Asheville in 1880, workers scattered to the west of the city, digging, filling, and blasting an extension of the line that stretched 116 miles to Murphy, providing thousands with a path to reach the outside world.

The iron horse beat riding a wagon, but in many ways the young railroad was still primitive. In 1892, a visitor from Chicago described it as “little more than two streaks of rust and a right-of-way". With tongue-in-cheek, he told the Chicago Tribune, "when the wind is just right, the fastest train on the line, the ‘Asheville Cannon Ball,’ can make 10 miles an hour".

Rails changed the way of life for Western North Carolina residents. Mercantile business was commodities for a few of the bare necessities. Conveniences and luxuries were not even dreamed of and cash was hard to come by. The iron rails brought a flood of salesmen who peddled oil lamps that superceded tallow candles and New England “factory cloth” to replace scratchy, uncomfortable homespun. From door to door they sold books, pump organs, enlarged pictures, jewellery, lightning rods, baubles and doodads.

Passenger business was so good by the turn of the 20th century that six passenger trains ran every day between Asheville and Lake Junaluska and four daily between Asheville and Murphy. It was not easy to cut this branch line through the mountains. If it had not been for the practical, self-educated engineer Capt. J. W. Wilson, a rigidly honest and industrious man, it might not have been accomplished for years. One of Capt. Wilson’s most challenging tasks was the grade on the west side of the Balsams that was steep and curvy, with gaping ravines. His second obstacle was the 836-foot Cowee Tunnel through a shaky mountain west of Dillsboro. High iron topped the Balsam Mountains at 3,100 feet, at the time the highest elevation of any railroad in the Eastern United States.

The railroad was built by convicts working under the gun. In one of the most chilling accidents during construction, 19 inmates drowned in the Tuckasegee River at the mouth of the tunnel. Crossing the river to work, the raft carrying the iron-shackled convicts capsized and all aboard, except for guard Fleet Foster and convict Anderson Drake, died in the waters. Foster was rescued by Drake, who stole the guard's wallet while pulling him to shore. When the wallet was found in Drake's duffel, he was whipped and put to work in the tunnel at hard labour instead of receiving a hero’s honour. Those who died were buried in unmarked graves on top of a small hill near the mouth of the tunnel.

In the early years of the 20th century, there were a number of runaways on Balsam Mountain and a couple of wrecks inside Cowee Tunnel and in the river, but loss of life was small. As improvements were made to the railroad, accidents declined. The Murphy Branch experienced its heaviest use during wartime, in the early 1940s when the massive Fontana Dam was constructed. Thousands of carloads of cement, equipment, and other materials reached the construction site by rail on a spur line built from Bushnell to Fontana. Huge shipments of copper ore from mines in the western end of North Carolina and Copperhill, Tennessee, increased the line's tonnage. In the 1920's, ribbons of concrete crawled through the mountains, linking towns together.

With the increasing popularity of the automobile, passenger traffic on the Murphy Branch, then owned by the sprawling Southern Railway System, began to decline. Southern discontinued all passenger traffic on the Murphy Branch on July 16th, 1948, ending 64 years of service that had opened Western North Carolina to the outside world. When freight traffic dropped off by 1985, Norfolk Southern closed the Andrews to Murphy leg of the Murphy Branch and the State of North Carolina purchased the Dillsboro to Murphy tracks to keep them from being destroyed.

By 1988, many entities had come together to form the Great Smoky Mountains Railway, which then began running passenger excursions. Rolling stock for the GSMR was purchased from various railroads around the nation. The Dillsboro-to- Nantahala route was one of the most scenic on the Murphy Branch and the excursion trains caught on right away. Upward of 200,000 passengers enjoy the scenery and the experience of a true operational railroad each year aboard passenger excursion trains. American Heritage Railways purchased the GSMR in December of 1999. The Great Smoky Mountains Railway operates today as the newly-organized Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

Southern Railroad Bryson City station built circa 1900's.

Our Nantahala Gorge Excursion train in front of the station.

Great Smoky Mountain Railroad GP9 1751, ex. San Joaquin Valley Railroad 1751, exx. Arizona Eastern 1751, exxx. Southern Pacific 3312, exxxxx. Southern Pacific 3432 nee Texas and New Orleans 420 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1955.

I next met Connie Southard from the railroad who gave me our tickets for this morning's train and said our tickets for our one-way trip to Dillsboro would arrive on that train this afternoon. She also gave Chris and I a hobo pack with some nice souvenirs wrapped inside then gave me "Passage Through Time," the milepost guidebook to this railroad.

Chris and I were assigned to the first class Car, 536 "The MacNeill Club Car", ex. Norfolk Southern 536, nee Norfolk and Western 536, built by Pullman-Standard in 1949.

Passengers boarding the train.

Today's train consisted of GP9 1751, generator car 2 made from a caboose, first class car 536 "The MacNeil Club Car", coach 26 "Southland", coach 841 "Royal Palm", diner-kitchen-concession 8807, open car 36 "Wildwater", open car 37 "Nantahala", coach 320 "Sylva", open car 34 "Olivine" and coach 6514 "Dillsboro". I walked up, found Chris and we boarded "The McNeil Club Car".

Chris Parker enjoying the first class car.

The author enjoying this car.

At 10:00 AM, the train started its trip by departing Bryson City.

The Great Smoky Mountains station staff sent off the train with a wave.

We started paralleling the Tuckasegee River.

An old warehouse.

Crossing the Tuckasegee River.

Climbing away from the river as we made our way towards the Horseshoe Curve. The road crossing at the middle had to be flagged after the crossing signals were shorted out by last night's electrical storms.

Rounding Horseshoe Curve, after which I decided to walk the length of the train.

Interior of Great Smoky Mountains first class car 536 "The MacNeil Club Car", ex. Norfolk Southern 536, nee Norfolk and Western 536, built by Pullman-Standard in 1949.

Interior of Great Smoky Mountains coach 26 "Southland", ex. Conrail 1043, exx. Southern 1043, exxxx. Pullman 6-1 lounge car "Seaside", nee Pullman "Kokomo" built by the company in 1913.

Interior of Great Smoky Mountains coach 841 "Royal Palm", ex. Norfolk Southern 841, nee Southern Railway 841 built by Pullman-Standard and Southern in 1958.

Interior of Great Smoky Mountains kitchen-dormitory 8807 "Conductor's Cafe", ex. Amtrak 8807, exx. Penn Central 4623, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 4623, built by Budd Company in 1949.

Interior of Great Smoky Mountains open car 36 "Wildwater", nee Kansas City Southern baggage-express car, builder and year unknown.

Interior of Great Smoky Mountains open air car 37 "Nantahala", ex. Maryland Midland 83, exx. Penn Central 2182, exxx. Erie Lackawanna 1311, nee Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 311, built by Pullman in 1949.

Interior of Great Smoky Mountains coach 320 "Sylva", ex. Seaboard 320, exx. Colorado Springs and Eastern 6, exxx. Clinchfield 101, exxxx. Louisville and Nashville 2589, exxxxx. Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis 1100, exxxxxxx. Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis 731, nee Pullman parlour car "Loudonville" built by the company in 1923.

Interior of Great Smoky Mountains open car 34 "Olivine", nee Kansas City Southern baggage-express car 15 built by Pullman-Standard in 1964.

Interior of Great Smoky Mountains coach 6514 "Dillsboro", ex. Wisconsin and Calumet 6514, exx. Chicago and North Western 553, nee Chicago and North Western 6514 built by Pullman-Standard in 1949.

Rolling through Robinson Gap.

There were nice pastoral views along our route.

There were also many interesting houses.

The view near Milepost 72.

Kudzu was very prevalent in this area.

The first view of Fontana Lake which was down by 50 feet because of the drought.

Houseboats are extremely popular on Fontana Lake; they were grandfathered into the current regulations and the ancestors of the orginal owners live in them now.

Another view of Fontana Lake.

The plant life continued to amaze me.

More views of Fontana Lake.

Crossing the lake, which at this point is also the crossing of the Little Tennessee River.

The docks do not even reach the water because of the drought.

We were now paralleling the Nantahala River.

The train came around the sharp 14.2 degree curve at MP 78, where the Nantahala River makes a 125 degree turn.

The rafters were out in force.

Looking through the trees as we continued to roll along the river.

Another view along the Nantahala River.

More rafters.

Some nice rapids.

Running along the highway.

Ties ready to be installed.

We had arrived in Nantahala.

Rafters unloading to get into the Whitewater Rafting Company bus.

Rolling through the trees along the Nantahala River.

An old line bridge support.

Passing the Nantahala Nature Center, where we would return to for lunch.

We continued to roll along the Nantahala River.

Rafters on the Nantahala River.

The river was quite low at this point as the water had not been released for the rafters.

Trees continued to be passed.

Running through the Talc Mountains.

The former Southern Railway sign for Talc Mountain.

Passing a dirt road into Talc Mountain.

Kathy and Diana, my excellent servers aboard "The MacNeil Club Car". The locomotive ran around the train before returning us to the Nantahala Nature Center where we detrained for lunch.

Slow Joe's River Café where Chris and I had lunch.

We then walked out onto the bridge across the Nantahala River.

The rear of our train at Nantahala Outdoor Nature Center.

One of the many rapids.

A very pretty little waterfall. I walked down to the locomotive to wait for our engineer for my cab ride on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.