East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad facts for kids

The East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) was a special train line. People often called it the "Tweetsie" because of its steam whistles. It started in 1866 to help the mines in Cranberry, North Carolina.

Most of the Tweetsie's tracks were "narrow gauge." This means they were narrower than regular train tracks (3 ft (914 mm) wide). This part of the ET&WNC closed in 1950. A regular-sized track (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge) section, about 11 miles long, ran from Johnson City to Elizabethton, Tennessee. This part operated as the East Tennessee Railway until 2003. In 2012, these tracks were removed to create a walking and biking path. This path is now called the Tweetsie Trail.

The Tweetsie's Journey: A Railroad Story

The East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Transportation Company began on May 24, 1866. But it didn't have enough money, so the project stopped in 1874. Later, the Cranberry Iron Company took over the line between 1876 and 1879. They made the railroad one of their smaller businesses.

Building the First Tracks

The first 14.1 miles of track went through the Appalachian Mountains. It ran from Johnson City to Hampton, Tennessee, passing through Elizabethton. This part was finished on August 22, 1881. Ario Pardee, a financier from Pennsylvania, helped fund it. Thomas Matson, a famous railway engineer, provided the technical skills. A line extension to Cranberry opened on July 3, 1882.

Mountain residents soon called it the "Railway with a Heart." This was because railroad workers often ran errands for local people. They even let passengers ride for free during the Great Depression. Their tickets were even punched with a heart shape!

Trains and What They Carried

The ET&WNC used five special steam engines called Ten Wheelers, made by Baldwin Locomotive Works. These were engines #9, #10, #11, #12, and #14. They were all painted black at first. But later, they were painted green to look like the Southern Railway's bigger engines.

During World War II, fewer people rode the trains. So, it became too expensive to run a full passenger train every day. The ET&WNC used a special car, #15. This car had a post office and a place for luggage. Behind it, they would attach one or two "piggyback" flat cars. These cars carried truck trailers on them.

A train crew stands in front of ET&WNC Locomotive No. 4 near Newland, North Carolina around 1914. This engine was bought in 1902 and sold 12 years later.

The ET&WNC mainly carried iron ore from the Cranberry mines. It also moved pig iron from local forges and lumber from North Carolina's forests. In 1913, the Cranberry Iron Company bought another line, the Linville River Railway (LRR). This line was built in the 1890s to carry lumber. The LRR was extended to Boone, North Carolina. However, a big flood in 1940 badly damaged its tracks. The line was closed in 1941. Much of North Carolina Highway 105 was later built along its old path.

After World War II

The ET&WNC was a major line for both passengers and goods during World War II. But business slowed down a lot after the war. The narrow gauge tracks from Elizabethton were soon closed. However, the ET&WNC kept running between Johnson City and the rayon factories in Elizabethton.

The tracks around Johnson City were "dual gauge." This meant they had three rails. This allowed both narrow gauge and standard gauge trains to use them. This helped connect with other railroads. The ET&WNC bought three standard gauge locomotives: #204, #205, and #206. These engines moved cars around the Johnson City area. The ET&WNC Railroad Company's narrow gauge lines officially stopped working on October 16, 1950. The tracks were removed the next year.

Several ET&WNC bridges are still standing in Carter County, Tennessee. This one is in the Doe River Gorge.

East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad Locomotive No. 12
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location in North Carolina Show map of North Carolina Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Nearest city	Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Area	less than one acre
Built	1917
Architect	Baldwin Locomotive Works
NRHP reference No.	92000147
Added to NRHP	March 12, 1992

The Tweetsie Lives On!

In 1952, the last narrow gauge engines (#9, #11, and #12) were put up for sale. Engines #9 and #11 were offered for display in Elizabethton and Johnson City, but the offer was refused. So, #9 and #11 were scrapped. But engine #12 was bought by train fans and sent to Virginia. Later, movie cowboy Gene Autry bought it. He wanted to use it in his films in California.

After a lot of work to fix it up, locomotive #12 returned to North Carolina on May 23, 1957. It came with some of its original train cars. That summer, the "Tweetsie Railroad" opened. It became a new travel spot and family theme park. The train travels on a beautiful 3-mile (4.8 kilometers) loop through the mountains. It is near Blowing Rock, close to the old end-of-the-line station in Boone. The park uses two steam locomotives. Besides ET&WNC No. 12, they also have No. 190, the Yukon Queen. This engine came from Alaska in 1960. Tweetsie also has an old wooden coach, from the East Broad Top Railroad. It is used for special events.

Later Years and the Trail

The ET&WNC kept running its standard gauge lines long after the narrow gauge ones closed. In 1952, the railroad looked for new engines. They chose #630 and #722 because they were in good shape. These engines were renamed 207 and 208. They worked for the ET&WNC until December 8, 1967. Then, the Southern Railway traded two newer engines for them. Engine 630 is now at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Engine 722 is at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City, North Carolina.

The Green Bay Packaging Company bought the railroad in 1996. They renamed it the East Tennessee Railway (ETRY). This company is now part of Genesee and Wyoming, which runs smaller railroads around the world. The standard gauge line continued to move freight cars in Johnson City. It connected with trains from CSX and Norfolk Southern. This continued until October 10, 2003.

In 2012, the last ten-mile section of the ET&WNC between Johnson City and Elizabethton began to be removed. This was part of a Rails to Trail project. The first seven miles were finished in August 2014. The last three miles were done in August 2015. In 2016, Carter County started to "extend" this trail to Roan Mountain. This extension mostly uses existing roads, not the original train path. Today, the East Tennessee Railway uses very little track. It serves only a few businesses near the Johnson City yard.

Locomotives of the ET&WNC