Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

Southern Railway 4501, one of six steam locomotives at the museum.
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Established	1960 (1960) / 1961 (1961)
Location	4119 Cromwell Rd. Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States

The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) is a special place in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where old trains are kept and run. It's like a living museum for trains! You can even ride on some of these historic trains.

The museum started in 1960. A group of people who loved trains, including Paul H. Merriman and Robert M. Soule, Jr., wanted to save old steam locomotives and other railway equipment. They wanted future generations to see and enjoy these amazing machines. Today, the museum offers fun train rides from its stations in Chattanooga and Etowah, Tennessee.

The Museum's Journey: How It Grew

The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum began in 1960 and became an official organization in 1961. At first, they stored their trains in a pole yard next to the Southern Railway's train yard in East Chattanooga. When passenger train service stopped at the Southern Railway's Terminal Station in 1971, more cars and engines were stored there.

A Special Land Gift

In 1969, the Southern Railway gave the TVRM some land in East Chattanooga. This gift included the Whiteside Tunnel, which is about 986 feet (300 meters) long, and about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of old railway track.

Opening to the Public

The museum opened its new main location in East Chattanooga in 1970. There were no buildings yet, but volunteers worked hard. They built a railyard to store and fix the trains. They also rebuilt the old train line through the Whiteside Tunnel. This rebuilt line ended at Tunnel Boulevard because the bridge over that road had been removed years before.

With the train line rebuilt, the museum could start offering short train rides. These rides went through the Whiteside Tunnel, which is also known as the Missionary Ridge Tunnel. These trips helped the museum earn some money.

Bringing Back Steam Trains

The museum also earned money from special trips on the main railway lines. These trips were part of the Southern Railway's Steam Program. This program started when Paul Merriman and TVRM bought an old steam engine, Southern Railway 4501, in 1964. After two years of hard work by volunteers and paid workers, the 4501 was ready to run again. It then traveled all over the Southern Railway System.

NC&StL GP7 710 at the East Chattanooga Yard of the museum

Building and Expanding

In 1977, after many years of effort, TVRM finally built the bridge over Tunnel Boulevard. The Southern Railway also gave them another 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of old track. The next big project was building the East Chattanooga Depot. This station looks like a typical small town train station from the 1920s.

The TVRM was recognized as a historic place in 1980. During the 1980s, the museum grew even more. They added more tracks and buildings. They also built a repair shop and a turntable to help fix and care for the trains. In the 1990s, TVRM started running trains to the Chattanooga Choo Choo and special trips to Summerville, Georgia.

In 2004, TVRM started new adventures called the Hiwassee River Rail Adventures. These trips became very popular. Because of this success, TVRM now has two main areas where it runs trains: the Chattanooga area and the Hiwassee area.

The museum celebrated its 50th birthday in 2011!

What You Can Do Today

Today, TVRM still runs trains, including some for local businesses. Visitors can enjoy a one-hour, 6-mile (9.7 km) round-trip ride. These rides are often pulled by a real steam locomotive! From April to November, you can usually find these exciting train trips running on most weekends.

The Hiwassee Loop Adventure

Since 2004, TVRM has also offered longer trips to the Hiwassee Loop. This is a cool, corkscrew-shaped track around Bald Mountain near Farner, Tennessee. These trips start from the station in Etowah, Tennessee, which is about an hour's drive (63 miles or 101 km) northeast of Chattanooga.

Because this route uses a busy freight train line, travelers take a short bus ride to the Hiwassee/Ocoee Scenic River State Park to get on the train. The 50-mile (80 km) trip goes east along the Hiwassee River and through the Hiwassee Gorge. Full-day trips stop for lunch in the towns of Copperhill, Tennessee and McCaysville, Georgia, before returning in the afternoon.

Freight Trains Too!

TVRM also helps move freight (goods) for businesses. In the Chattanooga area, they serve one company called Allied Metals. They also help with switching trains at the Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant. Even though there aren't many big businesses along the Hiwassee line, TVRM can store hundreds of train cars there for other railroads.

Bringing Old Trains Back to Life

TVRM has a special workshop called Soule Shops, named after co-founder Robert M. Soule, Jr. Here, they fix and restore old locomotives and train cars.

Amazing Restoration Projects

In 2011, TVRM finished restoring the Southern Railway 630, a steam engine, so it could run again. In 2014, they completed a second restoration of another steam engine, the Southern Railway 4501. This allowed it to go on more trips as part of Norfolk Southern's steam program.

Right now, three passenger cars are being restored. One is a special observation car from the Chessie/Chesapeake and Ohio railway. Another is a 1917 Pullman office car, which was used by a railroad president. The third is Southern Railway 832, a passenger coach built in 1949. Also, a 1953 EMD E8 engine, Southern Railway 6914, is being restored.

The restoration of the 630 steam engine took 10 years! It was one of the biggest steam engine repairs in the United States since steam trains stopped being common.

The Trains at TVRM

The museum has many different types of trains, including steam and diesel locomotives, and various passenger cars.

Locomotives (Engines)

Number	Images	Builder	Type	Build date	Status	Notes
4501		Baldwin Locomotive Works	Steam	1911	Operational
630		American Locomotive Company	Steam	1904	Operational
610		Baldwin Locomotive Works	Steam	1952	Stored, waiting for major repairs
10		Baldwin Locomotive Works	Steam	1920	Stored, waiting for a cosmetic makeover
349		Baldwin Locomotive Works	Steam	1891	On display
80		Electro-Motive Division	EMD GP38	1968	Operational
109		American Locomotive Company	ALCO RS-3	1950	Stored
606		General Motors Diesel	EMD SW1200	1954	Operational
710		Electro-Motive Division	GP7	1950	Operational
814		Electro-Motive Division	EMD F7A	1949	Stored, privately owned
913		American Locomotive Company	ALCO RS-1	1950	On display
200		Baldwin Locomotive Works	EMD 567C	1941	Stored, not running
1824		Electro-Motive Division	EMD GP7L	1951	Stored, not running
1829		Electro-Motive Division	EMD GP7	1951	Operational
2594		Electro-Motive Division	EMD GP30	1962	Operational	On loan from the Southeastern Railway Museum.
3170		Electro-Motive Division	EMD SD40	1971	On display
5000		Electro-Motive Diesel	GP38-2	1972	Operational
5044		General Motors	GP38-2	1973	Operational
5109		General Motors	GP38-2	1974	Operational
6914		Electro-Motive Division	EMD E8	1953	Being restored
7100		American Locomotive Company	Diesel	1943	Stored, not running
8669		American Locomotive Company	ALCO RSD-1	1945	On display
8677		American Locomotive Company	ALCO RSD-1	1945	Stored
F3060		Fairbanks-Morse	FM H-16-66	1958	On display

Passenger Cars

Trains That Used to Be Here

Number	Images	Builder	Type	Build date	Notes
3		American Locomotive Company	Steam	1924	Built for Southern Wood Company in Chattanooga. Sold in 1994 to the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Ohio, where it is now on display.
35		Lima Locomotive Works	Steam	1910	Sent to a heritage railway in Australia in 2014.
36		Lima Locomotive Works	Steam	1916	Now runs at the Cass Scenic Railroad.
203		Baldwin Locomotive Works	Steam	1928	Was on display at TVRM for over 25 years. Now on display at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, Georgia.
509		Baldwin Locomotive Works	Steam	1913	Sold to the Cookeville Depot Museum in 2002. Now on display, looking like Tennessee Central Railway #509.
611		Baldwin Locomotive Works	Steam	1943	Sold in 2010.
722		Baldwin Locomotive Works	Steam	1904	Operated at TVRM from 1980-1985. Now being restored at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City, North Carolina.
5288		Montreal Locomotive Works	Steam	1919	Was on display at TVRM. Later used for parts for Southern 4501's restoration. Acquired by the Colebrookdale Railroad in 2023.
Flying Duchess		Robert Stephenson and Company	Steam	1953	Built in England. Now being cosmetically restored by the Ohio Valley Railroad Historical Society.

TVRM in Movies and Music Videos

The TVRM has been a popular spot for filming movies since the early 1970s. Some of the train cars at TVRM have even been in famous movies! For example, the "Clover Colony" sleeping car was used in the 1959 movie Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe.

Here are some movies and music videos that used TVRM trains or locations:

• Fool's Parade (1971)
• Eleanor & Franklin (1976)
• The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James (1986)
• Fled (1996)
• Mama Flora's Family (1998)
• October Sky (1999) (Southern 4501 appeared as N&W 4501)
• The Adventures of Ociee Nash (2003)
• Warm Springs (2005)
• Heaven's Fall (2007)
• Leatherheads (2008) (TVRM 610 was disguised as a Chicago and North Western Railway train)
• Water for Elephants (2011) (TVRM 610 was disguised as a Southern Pacific train)
• The music video for Josh Turner's song "Long Black Train" (2003)
• The music video for Eric Church's song "Creepin'" (2012)
• 42 (film) (2013) (Southern 630 also appeared in this movie)

See also

• List of heritage railroads in the United States