Appalachian Railroad Museums

The Johnson City Railroad Experience – Johnson City TN

Once known as the George L. Carter Railroad Museum, the museum has a new location and larger facility.

Annually thousands of visitors enjoy the museum’s displays, which include historic prototype railroad memorabilia, toy trains and model railroading locomotives, rolling stock, and structures. Four large operating layouts in three different scales provide viewing enjoyment in the museum’s 5,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space. One of the highlights is the ET&WNC model railroad layout, expansive, and beautifully modeled.

Website
Facebook Page

Chuckey Depot Museum – Jonesborough TN

(Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society & Museum)

The mission of the Chuckey Depot focuses on regional railroads in its exhibits, like the Southern, Clinchfield, and East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. The museum maintains themed exhibits which change every six months. The Chuckey Depot Museum is located at 110 South 2nd Avenue. For more information, please call 423.753.1010. The Depot’s regular hours are Thursday-Sunday, 1pm-4pm.

https://www.wataugavalleynrhs.org/museum.php
https://www.facebook.com/groups/107377722614612
Equipment Roster: https://www.wataugavalleynrhs.org/equipmentroster.php
Passenger Cars: https://www.wataugavalleynrhs.org/passengercars.php

Clinchfield Railroad Museum – Erwin TN

Modeled to look like an old-fashioned train depot, the Clinchfield Railroad Museum pays homage to the Town of Erwin’s rich railroad history. Once inside, guests proceed into the large display room, filled with railroad collection memorabilia. The museum is located adjacent to the Unicoi County Heritage Museum.

https://www.tnvacation.com/local/erwin-clinchfield-railroad-museum

Kingsport Model Trains Project – Kingsport TN

Kingsport Model Trains Project is for history lovers and model train enthusiasts. Located at Lynn View Community Center 3rd Floor,257 Walker St., Kingsport, Tn 37665. 1st Saturday of each month 10–2pm. Work days every Tuesday 1–4pm . O scale Santa Train Project and 7 other layouts of N, HO , S and O scale trains and detailed buildings/accessories.

https://www.facebook.com/KingsportModelTrainsProject/

Virginia Museum of Transportation – Roanoke VA

Climb aboard decades-old steam locomotives while watching modern trains zoom by on active mainline tracks. Located in downtown Roanoke’s century-old freight station, the museum includes an extensive collection of steam, diesel, and electric locomotives and other types of rail cars. Other visitor favorites include model trains, automotive and aviation exhibits, buggies, a trolley bus, and a Jupiter Rocket.

http://www.vmt.org/

Norfolk & Western Railway #1218 2-6-6-4

North Carolina Transportation Museum – Spencer NC

The North Carolina Transportation Museum is set on the former site of Southern Railway Company’s 1896-era Spencer Shops, the railroad’s main locomotive servicing facility. The museum has the largest collection of rail relics in the Carolinas, but don’t let that mislead you! This is more than a stuffy museum full of only railroad artifacts; it is an immersive experience that provides interactive activities and a full calendar of events great for not only rail fans but families too!

https://www.nctransportationmuseum.org/

Southern Railway #6900 E8A

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum – Chattanooga

For More Information – Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the history and operation of the Appalachian Railroads. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Appalachian-Railroads.org. Much of the collective railroad history data points on this website are verified across multiple sources.

Personal Maps & Memorabilia: Documents, maps, timetables, and track charts
Associations, Historical Societies and their Archives
Archives of Appalachia: ETSU, Johnson City TN
Newspaper Articles: Newspapers.com
Magazines/Online: ‘Trains‘, ‘Classic Trains‘
Books
- Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads
- Appalachian Region
  - Grant: ‘The Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Rail Road’
  - Graybeal: ‘The Railroads of Johnson City
  - Huddleston: ‘Appalachian Crossings – The Pocahontas Roads‘ and ‘Appalachian Conquest‘
  - Poole: ‘A History of Railroading in Western North Carolina‘
  - Timko and Young: ‘Appalchian Coal Mines and Railroads, Vol. 1, 2, & 3‘
  - Roberts: ‘Sand Patch, Clash of the Titans‘
  - Yanosey: ‘Tidewater Triangle’
- Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
  - Calloway: ‘Atlantic Coast Line, The Diesel Years‘
  - Griffin: ‘Atlantic Coast Line, The Standard Railroad of the South‘
  - Goolsby: ‘Atlantic Coast Line Passenger Service, The Postwar Years‘
- Baltimore & Ohio Railway
  - Jacobs: ‘The History of the Baltimore & Ohio’
  - McGuirk: ‘Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the Potomac Valley‘
  - Ori, Salamon and Oroszi: Baltimore & Ohio/Reflections of the Capitol Dome‘ and ‘Baltimore & Ohio/Sunburst Trail to Chicago’
- C&O Railway/Chessie System
  - Dixon: ‘Chesapeake & Ohio, Superpower to Diesels‘, Chesapeake & Ohio in the Coalfields, ‘C&O Allegheny Subdivision‘, and ‘Chesapeake & Ohio Railway – A Concise History and Fact Book‘, and ‘The Chessie Era’
  - Dorin: ‘The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway’
  - Huddleston: ‘Riding the New River Train‘
  - Ori – ‘Chessie System‘
  - Paton: ‘Allegheny with an A’
  - Turner: ‘Chessie’s Road‘
- Clinchfield Railroad
  - Beach: ‘The Black Mountain Railway’
  - Goforth: ‘Building the Clinchfield‘ and ‘When Steam Ran the Clinchfield‘
  - Helm: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad in the Coal Fields‘
  - Irwin & Stahl: ‘The Last Empire Builder: The Life of George L. Carter‘
  - King: ‘Clinchfield Country‘
  - Marsh: ‘Clinchfield in Color‘
  - Poteat & Taylor: ‘The CSX Clinchfield Route in the 21st Century‘
  - Stevens & Peoples: ‘The Clinchfield No. 1 – Tennessee’s Legendary Steam Engine‘
  - Way: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad, the Story of a Trade Route Across the Blue Ridge Mountains‘
- CSX Railroad
  - Springirth: ‘CSX Transportation Heritage‘
- ET&WNC: Listed on the website’s ET&WNC pages
- Interstate Railroad
  - Wolfe & Wolfe: ‘Appalachian Coal Hauler’
  - Wolfe: ‘The Interstate Railroad‘
- L&N Railroad
  - Castner, Flanary & Dorin: Louisville & Nashville Railroad The Old Reliable‘
  - Flanary: The Louisville & Nashville Cumberland Valley Division
  - Flanary, Oroszi & McKee: ‘The Louisville & Nashville in the Appalachians‘
  - Oroszi & Flanary: ‘Dixie Lines, The Louisville & Nashville Railroad‘
- NC&StL Railway
  - Prince: ‘Nashville Chattanooga & St Louis Railway‘
- Norfolk Southern
  - Esposito: ‘Norfolk Southern Railroad’
  - Lindsey: ‘Norfolk Southern 1995 Review‘
- Norfolk & Western Railway
  - Newton: ‘Rails Remembered, Volumes 1-6
  - Warden: ‘Norfolk & Western: Diesel’s Last Conquest‘ and ‘Norfolk & Western’s Passenger Service’
  - Wolfe, Wilson & Mandelkern: ‘Norfolk & Western’s Clinch Valley Line‘
- Pennsylvania Railroad
  - Jacobs: ‘The History of the Pennsylvania Railroad‘
- Seaboard Air Line, Seaboard Coast Line, Seaboard System
  - Calloway and Withers: ‘Seaboard Motive Power‘
  - Carleton: ‘Locomotives of the Seaboard System‘
  - Griffin: ‘Seaboard Coast Line and Family Lines Railroad‘ and ‘All Lines North of Raleigh‘
  - Johnson: ‘Through the Heart of the South‘
- Southern Railway
  - Davis: The Southern Railway, Road of the Innovators‘
  - Flanary, Lindsey & Oroszi. The Southern Railway‘
  - Webb: ‘The Southern Railway System: An Illustrated History‘
  - Wolfe: ‘Southern Railway Appalachia Division‘
- Virginian Railway
  - Reisweber: ‘Virginian Rails’
  - Wiley & Wallace: ‘The Virginian Railway Handbook‘
Online Article: Flanary: ‘The Quick Service Route, The Clinchfield Railroad‘; Scientific American: ‘The Costliest Railroad in America‘
Online Videos: Ken Marsh on Kingsport area railroads and region’s history Video #1 | Video #2:
Websites:
- American-Rails.com
- AppalachianRailroadModeling.com
- Carolana.com – North Carolina Railroads, South Carolina Railroads
- Diesel Shop
- HawkinsRails.net
- Multimodalways
- StateOfFranklin.net which hosts Johnson’s Depot
- RailFanGuides.us for Johnson City and for Erwin
- SteamLocomotive.com
- VirginiaPlaces.org – Railroad History of Virginia
- Wikipedia.org
- WvncRails.org – North Carolina and West Virginia Railroads

3Cs Websites

Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org