Great Smoky Mountain Railway

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

My wife and I are planning a trip to Bryson City, N.C., taking the 3 grandkids… and will probably do the Great Smoky Mountain Railway thing to Nantahala Gorge. There is also a large model rairoad layout somewhere in Bryson City that I’d like to see.
If you’ve done this how would you rate them both?
Jarrell

2

This is as close as I can get but Byson is my Wife’s favorite stop.
www.gsmr.com and have a good trip.

3

Its been about 5 years since I’ve been on it but if I remember correctly it was pretty interesting. I went during the fall and it was beautiful. The only thing I didn’t like about it was you could see the highway some/most of the trip(again, if I am remembering the GSMR correctly). I didn’t see the layout so I can’t comment on that.

4

The Train Museum is off the corner of Everett & Depot St. You should be able to see the area
on Marquest, BC 28713. The movie"The Fugitive" starting Harrison Ford in part was filmed there,
the train wreck/bus accident.

5

Chuck, she won’t take you? What did you do?[;)]
Jarrell

6

Thanks Jim and Chuck, I appreciate it!
Jarrell

7

Jerrell,
Here’s a link to my webshots album of the Bryson City museum(Smoky Mountain Trains, to be exact).
I took these photos last year. We didn’t make the museum this year… too much other stuff to do.
http://community.webshots.com/album/144049155bLffKZ

As for the GSMR… It’s always fun and worth the money. Have fun, Dave

8

much obliged Dave, I think I’m going to enjoy the trip!
Thanks for the link!
Jarrell

9

Jarrell,

Both are worth the trip. I went to the musuem last September and had a great time. Even if you aren’t into O scale or Lionel, it’s definitely worth the $6. I must of jawed with the layout operator for at least a half an hour.

I’m guessing that the layout is probably about 20’ x 48’. It was designed and constructed by a local pastor in that area. In order to transport the layout to the museum, he had to cut it up into 16(?) pieces.

The Nantahala Gorge would be a beautiful ride. Just so you know, they will only run a diesel (e.g. GP7) up the gorge because of the fear of fires. The steamer they do run from Bryson City to Dillsborough. The folks who own and run the Durango & Silverton also own and run the GSMRR. I think the grandkids will enjoy the trip.

Jarrell, while you’re there, take the grandkids rafting down the Nantahala River, too. It’s an easy 1/2 day excursion. There are plenty of rafting places along SR 129. They’ll supply you with a raft (even a guide, if you’d like), drop you off at the beginning and pick you up at the end. Lotsa fun. You can check it out when you take the GSMRR because the tracks run right along the Nantahala River.

Tom

P.S. Jarrell, if your dear wife is more into shopping than rafting or railfanning then she would really like Dillsborough. Plenty of shops to browse around in - maybe 20-30 minutes east of Bryson City.

10

Found more info, 7,000 piece collection of pre-war, post-war and modern trains dates back to 1918.

11

I’ve been on the GSMR three times and can’t wait to go back! This picture is from spring of this year.

Enjoy!!!

12

Randy,

Great pic but is there any way you can compress or shrink the size of the original? It’s nearly 800K in size and is taking an horrendous amount of time to load onto the page. RailImages normally asks you to keep your uploaded pic sizes on their web site 100K and under.

Tom

13

OK, I fixed it! You are right, that’s a humongous picture. While we are on the subject, here’s one more:

I have far too many pictures of the GSMR to ever post, so I just put up these two on web sight.

14

You might want to explore the “Raft and Rail” adventure offered by the GSMRR and Whitewater Rafting. Essentially, you ride up the Nantahala River Gorge on the train, dismount, and raft back down the river on a semi-guided whitewater adventure.

We’ve done this several times and have always had lots of fun. The Nantahala is a very scenic river with mostly class II and class III rapids… good for beginners.

Check out the GSMRR and Whitewater Rafting web sites for more information.

15

thanks Tom, I’ll keep the rafting in mind and tell the wife about Dillsborough. I know the girls (grandkids) would love going over there.
Jarrell

16

Whew! that’s a huge collection!
Thanks for the info, Chuck
Jarrell

17

Thanks dragenrider. If it’s riding a train it’s gotta be fun!
Jarrell

18

Thanks, I’ll pass this along to the grandkids and see if they’re up for it.
Jarrell