Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's Railfest was very good; but nowhere near the Railfest in 2011, since it was their 50th anniversary. The first thing I did upon arriving there was operating a small pump car, which normally takes two people to operate, but I just had one hand on one handle and on the other.
The 21st Century Steam excursion to Cleveland, Tennessee was a three-hour long trip, and was a good ride. The only problem was the safety concerns by Norfolk Southern: no hanging out of the vestibules, which is the best place to take a picture of Southern 630 as she rounds a curve. The trip was actually two hours long instead of three, probably because we didn't have to wait in a siding on the single-track mainline for another train to pass.
When we got back to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and got off the train, heading to the second floor of the museum's Grand Junction station, where there were a few model railroads set up, two of the four there were N scale, the other was three-rail O scale (featuring Thomas the Tank Engine), and a multi-scale layout (G scale loop of track surrounding a loop of O gauge track that surrounds a small N scale layout); outside was a small garden railroad, made up of three loops of G scale track, one inside the other. The person who made the paint schemes for Norfolk Southern's heritage units was there, selling copies of the paint schemes he made that the heritage units now wear for $10 each ($20 for one with matting). He was also selling magnets featuring the paint schemes that they now wear (3 for $10). He was also giving away posters, showing all the heritage units, along with signing them (he was signing them as he was giving away the posters, so I know that the signature is real). Norfolk Southern's official photographer was also there selling copies of the picture she took from above the fourth of July event at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, with all the heritage units sitting around the turntable at the roundhouse at Spencer. After doing all of this, my dad and I left and had lunch nearby, while deciding wheather of not to go back and ride the Missionary Ridge Local, which was running push-pull, with a diesel on each end, giving that the train was four cars long, meaning that it was too long to turn around on the wye at Grand Junction. As we were driving back, the rain-that-I-wished-would-never-come came. It rained cats and dogs, which made us decide to head on home, not going back to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum to check out more of the events going on this Railfest, and not stopping off to get doughnuts. By the time we got to the interchange with Tennessee state highway 153 (which the exit that you get off of to go to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is on) and U.S. Interstate 75, it had stopped pouring rain, becoming more of a small shower. By the time we got back to the house, it had stopped raining. So that's how the day went. If only it hadn't rained . . .
The 21st Century Steam excursion to Cleveland, Tennessee was a three-hour long trip, and was a good ride. The only problem was the safety concerns by Norfolk Southern: no hanging out of the vestibules, which is the best place to take a picture of Southern 630 as she rounds a curve. The trip was actually two hours long instead of three, probably because we didn't have to wait in a siding on the single-track mainline for another train to pass.
When we got back to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and got off the train, heading to the second floor of the museum's Grand Junction station, where there were a few model railroads set up, two of the four there were N scale, the other was three-rail O scale (featuring Thomas the Tank Engine), and a multi-scale layout (G scale loop of track surrounding a loop of O gauge track that surrounds a small N scale layout); outside was a small garden railroad, made up of three loops of G scale track, one inside the other. The person who made the paint schemes for Norfolk Southern's heritage units was there, selling copies of the paint schemes he made that the heritage units now wear for $10 each ($20 for one with matting). He was also selling magnets featuring the paint schemes that they now wear (3 for $10). He was also giving away posters, showing all the heritage units, along with signing them (he was signing them as he was giving away the posters, so I know that the signature is real). Norfolk Southern's official photographer was also there selling copies of the picture she took from above the fourth of July event at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, with all the heritage units sitting around the turntable at the roundhouse at Spencer. After doing all of this, my dad and I left and had lunch nearby, while deciding wheather of not to go back and ride the Missionary Ridge Local, which was running push-pull, with a diesel on each end, giving that the train was four cars long, meaning that it was too long to turn around on the wye at Grand Junction. As we were driving back, the rain-that-I-wished-would-never-come came. It rained cats and dogs, which made us decide to head on home, not going back to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum to check out more of the events going on this Railfest, and not stopping off to get doughnuts. By the time we got to the interchange with Tennessee state highway 153 (which the exit that you get off of to go to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is on) and U.S. Interstate 75, it had stopped pouring rain, becoming more of a small shower. By the time we got back to the house, it had stopped raining. So that's how the day went. If only it hadn't rained . . .