The Great Smoky Mountains Railway is one of my favorite railways of the United States, especially during its early years in the 1980s and 1990s (which I refer to as the "Vintage" or "Golden" days). As most of you have probably guessed, it serves as the main influence of the Indian Valley Railway in The Magic Railroad Adventures Series. However, unlike other railways like the Grand Canyon Railway and the Durango and Silverton, a detailed coverage of the Great Smoky Mountains Railway's early days, locomotives, rolling stock and other stats is very hard to come by and because of that, many people are not aware of it as they ought to be. This is a shame because there are so many facts that may interest railroad buffs and GSMR fans. So I'd like to share some of those facts with everyone. In this essay, I will talk about the coaches.
The Very First Coaches
Now when it comes to starting a tourist operation on a railway, you have to make sure that you have all the necessary equipment and a definitive date to start the passenger season. Great Smoky Mountains Railway did plan to start tourism in spring of 1989 but popular interest took the date back by a few months into October of 1988. (Note: in those days the Great Smoky Mountains Railway was known as the Great Smoky Mountains Railway Inc. and was made up of a group of investors led by Malcolm MacNeil and his former son-in-law, Doug Ellis.
They didn't even own the track; the State of North Carolina owned it until 1996 when they sold the line between Dillsboro and Andrews to the company.)
Anyway the railway, by that time, already had two diesels (more on the engines another time) to manage the freight deliveries but they didn't have any passenger stock whatsoever. So what to do? They went to a railway practically next door to the Murphy Branch: the Bear Creek Junction Railroad. Now the Bear Creek Junction was a tourist line that ran on the right-of-way of the old Graham County Logging Railroad from Topton to Robbinsville. (Side-note: The Bear Creek Junction Railroad is the main reason why Shay No. 1225 survives to this day).
The tourist line operated from 1966 to 1987 and was subsequently torn up, but two of their open air cars, built from 40 ft. mill flats, were saved and purchased by the Great Smoky Mountains Railway.
It's not known if these two cars (also known as Kodak Cars because of obvious reasons; I also call them "River" coaches because they were named after rivers) carried names and numbers on the GSMR and if so, what they were. What is known is that these two cars became the pattern for GSMR to build Kodak cars for themselves, these ones out of ex-N&W 60 ft. flat cars. These longer cars, perfect for GSMR's operations, are known as No. 513 Oconaluftee, and No. 556 Tuckasegee.
All four cars were used during the months of October and November, starting on the 17 on a trip from Murphy to Andrews (the Valley River Excursion). I'm unsure what happened to the 40 ft. Kodaks so I assume they were either dismantled or sold to another railway. No. 513 Oconaluftee, and No. 556 Tuckasegee stood on the sidings at Dillsboro for several years and have now been dismantled.
The "Town" Cars
For winter of 1988, the Great Smoky Mountains Railway used the money they earned from their fall tourist trips to purchase passenger cars to use all-year round. These I call the "Town" Coaches because they were named after towns. Each coach has a history of its own that's similar to the rest of them.
Built in 1921, Sylva is a heavyweight coach with three axle trucks. It
started service on the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis as No. 1100. It
was later used by the Louisville and Nashville as No. 2589 and then further
used on the Clinchfield Steam Specials as No. 102 and the Chessie Safety Express as No. 6. It was then used on the Seaboard
System Railroad as No. 320.
This was the original Dillsboro coach. It is a heavyweight coach with three axle wheels. Unlike the other “town” coaches, Dillsboro is a clerestory coach that originally started service as Louisville & Nashville 2576. It was later used on the Clinchfield Steam Specials as No. 110, the Chessie Safety Express as No. 5 and then on the Seaboard System Railroad as No. 321. Great Smoky Mountains Railway sold No. 321 in (I'm assuming) 1993. I have no idea where it is now, but I'm interested in knowing its whereabouts so if anyone knows, feel free to share.
Built in 1921, Bryson City is another heavyweight coach with three axle trucks. It started service on the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis as No. 742. It was later used by the Louisville and Nashville as No. 2587 and then further used on the Clinchfield Steam Specials as No. 111 and the Chessie Safety Express as No. 8. It was then used on the Seaboard System Railroad as No. 322.
This next coach wasn't purchased with the four aforementioned coaches (it was purchased much later in the mid-1990s) but it's on this list because it's still named after a town.
This coach was built for the Chicago and Northwestern in 1952 and was numbered 553. It was later acquired by the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad and renumbered 6514. It was acquired by the Great Smoky Mountains Railway with another coach that was never restored. No. 6514 takes the name of coach No. 321 after its sale. Interestingly when painted in the GSMR's standard livery of the 1980s-1990s they never painted the number on this coach; the number was painted on after 2000. Perhaps they were considering taking the number off of the No. 321 as well?
More "River" Coaches
Believe it or not, there were eight Kodak cars in total on the GSMR. Apart from the 40 ft. Kodaks and the Oconaluftee and Tuckasegee, there were three more Kodaks built in 1989 (again out of 60 ft. N&W flatbeds) and a fourth in 1990 (this time out of a 50 ft. SOU box car). 1989 was the year when Great Smoky Mountains Railway really got into the business; purchasing and building more rolling stock, touching up and building their stations, and establishing itself as an actual railway company.
Two of these Kodaks were known as No. 538 Valley River and No. 595 Nantahala. The third one was named Hiwassee but the number remains unknown. There are no photos on the Internet of these three Kodaks and what video screen-shots I have of the Hiwassee are useless in providing its number. Sadly these three Kodaks were dismantled in the late 1990s after more robust open air cars were provided.
The box car Kodak was known as No. 697 Alarka Creek and was originally built in 1971. Great Smoky Mountains Railway converted it by cutting it in half, filling in the space were the sliding doors once were, and installing roof beams and stairs. It was a more comfortable Kodak than the other ones as it featured cushioned benches and (would you believe it) a can-crusher! GSMR sold the Alarka Creek to the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad in 1998 where it received many modifications to increase accessibility for the passengers. It left that roster in 2009 and it is unknown where that coach currently is.
The "County" Coaches
For a long time I always believed these coaches to have been Canadian National coaches purchased from the Blue Mountain and Reading Railroad from the start but recently I discovered that the CN coaches are only the second generation of the "County" coaches. The first generation were actually ex-Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Coaches which makes more sense due to their appearances (Blue Mountain and Reading also used quite a number of these coaches). Now, originally when the first generation coaches arrived, they were numbered as Nos. 321, 322, 323, and 324, but since the "Town" coaches were already using three of those same numbers GSMR simply replaced the first digit, 3, to 5, making the coaches Nos. 521, 522, 523, and 524. I wish I could tell you the name of No. 521 but again, no photographic evidence of this coach exists on the Internet and what video screen-shots I have are practically useless to me.
The other three are much easier to tell: No. 522 Jackson County, No. 523 Cherokee County, and No. 524 Haywood County.
So with facts made clear about the first and second generations of the "County" coaches the question must be asked: what's with all the changes? To explain I went to the GSMR in the Summer of this year (2016). Having a nice chat with the crew of No. 1702 about their rolling stock of the past (given that I asked about the 1990s and this is now 2016 it was hard for them to recall but I gave them a break) I actually learned that Malcolm MacNeil disliked the clerestory coaches because of their higher center of gravity. This explains why No. 321 Dillsboro was sold, why only two clerestory coaches now remain on the GSMR and possibly why the switches were made. I assume that Malcolm initially disliked the ex-DL&W coaches and thought that if he could get other clerestory coaches that were of different build that would solve his problem. So in 1992-1993 he replaced the DL&W coaches with ex-CN coaches which I think (and I have no confirmation on this yet) were purchased from the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad. I give this theory because GSMR leased many coaches from the Potomac Eagle at the time, Pere Marquette's Eagle Canon and Atlantic Coast Line No. 257 for examples.
Nos. 522 and 523 retained their original names but Nos. 521 and 524 seems to have their names changed. No. 524 became Swain County. No. 521's original name is still unknown but having done a bit of research, I've learned that the second No. 521 was named after the Wildwater Ltd., which hosts rafting trips along the Nantahala River. The screen-shot below of this Youtube video is unfortunately in poor quality, but you can barely make out the "Wildwater Ltd." name, however the subtitle below it is still unknown:
Of course Malcolm's plan backfired and he sold both Nos. 521 and 524 by the end of the 1990s. Their whereabouts, as well as those of the original DL&W coaches, are unknown. Coaches Nos. 522 and 523 still remain on the GSMR today but their names have been shortened to Jackson and Cherokee.
Open Air Cars
In 1993 the Great Smoky Mountains Railway purchased a great number of baggage cars and coaches and converted them into open air cars. Being longer and more structurally robust these coaches became more used than the 60 ft. wooden Kodaks and the Alarka Creek and put them all out of service. The majority of these coaches use names taken from town landmarks but a small number were named after people, lakes and rivers.
These cars were built in 1959 as 70 ft. baggage cars for Kansas City Southern. They were converted by Great Smoky Mountains Railway in 1993. One of these was named after GSMR road foreman John Norcross but has since been renamed.
I honestly don't know the origin of these two Open Air cars. Some say they're also 70 ft. baggage cars but I highly doubt that since these cars look (to me) slightly longer than the previous five Open Air cars. Something of note is that their designs differ from the previous five open air cars. The links will show you what I mean.
This car was originally a coach built for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western as No. 311. It was later used on the Erie Lackawanna as No. 1311, Penn Central as No. 2182, Long Island as No. 2182, and Maryland Midland as No. 83. It takes the name from Kodak Car No. 595 when the latter was dismantled.
"Historic Train" coaches
Now these coaches were all named after famous trains that they once ran on during the Golden Age of Railroading. Many of them were kept in their original colors and not repainted to any GSMR liveries when they first arrived. That changed in 2000 when they adapted the new livery.
These coaches are heavyweight coaches built for the Southern Railway as Nos. 1042 and 1043 respectively. They were later used on Conrail as office cars Nos. 25 and 26 before arriving at the Great Smoky Mountains Railway in 1990. No. 25's name has been shortened to Piedmont.
Note: Sometime in the early 1990s (approx 1992-1993) the Great Smoky Mountains Railway decided to experiment with an alternative livery and painted three coaches and a caboose blue and silver with a black stripe. Coaches No. 25 Piedmont Limited, No. 26 Southland, and No. 4102 Panama Limited were the selected coaches to wear this livery.
This club car was built in the 1940s and was actually used first on the Norfolk and Western’s Pocahontas express train. It was then latter used on the Powhattan Arrow and then on Norfolk Southern’s Steam Excursion Program. It was purchased by the Great Smoky Mountains Railway at an auction in 1995 and has been renamed The MacNeil Club Car, later shortened to MacNeil.
This coach was built for Southern Railway and was later used on the Norfolk Southern after merging with the Norfolk and Western. It was acquired by the Great Smoky Mountains Railway and received recognition for being used in “My Fellow Americans”.
This coach was built for the Texas and Pacific Railroad as No. 1143. It was then used on the Northwestern Oklahoma as No. 9 and then the NGA as No. 1103. It arrived on the Great Smoky Mountains Railway and was numbered 6110 but was later renumbered back to 1103 as the railway already owns a caboose No. 6110 (Generator Car No.2). The Crescent Limited has received recognition for being used in “My Fellow Americans”.
This club car was built in 1940 for the Atlantic Coast Line as No. 252. It is distinctive by its squared-off observation end. It was later purchased by the Seaboard Coast Line and was used as No. 5831 on the Silver Meteor train. Amtrak acquired it and renumbered it to its current number. It then used on the American Zephyr excursion until purchased by the Great Smoky Mountains Railway in 1994. In recent years it has been renamed the Carolina Shine and is now exclusive for moonshine parties.
This was a diner/kitchen car originally used on the Illinois Central on their Panama Limited train. It was then used on the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad before seeing service on the Great Smoky Mountains Railway. It was repainted in the railway’s alternate livery of Blue and Silver with a black stripe. Panama Limited has left the roster, its whereabouts unknown.
This diner was built in 1940 for the Seaboard Airline and was numbered 6110. It was later used on the Seaboard Coast Line after merger with the Atlantic Coast Line and ran on the Silver Meteor train as No. 5915. It was then acquired by Amtrak and registered as its current number. It ran on the American Zephyr before being purchased by the Great Smoky Mountains Railway in 1994.
This diner was built as a bar lounge in 1949 for the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was originally numbered 4622. It was later used on the Penn Central after the Pennsy merged with the New York Central Railroad. In 1976 the coach was sold to Amtrak where it was renumbered to 8806. Great Smoky Mountains Railway acquired the coach in 1994. In 2010 it was renamed to Harper in honor of the current owners of the railway and chairpersons of American Heritage Railways, Allen and Carol Harper.
Though it does not have the name of a famous train, this coach is still on the list because it shares its heritage with No. 8806. No. 8807 is believed to have run on the Atlantic Coast Line, but this kitchen/dormitory car actually ran on the Pennsylvania Railroad as number 4623. It was built in 1949. The coach was later used by the Penn Central and then on Amtrak where it was registered as No. 8807. Great Smoky Mountains Railway acquired the coach in 1997 and converted it into a Café/Gift Shop car.
To sum up then here is the complete list of coaches used on the GSMR:
Kodak Car Variant 1:
- ex-N&W Kodak: No. 513 Oconaluftee (Out of service)
- ex-N&W Kodak: No. 556 Tuckasegee (Out of service)
"Town" Coaches:
- ex-NC&St.L Coach: No. 320 Sylva
- ex-L&N Coach: No. 321 Dillsboro (Sold)
- ex-NC&St.L Coach: No. 322 Bryson City
- ex-NC&St.L Coach: No. 324 Murphy (now Pee-Wee)
- ex-C&NW Coach: No. 6514 Dillsboro
Kodak Car Variant 2:
- ex-N&W Kodak: No. 538 Valley River (Dismantled)
- ex-N&W Kodak: No. 595 Nantahala (Dismantled)
"County" Coaches Generation 1:
- ex-DL&W Coach: No. 522 Jackson County (Sold)
- ex-DL&W Coach: No. 523 Cherokee County (Sold)
- ex-DL&W Coach: No. 524 Haywood County (Sold)
Kodak Car Variant 4:
- ex-SOU Kodak: No. 697 Alarka Creek (Sold)
"County" Coaches Generation 2:
- ex-CN Coach: No. 521 Wildwater Ltd. (Sold)
- ex-CN Coach: No. 522 Jackson County
- ex-CN Coach: No. 523 Cherokee County
- ex-CN Coach: No. 524 Swain County (Sold)
- ex-KCS Open Air: No. 30 Whittier
- ex-KCS Open Air: No. 31 Almond
- ex-KCS Open Air: No. 32 James ‘Sarge’ Revis
- ex-KCS Open Air: No. 33 Topton
- ex-KCS Open Air: No. 34 Olivine Shop
Open Air Cars Variant 2:
- Open Air: No. 35 Fontana
- Open Air: No. 36 Wildwater
- ex-DL&W Open Air: No. 37 Nantahala
"Historic Train" coaches
- ex-SOU Coach: No. 25 Piedmont Ltd.
- ex-SOU Coach: No. 26 Southland
- ex-N&W Coach: No. 536 Powhattan Arrow (now MacNeil)
- ex-SOU Coach: No. 841 Royal Palm
- ex-T&P Coach: No. 1103 (ex-No. 6118) Crescent Ltd
- ex-ACL Coach: No. 3331 Champion (now Carolina Shine)
- ex-IC Coach: No. 4102 Panama Ltd.
- ex-SAL Coach: No. 8015 Silver Meteor
- ex-PRR Coach: No. 8806 Dixie Flyer (now Harper)
- ex-PRR Coach: No. 8807 Conductor’s Café
Unidentified coaches:
- ex-GCRR Kodak: No. ? ? (Sold or dismantled)
- ex-GCRR Kodak: No. ? ? (Sold or dismantled)
- ex-N&W Kodak: No. ? Hiwassee (Dismantled)
- ex-DL&W Coach: No. 521 ? (Sold)
I tell you it wasn't easy doing all of this extensive research and as you can tell I'm still not done with it, but still it's all rather fun to do. Much of this information wouldn't have been possible without references and here are the ones that I used:
Publications:
- Wrinn, Jim, "Revival for the Murphy Branch: How Great Smoky Mountains Railway became a big-volume tourist-hauler," Trains, February 1993, P. 44-47
- George, Michael, Southern Railway's Murphy Branch, Collegedale, TN, The College Press, 1996
- George, Michael and Frank Strack, Passage Through Time: The Official Guidebook, Collegedale, TN, The College Press, 2000
- Smith, Larry E., "The Great Smoky Mountains Railway Part III: Modeling the Railroad," Model Railroading, May 1996, P. 28-29
Video Footage:
- Great Smoky Mountains Railway Souvenir Video. Directed by David Womick, Smoky Mountains Productions, 1992.
- Great Smoky Mountains Railway. Directed by Don L. Swaim, Gleeful Productions, 1992.
- Great Scenic Railway Journeys: The Great Smoky Mountains Railway. Directed by Robert C. Van Camp, RVC Video Productions, 1994.
- 1702 on the Great Smoky Mountains Railway. Directed by Ron Loving and Mike Noonkester, Main Line Motion Pictures, 1997.
- RFW819 "Great Smoky Mountains Railway # 1702 on June 19,1996," YouTube, Apr 6, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYgfTeQcosk
Special thanks goes to the employees of the Great Smoky Mountains Railway for their information.
If anyone has any information they'd like to contribute, such as information on the unidentified coaches or the whereabouts of the coaches sold off, feel free to share. That's all for now, maybe I'll share some more info on the GSMR in another blog post. Cheerio!
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