GSMR's No. 321: Confirmed information.

In one of my earlier posts I spoke about my interest in the Great Smoky Mountains Railway's coach No. 321 (the original Dillsboro before it was replaced by coach No. 6514) and the current whereabouts of it.

Photo: David Stewart

From RRPicturesarchives.net

Also in my last post I had brought up an assumption that the coach was currently located at the North Alabama Railroad Museum. I have since then dug up information that proves this assumption incorrect.

Within the past few months I went onto newspapers.com, an archive site for newspaper publishings to see what I could learn about the Great Smoky Mountains Railway. An interesting article I found was published in The Park Record for November 19, 1992. It describes a sale the Great Smoky Mountains Railway made to the Heber Valley Railroad, a sale which involved two 50 ton passenger cars and an 85 ton passenger car. It was no surprise to me that the 50 ton passenger cars were two of the ex-Delaware, Lackawanna & Western commuter coaches that once ran as the County coaches on the GSMR but the 85 ton car sparked an interest in me. Could it be No. 321? I went on the web to see if I could find out more about this car. Sure enough it was the original Dillsboro coach. 

Photo: Richard Goddard

From RRPicturesarchives.net

Now the coach was renumbered to No. 248 once it arrived at the Heber Valley Railroad but it's still the same coach. I am not able to determine the identities of the County Cars that were sold to the Heber Valley Railroad and neither did I find any leads as to where the rest might have gone (I'd originally stated that there were four of them but recently I've received information that a fifth one was actually part of the fleet, but it's unknown if it's numbered 520 or 525.)

I've also learned that the Heber Valley Railroad has since retired their coach No. 248 so it raises the question: what has happened to it? Did the railroad sell it off? Does it still stand disused in their yard? Has it been (heaven forbid) scrapped? Information would be very much appreciated.

I've often imagined the possibilities of this coach one day return to the Great Smoky Mountains and rejoin its fellow ex-Clinchfield companion coaches. Don't know if it'll ever happen but one can dream, can't they?