On Saturday, Dec. 31, East Tennessee State University’s George L. Carter Railroad Museum’s monthly Heritage Day will showcase both Appalachia’s biggest steam engines and most colorful diesels. The exhibit is titled “Precision Transportation: Norfolk & Western and Norfolk Southern Glory.”
In 2012, Norfolk Southern railroad, once the Norfolk and Western, devoted a group of new locomotives to its corporate past. These engines were painted in historically-derived schemes similar to the ones featured on the predecessor lines, like the Interstate, Southern, Wabash and Central of Georgia.
The model trains running at the museum will include steam engines from the past and the Heritage-style modern diesels.
“The museum has honored this company, which still runs trains through downtown Johnson City, since the start of the Heritage Days program,” noted event coordinator Geoff Stunkard. “This was a great way to bring them to the forefront and should be a fun activity as New Year’s Eve entertainment for the family.”
The George L. Carter Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and members of the Mountain Empire Model Railroaders (MEMRR) club are developing the program on the club’s large 24×44 1:87 HO scale layout, one of four model lines that are housed in the museum.
The Carter Railroad Museum is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcomed. The museum can be identified by a flashing railroad crossing signal at the back entrance to the Campus Center Building. Visitors should enter ETSU’s campus from State of Franklin Road onto Jack Vest Drive and continue east to 176 Ross Drive, adjacent to the flashing RR crossing sign.
To learn more about the museum, visit http://johnsonsdepot.com/glcarter/cartermuseum. Visit www.memrr.org to learn more about MEMRR, which helps demonstrate and maintain the model layouts, museum exhibits and other projects.
For more information about Heritage Day, contact Dr. Fred Alsop, museum director, at 423-439-6838 or alsopf@etsu.edu. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.
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