CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.—One of the senior organizations in American railway preservation, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, is celebrating its 60th anniversary the weekends of Oct. 16-17 and Oct. 23-24. Plans include rides featuring the museum’s two operational steam engines, as well as steam- and diesel-themed night photo sessions, as the non-profit looks ahead with monthly special events through September 2022.
The organization began with two friends in Chattanooga. Paul Merriman and Robert Soule spent their free time in the early 1960s chasing after the last of steam short lines of the south. They acquired locomotives and shared their plans with like-minded friends, leading formation of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in 1961. The museum gained a solid foothold a few years later when Southern 2-8-2 No. 4501 headed mainline excursions on SR, and has grown to become one of the finest operating museums in the country. No. 4501 and Southern Railway 2-8-0 No. 630 steam on a 3-mile ride over former Southern Railway trackage.
The gala celebration Oct. 16-17 and 23-24 will feature both those locomotives under steam, along with special displays and the night photo sessions. On Friday, Oct. 15, steam takes center stage under the night lights with the 4501, 630, and non-operational ex-U.S. Army 2-8-0 No. 610. The following week, on Friday, Oct. 22, five diesel locomotives take center stage.
In conjunction with those events, Tennessee Valley is debuting its new exhibit building near the Grand Junction depot with a history of the museum. This building, along with the train displays at Grand Junction, will keep the museum open for visitors even on days when the trains are not running.
Museum President Tim Andrews say the events “are the start of 12 months of celebrations at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, with special events each month until a grand culmination in September 2022.” Future plans include getting much of the collection under roofs, he said. “We can’t wait to see what the next 60 years bring!”
For additional information and schedules, visit the anniversary page at the museum website.
Happy Anniversary to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum! The early years of TVRM was at the time when railway equipment preservation was primarily focused on preserving steam locomotives. Such myopic dedication allowed Southern Railway’s six Alco PA-2’s (aka “PA-3’s”) and the last PA’s built to slip through the fingers of the Greatest Generation who founded and ran TVRM and other railway museums when retired after a short service life for locomotives. Despite being the newest Alco PA’s, they were ironically the first to be scrapped.
No railway museums (TVRM is no exception) with ex-Southern Railway EMD E8’s have made any effort to restore their factory appearance with full skirting and front coupler covering, oscillating nose headlights and front hatch headlamp. Instead, they were only restored to their 1970s appearance during the ‘Southern Crescent’ era when American passenger trains were in the last leg of decline and the E8-A’s in mechanical deterioration, shorned of their glamorous exterior.