Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum: Chickamauga Turn

Ever since writing a post on Chattanooga’s classic attractions, I have wanted to visit the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. Until writing that post, I had never really paid any attention to it, and definitely had never visited! I decided to check it out last Saturday by taking their Chickamauga Turn excursion.

TENNESSEE VALLEY RAILROAD MUSEUM

First of all, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a “moving museum” featuring several historic diesel and steam engines and railcars. The station for all Chattanooga excursions is just off the Jersey Pike exit of Highway 153. You can visit the station anytime for free, but there’s not much of a museum there, just some pictures and a few cases of artifacts.

EXCURSIONS

The real experience is in riding the trains themselves! Choose from any of the below options, available throughout the year. (This is copied from my previous post.)

• The shortest and most frequently-running train is the Missionary Ridge Local. At 55 minutes, the cost is $17 for adults, $11 for kids ages 2-12. Runs multiple times a day most days.
  

  

• The Summerville Steam Special is a 9-hour trip to Summerville, GA, including a 75-minute stop in town. Prices go from $70 for a coach seat with no meals to a “premium observation” seat with both breakfast & dinner for $190. Not all options are available on all dates, so check ahead. Trains depart Chattanooga at 9 am and return at 6 pm. Runs most Saturdays.
• Dinner on the Diner is a 2-hour ride leaving at 7 pm on select Saturdays. Dine at tables for four in the dining cars for $61 each or at plush tables for two in the Pullman section for $76 each. Or for the ultimate experience, reserve a table for eight in the special Eden Isle car with its own dining room, separate lounge area, and a rear observation platform for $800.
  

  

   

• The 8-hour Copperhill Special departs from the Etowah station, about an hour north of Chattanooga. Especially popular during the fall months, this route takes riders along the Hiwassee and Ocoee rivers and includes a spiraling loop at about the midway point. Cost is $65 for adults and $40 per child 2-12 for general admission coach seats. An observation car costs $95 per person and a really beautiful Dome car starts at $115. No meals are served, but snacks are available for purchase. Trains depart at 9:30 am on Fridays and Saturdays.
• Or you can do half of the Copperhill route on the Hiwassee Loop, which takes only 3.5 hours and includes the loop. This train runs at 1:30 pm on Sundays–more often in the fall–and also departs from Etowah. Cost is $42 per adult and $30 for kids 2-12, and also features the observation room for $78 and the dome for $93
  

  

   

• The Chickamauga Turn is a 6.25-hour trip through the Chickamauga Battlefield to the charming small downtown of Chickamauga. The ride includes a 75-minute layover in town and a 30-minutes stop at Wilder Tower in the park. A coach ticket with no meal is $40 for adults and $30 for kids, with a box lunch is $50/$35, with lunch in the dining car is $60/45. A ticket for the observation car is $105 for all ages and the special Eden Isle car for $150 per person. These highest two tiers also include admission to the Gordon Lee Mansion in Chickamauga. Trains leave from Chattanooga at 10 am.
  

  

   

• The Halloween Eerie Express is a short ride to a non-scary funhouse sort of situation, perfect for young kids in costume. Departs 5:30 and 7:30 on most Friday and Saturday nights in October with an afternoon train at 3:35 on Saturdays only. Cost is $23 for ages 2 and over.
• For a more adult experience (21 and over only) try Nightcaps with St. Nick, a 75-minute holiday train experience in the opulent observation car. The $65 ticket gets you two alcoholic drinks, a dessert plate, and a souvenir mug. Runs twice a night from Nov. 30-Dec. 22 on Friday and Saturday nights.
• The most popular train of the season is the North Pole Limited, a 75-minute ride with Santa, leaving twice nightly on Friday and Saturday nights starting Nov. 17. A $35 ticket gets a cookie, a keepsake from Santa, some storytelling, and “occasional” sing-a-long. A $59 ticket gets you into Santa’s Private Car, a mug of hot chocolate with their cookie, a book, a keepsake, the storytelling and singing along, plus extra time with Santa.
  

  

   

• Similar Christmas itineraries leave from Hiwassee and Summerville on Santa’s Hiwassee Holiday Train for $22 each and the Summerville Santa Special for $18.
• Dinner on the Diner takes a special twist for three dates at Christmas and for two excursions on New Year’s Eve for $80 in the dining car or $90 in the Pullman. Special Valentine’s Day trains from Feb. 9-16 offer dinner for two in the dining car for $170 per couple or $180 in the Pullman.
• A Bunny Train hosts special Easter activities in the spring, costing $23 per person.
• A very special Day Out with Thomas also happens in the spring on April 28, 29 and May 5, 6 & 12. Take a 25-minute ride with Thomas the Tank Engine himself pulling the train. Take pictures with the famous engine and enjoy special activities at the depot. Tickets are $21 for ages 2 and over.

PLANNING AND BUYING

To purchase any of your excursions, go to the Tennessee Valley Railroad website, click on “choose your train” and you’ll get a calendar of what trains are running on what day. I had decided on a Chickamauga Turn ticket–it would take a good portion of my day (which was the escape I wanted) and it wasn’t too expensive. Base tickets with no meal are $40 for adults with the price going up for various meal options.

When I bought my ticket, I started looking at the calendar about a week in advance. For the train scheduled for the following Saturday, there weren’t any tickets available at first. But when I checked back later in the week, about 26 more slots showed up in the category I wanted, a coach ticket with no meal included. I’m not sure if they had sold out and added an extra train car, or if tickets didn’t go on sale at all until closer to the time of departure. I feel sure that there would have been tickets available to anyone who walked up as well, considering that it wasn’t jam-packed on the train.

I bought my ticket online the Wednesday before the Saturday I was to ride. Total cost was $42–$40 for the ticket plus a $2 fee. I printed the page with the confirmation number on it, plus they emailed me a confirmation. This is NOT your ticket–you’ll exchange it for the real thing when you get to the station.

ARRIVING AND BOARDING

When you arrive at the 4119 Cromwell Road address, there’s a building near the road, but don’t park there. Follow the signs to a large gravel parking lot behind all the trains. From there, you’ll walk past some historic engines and cool-looking train cars towards the back of the train station.

Inside, you can purchase your ticket, or if you bought ahead of time, go exchange your printed confirmation email for a real ticket and some informational brochures.

THE STATION

Walking into the station is a bit of a time-warp in and of itself. There are lots of old-fashioned benches in the waiting room, just like a train station of decades ago. You can imagine families with their luggage all waiting for their train to pull up.

To the left, in the corner, is the caged ticket booth where you can get your tickets and any information you need. To the right is the gift shop, and down a hallway are restrooms, a snack counter, and a dining room where you can take your counter-service meals. It looked like they had sandwiches, desserts, packs of crackers and bags of chips, etc. It is sort of like a deli counter–there might be some hot items, but only what they can heat up in a microwave.

Exiting out the back of the station, you’ll find your train waiting. There’s a ramp that goes up to the train, so it’s wheelchair accessible at this station.

THE TRAIN

You board the train at the dining car–a concession counter/gift shop offering similar items to what you might find in the station. I definitely saw ice cream, popcorn, chips, sodas, and coffee. There might have been sandwiches too, I know I saw hot dogs at one point. You could probably make a meal here if you wanted to. (I suspect they have you enter at the dining car just to make sure you know where it is.)

From there, you’ll go either forward or back depending on where there are seats available. On the train I was on, there was the diesel engine, a passenger car, the dining car, then two more passenger cars, so it’s not very long at all. And as best I could tell, all the seats on this train were no-meal $40 seats like mine. I didn’t see anyone getting meal service and there certainly wasn’t a proper dining car with tables and chairs or a dome car or any other extras like that.

MUSEUM STATION TO CHICKAMAUGA

After boarding the train a little before 10 am, I made my way all the way to the back, as advised by the conductor who took my ticket. This last car was prettier than the others too, with 60’s era blue-green tweed seats, cream walls, overhead luggage racks, and adjustable footrests. Most seats are in the direction of travel, though some are turned towards each other to make a “quad” so parties of four can face each other. If there’s not a quad available and you want one, feel free to ask. As I learned later, all the seats can turn around, so someone on the train can definitely accommodate that request.

When we first left the station, the conductor came by to give us some introductory information. He told us what the schedule was going to be for the day and a little history on the train engine, the car we were riding in, and the train tracks. Later, another man dressed in a civil war outfit came by to tell us he would be giving a talk as Col. Wilder at the Wilder Tower at the Chickamauga Battlefield. He had even shaved his mustache to look more like the Colonel. (And he did look like him–I found a picture later to prove it.)

Otherwise, since I was traveling alone, I popped in my headphones, listened to podcasts, and watched the world go by. It was pretty awesome! I had a stressful week, and the rocking of the train car, the unhurried pace, and the romance of traveling somewhere new via train was exactly what I needed! It was very relaxing and exciting at the same time.

The trip from the station starts out in some woods, and you soon cross over Chickamauga Creek and after a little while through the Missionary Ridge Tunnel, which is fun. You can turn on your phone’s flashlight and see that the stone walls of the tunnel aren’t that far from the train itself.

After that is a long industrial stretch that runs through some large interchanges, and along Holtzclaw Avenue. After paralleling Rossville Blvd for a while, you enter more woods and then into the Battlefield and on to the town of Chickamauga.

You can walk up and down the train at any point during your journey, and you are welcome to hang out in the “vestibules” between the cars for an open-air look outside. Those of us in the last car got an even better view of from the back platform. I found that the wooded bits at the beginning and end of the trip were the best for pictures since there are more curves where you can get the whole train in the shot. There were also a surprising number of people out waving to the train as we passed, which was fun!

CHICKAMAUGA

We arrived at the small historic train station in the small historic town of Chickamauga, GA at about 10 minutes before noon. It is super cute! There is about a street and a half of quaint downtown shops and storefronts, and a few places to eat within easy walking distance. The station itself has two bathrooms and some historic photographs and displays.

Very close by are four restaurants. Phil’s Primetime Pizza with Droop Scoops ice cream next door, a Los Potros Mexican around the corner, and a Thatcher’s BBQ on the next block. There’s also a Domino’s Pizza and plenty of picnicking areas nearby. I feel sure you could pack your own food if you wanted. I ate at Thatcher’s and was pretty pleased with my brisket sandwich. It’s a small place, so if your train is full, you might want to make sure you get there on the front edge of the crowd so that you get a seat!

GORDON-LEE MANSION

After lunch, I walked over to the Gordon-Lee Mansion, just a couple blocks from the train station. A volunteer organization, the Friends of the Gordon-Lee Mansion, maintain the site and are there to answer questions. The cost to visit is $5 for adults and $1 for ages 12 and under. I found I only had $4 on me, and after some effort, they were able to take my credit card using a square reader and an iPad.

Inside, the rooms are furnished with antiques. You get a brochure when you pay that describes all the rooms, plus there is information outside of each room detailing the antique furnishings in each room. It’s not a huge place, so I recommend taking your time and reading all the material to make it worth your time.

And it’s interesting! There are blood stains in the library (if you can see them, I couldn’t) from its time as a Union hospital. There’s a “funeral couch” in the upstairs sitting room, with high arms on which you can rest your dearly departed during a wake. Also in the parlor are reverse-glass portraits of George & Martha Washington that are pretty cool-looking. There are huge four-poster canopy beds, quilts, wardrobes, and original chandeliers, serving pieces, and more. It’s not worth more than $5, but it’s worth that much unless you just rush through.

WILDER TOWER

While we were off the train for almost two hours, they had moved the engine from one end of the train to the other. Consequently, our train car that had been in the back, was now right behind the engine. This is when we learned that they can turn the seats around so we’d still be facing the direction of travel.

We had a short trip from Chickamauga back to the Chickamauga Battlefield and pulled the train up right behind Wilder Tower. While there were ramps at the museum station and the Chickamauga station, here you had to disembark using the stairs. There were generally a couple of men hanging around to help if you need assistance.

Our Col. Wilder re-enactor gave an energetic talk at the base of the tower concerning his history in the war. Some folks listened while others climbed the tower. It had been many years since I had climbed Wilder Tower, so I took the opportunity to go to the top! The views up there really are very nice. It looks like forest for miles and miles. There are also plenty of other monuments to look at in the vicinity, mostly for cavalry (i.e. horse-mounted) divisions.

BACK TO THE STATION

After about 45 minutes at the Battlefield, we departed again towards home. At this point, there were no more historic talks from the staff, and we had seen this scenery on the way there, so this was the sleepy part of the trip, at least for me. The rocking of the train, the clackity sound of the train on the tracks, and the afternoon hour after eating beef brisket and walking around in the heat made me super sleepy on the way back! It was lovely.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

I *really* enjoyed this trip! It was a relatively inexpensive way to spend the day, and I needed a day out that didn’t involve a lot of expense or a long drive. The train goes a lot slower than I expected, frustratingly slow sometimes. There are a lot of crossings downtown and they have to be super careful of the cars. But you’re not here to make good time anyway. You’re here to relax!

Having done it once, I definitely want to do it again. I plan for the next excursion to be the Copperhill Special from Etowah this fall, running along the Hiwassee and Ocoee rivers.

I highly recommend a train trip like this for families with kids, for adults who want to catch up and talk, and for those interested in history, trains, or sightseeing in general. It’s definitely worth the money!