IF YOU GOWhat: Hiwassee River Rail Adventures.When: Hiwassee to Copperhill, 9:15 a.m. Saturday; Hiwassee Loop, 1:30 p.m. Sunday (and other dates through Nov. 26).Where: Shuttle boarding at 727 Tennessee Ave., Etowah, Tenn.Admission: Hiwassee Loop, $33 adults, $23 children ages 3-12; Copperhill route, $56 adults, $39 children; all rides free for children under 3 not occupying a seat.Phone: 894-8028.Website: www.tvrail.com.What: Chickamauga Turn train rides.When: 10 a.m. Saturday (and other Saturdays through Oct. 1).Where: Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Grand Junction Station, 4119 Cromwell Road.Admission: $33 adults, $25 children 3-12.
Trains on Hiwassee River Rail Adventures traverse a configuration of tracks found in only a couple of other places in the country, according to Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Steve Freer.
The 50-mile round-trip – beginning in Etowah, Tenn. – travels up the lower Hiwassee River Gorge to the top of the Hiwassee Loop, where the tracks cross over themselves as they corkscrew up the mountain to Farner, Tenn.
TVRM will begin its Hiwassee River Rails season this weekend, opening with the longer excursion to Ducktown and Copperhill on Saturday and following with the Hiwassee Loop trip on Sunday. Excursions continue weekends through November (including Fridays in July).
“It’s a beautiful line, very historic,” said Freer, TVRM’s membership and marketing coordinator. “There are four or five loops in the country but only a couple you can ride over. It’s unique to have a railroad line that crosses over itself.”