The scenery will be new, but the train may look familiar. Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is selling tickets for out-of-state train rides pulled by a century-old steam locomotive that was restored on-site.
A number of excursions are being offered this month in North Carolina and Virginia behind Southern Railway steam locomotive No. 630 as part of the 21st Century Steam program. The program is a partnership between Norfolk Southern and the TVRM to operate steam-powered excursions throughout the territory Norfolk Southern serves.
No. 630 is a Consolidation-type locomotive built in 1904 at the Richmond, Va., works of the American Locomotive Co. No. 630 pulled freight trains during the first half of the last century, mostly in North Carolina, and in the 1970s and ’80s traveled extensively in excursion service throughout the Southeast.
Small of size but big in character, the locomotive underwent an exhaustive 10-year rehabilitation at TVRM’s Soule Shops complex in East Chattanooga before returning to service in 2011.
Tickets are available through the TVRM website, www.tvrail.com.