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‘Choo Choo’ City: A gallery celebrating the Chattanooga area’s railroad heritage

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 12/28/16. The Chattanooga Choo Choo marquee in downtown Chattanooga on December, 28, 2016. Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 12/28/16. The Chattanooga Choo Choo marquee in downtown Chattanooga on December, 28, 2016.

By Times Free Press staff December 12, 2019 1 min read

Photo Gallery

Choo Choo City

Staff Photo by Robin Rudd/ A passenger films the trip with her phone from one of the car's vestibules. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's

Staff photo by Doug Strickland /
Operations Supervisor Zach Gilmore walks past a steam engine operated by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Staff photo by Tim Barber/ Inside the engine of Southern Railway 630, student fireman Rikki Burchett, of Decatur, Ga., stokes the fire with coal Sunday before the 12:05 departs the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum terminal with passengers. Saturday, the TVRM celebrated their 58th anniversary called Founders Day 2019, on September 7, 2019.

Staff photo by Tim Barber /
Colored leaves contrast with the moving Incline just beyond the halfway point on the journey to the top of Lookout Mountain.

Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / A model train makes its way around the Chattanooga Modular Modeler Train exhibit
during the 3rd Annual Trains & Tracks Expo at the Historic Summerville Depot Sunday, November 10, 2019 in Summerville, Georgia. The Chattanooga Modular Modelers is a non-profit Tennessee corporation that uses the hobby of model railroading to educate the public about the role the railroads have played in our nationÕs history.

Staff Photo by John Rawlston /
Elves wave to passengers on the North Pole Limited at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Staff Photo by Dan Henry - 4/24/13. Engineer Josh Taylor, right, exits an engine waiting to be built at CSX Transportation's Wauhatchie Yard in Lookout Valley early Wednesday morning.

Staff photo by Erin O. Smith /
Adrian Labudovic, 3, checks out several replica train cars during Railfest Sunday, September 9, 2018 at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This was the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's eighth year holding the event.

Staff photo by Erin O. Smith /
Duncan Kroulek, 5, asks Jessi Krebs about his replica 4501 train during Railfest Sunday, September 9, 2018 at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The train is a replica of the larger train sitting in the background.

Staff photo by Doug Strickland /
Bill Roby, center, helps Jacqueline Vas, right, and Dean Vas move a hand cart at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's annual Railfest event on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The event continues Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Staff Photo by Robin Rudd /
The setting sun glistens upon the rails as a Norfolk Southern train crew switches out covered hoppers behind the Pilgrims Pride plant near the Choo-Choo on April 27, 2017. Know as East End, numerous trains a day traverse the area as the mainlines of both the Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads are just yards east of these yard tracks.

Staff Photo by Dan Henry - 3/18/13. Shane Meador, 35, project manager for TVRM, works on the 1911 Southern Railway 4501 / 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotive while at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum repair facility in East Chattanooga on Monday. Meador and his staff have been working on the large train for nearly two years and hope to have the project complete by late 2013 / early 2014.

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter /
Eighteen-month-old Kofi Williams looks down at his ticket after having it torn before boarding the train to ride with Thomas the Tank Engine during Day Out With Thomas at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum on Sunday, May 12, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn. The event continues this weekend, May 18th and 19th, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at the Tennessee Valley Railroad's website or over the phone at 866-468-7630.

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter /
Thomas the Tank Engine nears the end of his ride during Day Out With Thomas at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum on Sunday, May 12, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn. The event continues this weekend, May 18th and 19th, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at the Tennessee Valley Railroad's website or over the phone at 866-468-7630.

Staff Photo by Robin Rudd /
The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's Summerville Steam Special makes it's way up Missionary Ridge as it prepares to duck under the Highway 2 bridge on the southbound journey. The Special was a doubleheader lead by Engines 630 and 4501 on track formely owned by Central of Georgia Railroad and are now used by the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway on June 3, 2017.

Chattanooga is the “Choo Choo” city.

Long before Glen Miller penned the famous song, Chattanooga was an important rail center.

Armies fought for control of the vital junction during the Civil War. Railroads are loved in our area, from our work-a-day railroads, railroad museum and the tiniest of trains, railroading is in the region’s blood.

Enjoy a gallery of our staff’s homages to the rails.