The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum dates back to 1959 when it was organized by local Chattanooga folks with an interest in steam locomotives and passenger trains who wanted to somehow preserve both for future generations. Two years after its creation the TVRM became an official non-profit, educational organization.

For the rest of the 1960s the group worked to secure a permanent home for their museum while collecting historical rolling stock and locomotives when possible. Finally, in 1969 the museum had a permanent home when the Southern Railway donated a 4-acre plot, near the railroad's mainline, to the group in East Chattanooga.

The Southern Railway, forever remembered by its famous slogan, “The Southern Serves the South – Look Ahead, Look South” (it was also known for the slogan "The Southern Gives a Green Light To Innovation"), was created from a number of smaller railroads, which merged over the years to form the Southern Railway. Perhaps the railroad’s famous green paint scheme was fitting for the railroad as it became the most respected and arguably the best managed railroad of its day before it disappeared into a merger with the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W) in 1982 to form today’s Norfolk Southern Railway (NS).

The museum's plan was to rebuild this former section of rail line, which was the original alignment of the Southern's main line in the area until the building of the Citico Yard in 1954 allowed for a new, easier alignment. Soon after acquiring the property the museum set to rebuilding the line to serve as a tourist line to go along with the collection it already possessed. The main feature of the short segment of line was a 979-foot tunnel which was built in the mid-19th century.

After nearly 20 years of work and a new bridge the line opened for business in the late 1980s giving visitors the opportunity to not only ride through a nearly 1,000-foot tunnel but also enjoy a six-mile trip through the Tennessee countryside. Also during the 1980s the museum was able to upgrade its facilities by installing a new turntable and maintenance shop complex at its headquarters in East Chattanooga.

Of note about the museum; the former Southern 2-8-2 steam locomotive owned by TVRM made a cameo in the 1999 film October Sky disguised as Norfolk & Western 4501 with none other than famed photographer O. Winston Link at the throttle!

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