JOHNSON CITY (Nov. 13, 2020) – The George L. Carter Railroad Museum on the campus of East Tennessee State University will mark its 13th year of operation on Saturday, Nov. 14.
Dedicated by former ETSU President Dr. Paul E. Stanton Jr. in 2007, the railroad museum has continued to grow in size and popularity for more than a decade. It hosts thousands of visitors annually even though it is only open to the public for five hours each Saturday. It has become a vessel to remind the public of the importance of railroads in regional history.
Johnson City was founded as a railroad town when Henry Johnson constructed a water tank here as a stopping point for the new railroad that was pushing eastward from Knoxville. George L. Carter built the Clinchfield Railroad as a coal-hauling railroad with its headquarters in Johnson City. In 1909, he donated his 120-acre farm and more than $100,000 to establish a state normal school that became the present-day East Tennessee State University.
Ario Pardee originated a narrow-gauge railroad in Johnson City in the 1880s that became the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad, the “Tweetsie.” That railroad served the people of the mountainous Appalachian region for 70 years as it expanded from its original purpose of bringing iron ore from the mines in Cranberry, North Carolina, to Johnson City. Then it was known to the nation as the “little railroad with a heart” carrying both freight and passengers daily.
Dr. Fred Alsop, the director of the Carter Railroad Museum and a biology professor at ETSU, says, “Our small railroad museum has always had a mission of educational and service outreach for the people of our region. We are proud of the response our community, and the people from outside the state, have consistently shown by their visitation and their support.”
The museum has grown from its initial single gallery and workroom encompassing approximately 2,400 square feet to more than 5,300 square feet. It now boasts two large galleries, four operating model railroad layouts in four different scales, two workrooms, a children’s playroom and a library that currently holds more than 1,500 hardbound railroad-themed volumes. Its outreach program includes two to three sponsored rail excursions annually and one of the largest train shows in the southeast, the Annual Big Train Show, in June.
One gallery, the Ken Marsh Gallery, houses the construction of the ET&WNC narrow-gauge operating HOn3 layout that represents this little three-foot gauge railroad and occupies 1,300 square feet of gallery space. The layout follows the original route of the railroad from Johnson City to Cranberry as it existed at its peak in 1925. Still under construction that begin in 2011, the operating layout has not only caught the attention of the people the railroad served, but also national and international attention. This year will mark the seventh consecutive year the museum’s “Tweetsie” layout has been featured in the annual publication of a popular model railroad narrow-gauge magazine, the HOn3 Annual, published by White River Productions, Bucklin, Missouri.
The Carter Railroad Museum is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and includes model railroad layouts, a special child's activity room, and ongoing programs. There is no admission fee, but donations are welcome for its upkeep.
The museum is also seeking artifacts for display, including the newest addition dedicated to the long-defunct but well-remembered “Tweetsie” line, the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad. This room, still under construction, again will be open for guided tours during event days. Information can be found online at www.etsu.edu/railroad/ or stateoffranklin.net/johnsons/glcarter/cartermuseum.htm.
Members of the George L. Carter Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and the Mountain Empire Model Railroaders (MEMRR) club coordinate the exhibits. Visit www.memrr.org to learn more about MEMRR, or visit glcarternrhs.com/ to learn more about the Carter Chapter, which helps demonstrate and maintain the model layouts, museum exhibits and other projects. Membership opportunities are available to adults and include special benefits and model railroading enjoyment.
The Carter Railroad Museum is open to the public and follows COVID-19 health and safety guidelines issued by the CDC and ETSU. Masks and social distancing are required in the museum and temperature checks are conducted at the door.
The museum can be identified by a flashing railroad-crossing signal at the back entrance to the Campus Center Building. Visitors should enter ETSU’s campus from State of Franklin Road onto Jack Vest Drive and continue east toward 176 Ross Drive, adjacent to the flashing RR crossing sign.
For more information, contact Dr. Fred Alsop at 423-439-6838 or alsopf@etsu.edu. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.