Don't
miss Saturday's fall excursion at Doe River Gorge
By Kathy Helms-Hughes
STAR STAFF
Forget your worries, kick back this Saturday and enjoy the
peak colors of autumn in a manner your father or grandfather might have
done -- on a steam engine ride through Doe River Gorge.
The Christian children's camp will open its gates to the
public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the train leaving approximately every
30 minutes. A nominal fee will be charged to cover operation costs.
During an Open House last October marking the 50th anniversary
of East Tennessee & Western North Carolina railway, 600 people sat
on bales of hay situated on motor car trailers, as "Rachel," a retired
steam engine from Opryland, chugged along the narrow gauge railroad.
This year, Rachel will be pulling passenger cars donated
to the Christian children's camp by Six Flags Over Georgia. Approximately
100 passengers can be hauled at once, and train expert Ken Riddle, who
was instrumental in finding Rachel and having her donated to the camp,
said, "It's first come, first served."
According to Riddle, the narrow gauge railroad originally
was built in 1880 to bring iron ore from Cranberry, N.C., back to Johnson
City where it could be sent out to the rest of the world on the standard
gauge railroad.
"The narrow gauge railroad is only 3 feet wide. Most of the
railroads are 56-1/2 inches wide," Riddle said during a recent media day
at the gorge.
The railway originally extended from Johnson City to Cranberry,
N.C. By 1919, the train carried passengers all the way to Boone, N.C.,
however, in later years, the flood of 1940 washed the east end of the
railway away.
"They went back to Cranberry and continued on till 1950,"
Riddle said, before the railway was abandoned in October 1950.
The track was put back in service last year for the children
who visit the summer camp.
The gorge portion of the old railway includes two tunnels
chiseled from solid rock by men using black powder and mules, according
to Riddle.
"The way they dug it was they started a crew on both sides
of the tunnel and they worked toward the middle. ... The second tunnel,
the far side was so steep that they had to lower their mules with a block
and tackle off the side of the mountain to dig that tunnel. My great-grandfather
made his first day's pay off the farm digging the first tunnel," Riddle
said.
The train travels through the gorge to Pardee Point, a 1,200-foot-high
rock cliff, and then backs its way out of the gorge.
"There's no way to turn around" on the narrow gauge, Riddle
said. "You had to go all the way to Cranberry to turn around."
Riddle encouraged the public to come out and ride along.
"Doe River Gorge in the fall of the year when the leaves
are turning is the prettiest place I know of," he said.
