Home USA South

Visiting the Chattanooga Choo Choo and TN Railroad Museum
Rate it! Votes (7) | Comments (0) By Cheri Sicard Photos: Cheri Sicard Posted August 6th, 2007 FabulousFoods.com Recommends: Chattanooga (Then & Now: Tennessee), by , (2006, Rob Clifton)	Chattanooga (Then & Now: Tennessee)

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, USA -- "Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?"

The lyrics to the popular Glenn Miller song (which, by the way, was awarded the record industry's first ever Gold Record) are familiar to most Americans, but did you know there really was an actual Chattanooga Choo Choo? The real Choo Choo never left Pennsylvania Station, as the song's lyrics claim, but it did run from Cincinnati to Chattanooga beginning in 1909.

At the height of the golden age of railroads, as many as 68 trains arrived and departed from Chattanooga's 14 tracks daily. As time marched on, however, airplanes largely replaced train travel and in 1970 the last train left Chattanooga and the famous depot (including Track 29) was boarded up. But not for long.

In 1971 a group of investors decided to renovate the depot and turn it into a historic hotel. Today the hotel is a Holiday Inn -- the train depot serves as the lobby, and surrounding buildings house restaurants and shops. Outside the lobby's back door is a yard filled with train cars, including the actual Chattanooga Choo Choo. One of the other cars is home to the hotel's most elegant fine dining establishment "Dinner in the Diner." Others have been renovated and serve as guest rooms. Be sure to specially request one of these rooms if you want to stay in a train car, as the hotel has also built some modern additions which house additional guest rooms.

This mixture of old and new gives the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn unparalleled ambiance with every modern amenity guests could hope for, including lushly manicured gardens, tennis courts, meeting facilities and indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

Railroad buffs will also want to schedule a visit to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum where visitors have the opportunity to ride in vintage train coaches pulled by authentic steam and diesel locomotives. The museum was built by and is maintained solely through the loving efforts of its train enthusiast members.

One of their most popular trips is the 50 minute round-trip Missionary Ridge Local, which travels through one of the oldest railroad tunnels in Tennessee. Highlights of the trip include a visit to the museum's vast repair shop where countless trains are in the process of being lovingly restored to their former glory, and the East Chattanooga turntable where visitors can watch the engine detach from the train and pivot around on a massive rotating platform for the return trip (see photo at left). Dates and times of the trips vary so be sure to check in advance.

The Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn is located at 1400 Market St., for more information or reservations call 423-266-5000 or visit www.ChooChoo.com. The Tennessee Valley Railroad is located at 4119 Cromwell Rd. in Chattanooga. Call 423-894-8028 or visit www.tvrail.com.

For additional information about visiting Chattanooga contact the Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-322-3344 or 423-756-8687 or visit www.ChattanoogaFun.com .

There are no comments for this item

Be the first to leave a comment

You must be a registered member to leave a comment. So why not sign up now?