Great Smoky Mountains Railroad

The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is a heritage and freight railroad based in Bryson City, North Carolina, United States. Originally formed in 1988, it is currently owned and operated by American Heritage Railways since late 1999. The GSMR operates excursion trains on the former Southern Railway's Murphy Branch between Dillsboro and Nantahala, North Carolina. The GSMR is one of the most popular tourist railroads in the United States, carrying 200,000 passengers each year.

Background
The Great Smoky Mountains Railway (GSMR) owns 53 mi of the Murphy Branch, a former branch line of the Southern Railway between Dillsboro and Nantahala, North Carolina. It began operations in 1988, through a lease agreement between the NCDOT and Malcom & Joan MacNeill. With help of a team of investors, the MacNeils secured the lease only 48 hours before the Norfolk Southern would be dispatching work trains to the Murphy Branch to begin dismantling the track. The full tourist route originally operated further west to Andrews and Murphy, North Carolina. Service between Andrews and Murphy ended in 1995. Regular service between Nantahala and Andrews ended by 2001.



In late 1999, the MacNeills sold the GSMR property to the American Heritage Railways, the owners of the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG) in Colorado. Additionally, the bright and colorful blue, yellow and red "circus train" livery was dropped in favor of the new Tuscan red and gold stripe livery. On March 9, 2000, the Great Smoky Mountain Railway was renamed to the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

Tourist trains of the GSMR route use a route passing through "fertile valleys, a tunnel and across river gorges" in the Great Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina. Tourist excursions use the line between Dillsboro and Bryson City (16 mi in length) and the line between Bryson City and Nantahala (22 mi in length). The GSMR eventually would become one of the most popular tourist railroads in the United States with about 200,000 passengers each year. The railroad also has transported freight via an interchange with the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad in Sylva near Jackson Paper Manufacturing.

In 2004, GSMR debuted its "Polar Express" train ride, based on the newly released movie and licensed through Warner Brothers. This ride has been an annual major economy boost for the railroad and the town of Bryson City. In 2019, GSMR broke all attendance records, with more than 91,000 people riding the Polar Express excursion alone.

In 2007, due an unresolved dispute with the Dillsboro Town Council, the GSMR decided to relocate its headquarters from Dillsboro to Bryson City and close the Dillsboro depot. However, the Tuckasegee River excursions between Dillsboro and Bryson City continued, with the trips originating in Bryson City and laying over in Dillsboro.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak caused the GSMR to suspend operations. However, they resumed on June 4, 2020, with provisions for public health such as social distancing.

Locomotives
Operational diesel locomotives have come and gone over the years at GSMR. The railroad boasts a current 2024 operational diesel locomotive roster of seven 4-axle (B-B) units, as any 6-axle (C-C) unit would be too big for the tunnels, and too long for some the line's tight or sharp curves. All of the current units were built by The Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD). GSMR has two GP9s, Nos. 1751 and 1755, a GP30 No. 2467, two GP38-2s Nos. 2668 and 2335, an F9A No. 4210, and a GP35 No. 1009 which is now for sale despite still being operational and on the roster as of 2024..

The railroad owns one operational steam locomotive; S160 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type No. 1702, which was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in September 1942 for the U.S. Army during World War II. In 1991, it was purchased by the GSMR until 2005, when it was taken out of service due to firebox issues. In 2012, the GSMR made an agreement with Swain County of North Carolina donating $700,000 to construct a new steam locomotive workshop for the restoration of No. 1702 and installing a new turntable in Bryson City for the locomotive to be turned around. Afterwards, the restoration work of No. 1702 began in mid 2014 and completed in late July 2016 with the locomotive reentering excursion service.

The railroad also owns another 2-8-0 built by Baldwin, Southern Railway Ks-1 No. 722, which worked on the former Murphy Branch from 1904 to 1952 and later operated from 1970 to 1980 in the Southern Railway's steam excursion program. The GSMR purchased it in late 2000 and planned to restore it to operating condition by 2026. The locomotive will be converted to burn oil like No. 1702.

In 2010 the railroad purchased a third steam locomotive, a former Swedish State Railways 4-6-0 #1149, from the defunct Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad. This locomotive was originally slated to be moved to the GSMR in spring 2011. However, the engine remained on the B&ML for two more years. Ultimately, the railroad deemed the locomotive's planned move too costly and instead sold it to the Discovery Park of America in Union City, Tennessee.

GSMR retired GP9 No. 777 in 2020 and GP7 No. 711 in 2022. The two units were purchased by YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson (best known as MrBeast), who used no. 777 in a train vs. tank stunt for a YouTube video. He used 711 for a different stunt in a later video. Both videos were uploaded to YouTube in 2022. 777 was scrapped soon after the video it was featured in, and 711 was left abandoned in a field in Whittier, NC.

Retired locomotives
No. 777 was retired in early 2020 and No. 711 in early 2022.

Towns and attractions served

 * Dillsboro
 * Whittier
 * Bryson City
 * Fontana Lake
 * The Nantahala Outdoor Center

Smoky Mountain Trains Museum
The railroad owns the Smoky Mountain Trains Museum in Bryson City, North Carolina; located across Greenlee Street from the Bryson City Depot. The museum features a collection of over 7,000 Lionel model engines, cars and accessories, a large model train layout, a children's activity center, and a gift shop.

Popular culture
GSMR's No. 1702 steam locomotive was featured in the 1966 film, This Property Is Condemned, starring Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, and Charles Bronson.

The famous train wreck scene in the 1993 Warner Brothers blockbuster movie The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones was filmed in Dillsboro along the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad was used in the filming of 1996 Warner Brothers comedy My Fellow Americans starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner; they stumble onto a charter train full of UNC-Chapel Hill fans headed for the NCAA Final Four.

Train scenes in the 1999 DreamWorks SKG film Forces of Nature starring Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock also were filmed on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

Incidents

 * On August 22, 2017, No. 2467 collided into a Georgia Military College coach bus at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, injuring the bus driver and eight passengers.