Volume 65 – Issue 7 July 1, 2025
From the Brass Hat
We’ve had the typical hot and humid summer weather lately and I appreciate all who have volunteered on Wednesdays and weekends to come out and work in it. Some special thank you shoutouts for new and ongoing projects that continue despite the weather. These include Marco for the yard cleanup project. The dumpsters have arrived for the scrap steel and work is continuing to tidy up unneeded items. Care is being taken to keep what needs to be saved for parts and future projects.
Track work has been taking place. Mid-East Rail Services was contracted to work on the section of Mainline near the Witches’ Path. That phase has now been completed and additional work will take place near Midway Crossing. A big thank you to Billy Brooks who has replaced multiple joint ties in the Bonsal yard near the motor car house. This work was much needed and is very appreciated. Watch for future work days. Also along the right-of-way, work has begun on vegetation clearing. Crew have gone out on Wednesdays to clear branches and John Cummings has used a borrowed “robo” mower to start cutting in the New Hill yard. That is a cool piece of machinery!
We had our one Brew & Choo event for 2025 last month, and while the weather did not help attendance, the folks that came out had a good time by the comments I have received.
We hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th. See you at the railroad.
-John
John Morck
President, NCRM
Welcome to our New Members: Dexter Goldfarb (Youth Rail Crew), Brenda Miller, Doug Miller and Rob Rousseau (formerly a member). Please make them feel at home!
Get to Know a Member
by Tom Hutchinson
Name: Robert Middour
How long have you been a member? Since June 1986.
Where are you originally from? Atlanta, GA
What was your job in real life? Computer Operations Manager, UNC School of Public Health, retired
Where do you live now (City & State only)? Chapel Hill, NC
Family? Wife-Brenda (also NCRM member), son and daughter
How did you become interested in trains? My father was a General Foreman for the Southern Railroad and a model train collector.
How did you learn about the New Hope Valley Railway? I saw an article in local newspaper concerning upcoming train rides.
What is your favorite activity at the New Hope Valley Railway? I have been a car host, Conductor (ten years), parking lot coordinator and Wednesday Crew coordinator. I helped build the ticket office, have replaced ties, helped build train cars 100, 101, 200. 201, and refurbished the wooden cabooses.
Notice: Riding Lawn Mowers available
The NCRM Board of Directors has decided to dispose of two riding lawn mowers. Both are in need of minor repairs, but the motors run. If interested, please contact Jim Whitten for more information.
If you do not receive the operating crew calls, please contact the crew caller if you are interested in participating in train operations! We need all the help we can get to keep the trains running safely.
NRHS Conference Report
by Victor Varney
The NRHS held their three-day NRHS Spring Conference May 1-3, 2025 in Johnson City, TN. The Conference was hosted and organized by the George L. Carter Chapter based in Johnson City. Their members also run the Johnson City Railroad Experience (more about that later).
A pre-conference afternoon outing was organized on Thursday May 1 east of Johnson City at the Doe River Gorge Ministries camp located in Hampton, TN. This camp is unique in that they are on land where part of the narrow-gauge East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad (AKA the Tweetsie) ran between Johnson City and Boone, NC. For the past few years, they have been restoring a couple miles of the 3 ft line that follows along the Doe River gorge going thru a couple of the original tunnels. They have been offering train rides with open air excursion cars departing the camp center (before immediately going into a tunnel) up to Pardee Point where riders can see down a narrow canyon ledge surrounded by high vertical rock wall mountains to the very fast flowing Doe River crashing over the rocks far below. The location is considered one of the most scenic in TN. On the ride chartered for the NRHS, we were able to get off the train at Pardee Point but told to watch your step as it would be a long way down to the river below! The camp is in the final stages of getting ready to run Christmas trains that are starting this year. They purchased a narrow-gauge train consist used for Christmas trains in Oklahoma. They are also in the final stages restoring a narrow-gauge steam loco that will be used for the Christmas train. Btw – their new shop building is very nice. This is a beautiful area in far eastern TN just across the state line with North Carolina. It takes less than 4 hours to drive there from the Triangle. Railroad | Doe River Gorge
That evening in Johnson City NRHS members were invited to visit the Johnson City Railroad Experience. The Chapter members run this museum that is open to the public. It is a must-see in Johnson City. Aside from many display cases with railroad artifacts, a gift shop, a train theme decorated child’s birthday space, and a diesel engine cab simulator there are also 4-5 HO and N scale model train layouts. One of the larger HO layouts models the entire Tweetsie line between Johnson City and Boone, NC. Much of it is completed (including a section that goes thru the Doe River gorge and Pardee Point (visited earlier that afternoon). All of this is done to share the history of the railroads in Johnson City and surrounding areas. NRHS members were treated to a reception and light dinner, too. FYI – Johnson City was the headquarters of the ET&WNC, and the standard gauge Clinchfield Railroad. Johnson City is still today very much a railroad town with many of the old historic railroad depots and other buildings now renovated along with other buildings in downtown which together have become a very active and popular restaurant and entertainment district.
Johnson City Railroad Experience | TN Railroad Museum
The local NRHS chapter secured hotel space for everyone to stay together at the historic Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City. It is a beautiful hotel based on the original 1891 hotel that burned down in 1910. It is East Tennessee’s finest luxury boutique hotel. NRHS members got a special $169 nightly rate. (Another benefit of being an NRHS member.) If you ever plan to visit Johnson City, consider staying at the Carnegie Hotel. It is a short distance from downtown Johnson City’s historic district, and across the street from the beautiful East Tennessee State University campus. Carnegie Hotel – Johnson City TN Hotels
Early Friday morning everyone grabbed a quick breakfast and got in line to board two luxury buses for an all-day outing to Knoxville, TN which is a little more than an hour south of Johnson City. First stop was the Knoxville Locomotive Works for a private tour of the property and inside the shop building. KLW is not open to the public so it was nice that the local NRHS chapter had arranged this visit. If you aren’t familiar with KLW they were established by Gulf & Ohio Railways, Inc (G&O) in 1998 to service their family of railroads’ locomotives. In the 2000’s they started servicing other Class 1 railroads’ locomotives. For the last 10 years KLW has evolved into being a remanufacturer of “green” locomotives by replacing the engines with new high efficiency engines and advanced control systems. Walking thru their shop (no picture taking allowed) we could see them basically stripping a locomotive down to bare metal before remaking them into new “green” locos with major modifications inside and out. Knoxville Locomotive Works
After a little over an hour at KLW, we boarded our buses again for a short ride across downtown to take a train ride on the Three Rivers Rambler. It is operated by the short line Knoxville & Holston River Railroad (a subsidiary of Gulf & Ohio Railways). The 11-mile, 90 minute round-trip train rides depart from their downtown Knoxville station on a rail line that hugs alongside the Tennessee River while passing by many University of Tennessee buildings and sports facilities, below several road and railroad bridges, river- side restaurants/parks, and marinas. Further up the line the train passes thru rural countryside scenery before passing over the scenic Three Rivers Trestle located high above the convergence of the French Broad River and Holston River to form the Tennessee River. After passing over the trestle the loco does a run around and pulls the train back to Knoxville.
Our train that day included a SW series EMD diesel switcher and a consist of 5-6 beautifully restored passenger coaches, one open air excursion car, and a gift shop/snack stand in an old baggage car. The train was originally expected to be pulled by ex SR 2-8-0 #154 for its last run before beginning its FRA 15 year required inspection cycle, but due to some unforeseen issues, they decided to replace it with a diesel loco.
We did get a chance to see and take pictures of #154 sitting on a siding along
the river when the train stopped next to it for a short time. After that, the train then dropped us off about 2 pm at Volunteer Landing to board the Knoxville Star paddlewheel river boat for a ride up and down the Tennessee River. Lunch was served on board, too. Once the boat returned to Volunteer Landing, our buses were waiting for us to quickly re-board and head back to Johnson City. That evening back at the hotel the NRHS Fund had its annual face to face meeting attended by the Trustees and open to any other interested NRHS members. Home – Three Rivers Rambler – Knoxville, Tennessee Tennessee Riverboat Company
On Saturday May 3rd all the NRHS “business meetings” were held. In the morning, the Advisory Council had their meeting for all the representatives from NRHS Chapters. In the afternoon, the NRHS Board Meeting was held (with inputs from the Advisory Council). At the end of the day the bylaws-required All Member meeting was held. All meetings happened in the conference center at the Carnegie Hotel. That evening a Railroad Food and Walking Tour was organized by the host Chapter thru the downtown historic district. NRHS members were then on their own to pick and choose wherever they wanted to go for dinner in one of the many restaurants located in restored historic railroad and other buildings. With that, the Conference was over.
[The restaurant in the above photo is reported to be #1 in the country. -ed] If you were considering attending the Spring Conference in Johnson City, you missed a good one. It was an easy drive to get to from the Triangle. It was also one of the best attended Conferences in years. Don’t overlook that the 6-day NRHS Annual Conference is coming up starting July 12 in Lansing, MI. There could still be hotel rooms and excursion outing tickets available by the time you read this in early July. See Convention | National Railway Historical Society, Inc.
Before and after shot by John Cummings while using his fully-tracked, remotely-controlled robotic bushhog. This is a very dramatic machine when in operation. Amazingly, it can mow along the side of the embankments, as steep as they are!
North Carolina Railway Museum Member Survey
All of our members have unique talents and backgrounds. At times, projects or activities may arise at the museum that require special skills, a particular background, or experience in a general area. To ensure that members with special skills are made aware of opportunities around the museum that may be a fit with their skills or background, we are developing a member skills database. By responding to the questions below, you will help us build this database. You can print it out and after answering it, either (1) scan it or (2) take a picture with your phone and email it to Tom Hutchinson or after filling out the survey, you can mail it to: NCRM Survey, PO Box 40, New Hill, NC 27562 or you can drop it in the “Membership” mailbox in the Dispatcher’s office. Thanks!
Name:
Any Military Service-Active, former, National Guard, Reserves (Yes or No):
Do you have any of the following skills (Yes or No next to each item; add comments if needed):
Accounting/Bookkeeping
Audio-Visual Automotive repair Carpentry Construction
Customer Service
Diesel Engine Repair
Electrical Equipment Operator Glass Repair
Grounds maintenance IT/Internet/Tech-Savvy Inventory Management-Tools, Hardware Landscaping/Gardening Marketing
Mechanical Painting Plumbing Project Management Retail operations
Scale modeling/indicate Scale Small engine repair Welding Woodworking
Other (List)
