Ride the Rails came chugging down the tracks when the Tri-State Model Railroaders hosted their annual Ride the Rails November 24 and 25 at the Historic Mineral Bluff Depot.
Next on the railroaders agenda is the Christmas Open House planned for Saturday, December 16, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the depot.
The Tri-State Model Railroaders club is a regional civic organization with enthusiastic and dedicated members that preserve the history of railroading in North Georgia and on into western North Carolina and southeast Tennessee. The club hosts a number of community activities throughout each year.
Ride the Rails comes twice a year and boasts a five-mile round-trip ride by railroad motor car ride, as well as a short ride for children on a genuine railroad hand car. Kids can ride a much smaller, mini hand car on an isolated stretch of track, free of charge.
The railroad motor cars are the members’ own personal collections, having been purchased and refurbished. One car riders enjoyed was a 1970’s, 15-person maintenance car that had been abandoned in South Georgia before Carl Hymen and his wife learned how to rebuild it completely.
Visiting inside the depot doesn’t disappoint either, as the large “HO Scale” model railroad based on L&N Railroad’s “Old Line,” from Atlanta, Georgia, to Etowah, Tennessee, extends to the branch line through Mineral Bluff to Murphy, North Carolina.
More information is available by calling 423-299-3914 or Email to tsmri@yahoo.com