Riding the Train at High Point City Lake Park

Who knew that there was such a cool, little train ride down in High Point, NC? Neither did I until we were invited to the American Express company picnic. We were thrilled to find the 24 guage ride that meanders past the lake, around 2 loops and through a tunnel. The park also has a Merry-Go-Round, a huge playground, bathroom facilities and much more. However, the train was the star of the show for us. The colors and steam engine style is very similar to the Burlington City Park Train. Still, it was great fun on a beautiful day.

Update: Received an email from a reader who sent 2 awesome photos of what this train looked like in the 1960’s…

Brew ‘n’ Choo Brings Craft Beer, Food Trucks & Live Music to Rail Yard

(Bonsal, NC, September 16, 2014) – New Hope Valley Railway (NHVR) is opening its rail yard for an evening fundraiser with activities that adults can enjoy. Brew ‘n’ Choo http://www.triangletrain.com/brewnchoo/ scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 4, from 4 – 9 p.m., will feature one-hour train excursions departing throughout the evening along with local craft beer, food trucks and live music at the rail yard located in Bonsal, N.C., 30 minutes southwest of downtown Raleigh.

The fundraiser will benefit restoration of the historic Cliffside 110, a steam locomotive acquired by the non-profit railway museum last year. The steam engine is being repaired by NHVR volunteers so it can operate on the four-mile main line used by the railway for public ride days. The estimated restoration cost is between $350,000 and $600,000.

“As an all-volunteer railroad staffed by train enthusiasts, we’re always looking for ways to share our rail yard with the public,” says NHVR President Mike MacLean. “Brew ‘n’ Choo gives folks an evening to ride our trains, eat some good food, listen to music and sample craft beers all while supporting the restoration of the Cliffside 110 historic steam engine,” he adds.

Fortnight Brewing Company www.fortnightbrewing.com will be pouring its most popular beers for tastings and $5 pints. Manna Concessions www.mannaconcessions.com will sell a variety of special menu items including fried pimento cheese sliders, shrimp po’ boy sandwiches, smoked chicken and apple sausage, and barbeque pork sandwiches. Each meal is served with a side and non-alcoholic drink. Specialty cobblers, brownies, cakes and other sweet treats will be sold by LadyBug’s Treats www.ladybugstreats.org.

Bluegrass and folk music will be played throughout the evening by local musicians India Cain and Keith Allen. http://www.indiacainmusic.com/p/about-us.html

One-hour, round-trip steam train excursions will depart at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and the diesel train departs at 6:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.

Admission to the Brew ‘n’ Choo fundraiser costs $14/adult for the steam train excursion and entertainment. Diesel train excursion tickets are $12/adult. Tickets should be purchased online prior to the event at www.TriangleTrain.com. Tickets will also be sold at the rail yard ticket booth the day of the event.

Beer and food will be sold separately at the event and are not included in the train excursion fee; however, guests will have the option to select and purchase their meal in advance when buying tickets online. No outside drinks or food will be allowed inside the rail yard during the event.

Designated drivers can request a special wristband upon entry at the ticket booth for free soda and water all night. Children may attend the family-friendly event but must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Visit the website (link to http://www.triangletrain.com/brewnchoo/) and the Triangle Train Facebook page (link to www.facebook.com/TriangleTrain) to stay up-to-date with the latest event information.

About New Hope Valley Railway (NHVR)

New Hope Valley Railway, the Triangle’s Train, straddles the historic towns of Bonsal and New Hill, North Carolina, 30-minutes southwest of Raleigh, off of U.S. Highway 1, Exit 89. The organization was chartered in 1983 by the East Carolina Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and soon began its all-volunteer operated public train ride days. In 2014, trains operate the second Saturday and fourth Friday of each month, April-November

There are also special event ride days and the popular Track or Treat Halloween Express and Holiday Santa Trains. Also available are opportunities to operate a train, host a birthday party in an historic caboose, and visit the North Carolina Railroad Museum, G Scale model garden railroad and gift shop.

Learn more at www.TriangleTrain.com or connect on social media:

www.facebook.com/TriangleTrain

www.twitter.com/Triangle_Train

www.youtube.com/TriangleTrain

To view the full operating schedule for 2014, please visit www.TriangleTrain.com/schedule

New Hope Valley Railway Halloween Train Rides, Oct. 19 & 26, 2013

New Hope Valley Railway will host Track or Treat – a Spooky Ride on the Halloween Express on Saturdays, October 19 and 26, at the rail yard in Bonsal, located off of U.S. Highway 1, just 30 minutes southwest of downtown Raleigh.

Children and adults of all ages will enjoy riding a real locomotive decorated with cob webs and jack-o-lanterns as they encounter witches, goblins and a mysterious ghost train during the hour-long train ride. Riders receive a sweet treat as they exit the train after the 4 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. rides through the haunted woods.

Visitors can also see the G-Scale garden railroad, visit the North Carolina Railroad Museum and get up close to real railroad cars and equipment in the yard. Riders may visit the gift shop to take home their own Triangle Train whistles, engineer hats and other train memorabilia.

For tickets and details, visit www.triangletrain.com or facebook.com/TriangleTrain.

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Santa Claus is coming to ride The New Hope Valley Railway!

The New Hope Valley Railway (NHVR) presents its annual Holiday Santa Trains the first two weekends in December departing from its rail yard located in Bonsal, N.C., just 10-minutes south of Apex off of U.S. Highway 1, Exit 89.

Santa and his helper will visit each open-air passenger car pulled by either a diesel or steam locomotive. Children will get a treat and the opportunity to talk with Santa. The train, along with other areas of the railroad, will be decorated for the holidays during the hour-long excursion.“Riding a real train with Santa Claus is a fun and memorable way to celebrate the holidays,” says NHVR President Mike MacLean. “It’s a special time for families as well as our volunteers who help bring smiles to children’s faces.”

Purchase tickets online at www.TriangleTrain.com or at the train yard the day of the ride. Holiday Santa Trains will be operating on Saturday, Dec. 1; Sunday, Dec. 2; Saturday, Dec. 8; and Sunday, Dec. 9.

Diesel train rides will be departing at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. and steam train rides at 12:15 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for children, ages 2-12. NHVR recommends arriving at the train yard 30 minutes before the listed departure time.

Learn more by visiting www.TriangleTrain.com or www.facebook.com/TriangleTrain.

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New Hope Valley Railway opens this weekend with big event, train rides

Source: http://www.wral.com

By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

New Hope Valley Railway opens a few weeks earlier this season so it can be part of the statewide North Carolina Science Festival.

The railway, which features seasonal rides on its steam and diesel engines, will open Sunday and feature a day of demonstrations and kids’ activities, along with its regularly scheduled rides. Gates will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday at the train yard in Bonsal, N.C., which is 10 minutes south of Apex off U.S. 1.

The event will include train science related activities, including how a diesel motor turns a generator to create electricity; how train tracks work; and what’s behind the workings of boilers and nozzles.

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Opening Day At Tweetsie Railroad Is April 13th!

 

Tweetsie: Opening Day is April 29th!

Tweetsie Railroad is proud to operate two vintage steam locomotives: the #12 “Tweetsie” and the #190 “Yukon Queen”. When you visit Tweetsie Railroad during the operating season, the train will be pulled by one of these historic engines.

Locomotive #12 is the last surviving narrow-gauge steam locomotive of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC), which ran train service from Johnson City TN to Boone NC from 1919 to 1940. When the Tweetsie Railroad theme park opened in 1957, this was our sole locomotive.

In 1960, Tweetsie Railroad acquired another steam locomotive, the #190 “Yukon Queen” from Alaska’s White Pass & Yukon Railway.

Both locomotives are coal-fired narrow-gauge engines, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. #12 was completed in 1917, and #190 in 1943. Before entering service at Tweetsie Railroad, the locomotives were put into operating condition by veteran engineer Frank Coffey, who trained new generations in Tweetsie’s on-site steam train repair shop.

For more info, visit: http://www.tweetsie.com

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Reynolda House Museum of American Art Opens Trains that Passed in the Night The Photographs of O. Winston Link

The Reynolda House Museum of American Art presents Trains that Passed in the Night: The Photographs of O. Winston Link on view February 19—June 19, 2011.

O. Winston Link’s haunting black-and-white photographs from the 1950s depict the end of the era of steam railroading in the United States and the rural landscapes of Virginia and North Carolina that these last trains passed through. Link’s evocative nocturnal images are at once highly staged technical feats, nostalgic representations of a disappearing way of life, and beautifully strange works of art produced during the era of film noir.

Link, a commercial photographer in New York City, made more than twenty trips to Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina between 1955 and 1960 to photograph the Norfolk & Western Railway. His photographs convey an eerie sense of absence, representing the vanishing “species” of the steam locomotive. But the images, which often include railroad workers or local residents, are also imbued with a deep humanity, a reminder of the complicated relationship between man and machine.

Link’s achievements have received international recognition and his photographs can be found in the nation’s premier museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2004, the O. Winston Link Museum opened in Roanoke, Virginia.

Trains that Passed in the Night is drawn from the collection of Link’s former assistant and agent Thomas Garver and is circulated by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. The exhibition is comprised of fifty black-and-white gelatin silver photographs printed and signed during O. Winston Link’s lifetime. Reynolda’s installation of the exhibition will include text by experts on photography, railroad history, film, and contemporary art, and a multi-media section featuring train films and sounds.

For more, visit: http://museumpublicity.com/2011/02/20/reynolda-house-museum-of-american-art-opens-trains-that-passed-in-the-night-the-photographs-of-o-winston-link/

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Transportation museum fires up coal engine!

Source: http://www.salisburypost.com

The Flagg 75 steam engine spits, coughs, breathes heavily and blows off a lot of steam before it finally moves.

In other words, I can relate.

I hopped into the cab of the 1930 workhorse locomotive Saturday morning as Engineer John Barnett of Raleigh backed it onto the roundtable at the N.C. Transportation Museum.

We took about a quarter turn before locking in and heading south on our warm-up run. The white steam we released made us a moving cloud at first.

On the right side of the cab, Barnett manned the throttle. Also within reach were the reverse gear, the locomotive and train brakes, injectors for water and even levers to release sand for more traction on the tracks.

“It’s easy to operate, but they can be temperamental,” Barnett said of these coal-fired beasts.

Going forward, Barnett can watch the tracks ahead through a small window. Or in forward or reverse, he can poke his head out the side opening, much like a happy dog hanging out the window of his master’s car.

Also on board was Fireman Gil Williams of Lexington, S.C., and Mike Stovall of Greensboro, a fireman in training. All three men are regular transportation museum volunteers who love anything to do with trains and their operation.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE WITH LOTS OF GREAT PICTURES!

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Guest Blog Post on The Daniel Boone RR: Lost Train of Hillsborough

So, it seems The Daniel Boone Railroad and theme park in Hillsborough is fondly remembered by many. These posts continue to be some of the most popular. Recently, I received a note from someone we’ll call “Camo” and he shares the same memories I do. The difference: he’s been to what’s left of the park several times and sent me some pictures. I asked Camo if he’d write up a guest blog post and agreed. Enjoy!

Dear Tarheel Trains,
Growing up in NC in the late sixties and seventies offered many distinct advantages, especially if one were an only child. I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of hand me downs from older cousins. Often these cast offs were in the form of Western toys such as Johnny West. These toys were usually broken or incomplete, but I didn’t mind because I was thrilled just to have them!

To augment the toys of the time, Western theme parks were popular places of amusement.  Because of a near catastrophe my family experienced while leaving Beech Mountain (the brakes on my dads Oldsmobile overheated coming down the mountain, a runaway truck ramp saving our lives), those beautiful mountains and their attractions like Tweetsie became off limits due to the fear of a similar mishap occurring again. Fortunately for me, the historic town of Hillsborough was only a few safe miles away.

The Western theme park there was known then as “Daniel Boone Country”. Similar to Tweetsie, it offered a train, costumed cowboys and indians, rides and shows, all set in a Western pioneer village. I first visited there when I was approximately five years old and while I do remember visiting the park on more than one occasion, the details have been lost to time. However, I do remember riding the train and the smell of the black smoke. When Indians attacked along a wooded portion of the track, I became frightened, believing that the attack was real! One of the actors made up as an Indian sat down in the seat in front of my dad and I  and calmed my fears, reassuring me that it was all make believe for fun.

By all accounts, it was a magical place. By the time I had graduated high school, the park had sold their train (to Carowinds) and was on its way to becoming defunct. Last summer my wife and I invited my father to join us on our vacation to visit the USS North Carolina in Wilmington. On the way home, my father spotted the exit sign for Hillsborough and asked if I remembered going there as a kid. Of course I did, so we agreed to go back there together. We made that trip a couple of weeks ago.

Very few traces remain of the old park. There are two cabooses being used as rental space for antique shops, and an old passenger car complete with graffiti that sits on a small slice of track under a lean-to. A lot of the old Western style store fronts remain, their weathered paint and abandoned appearance creating the atmosphere of a ghost town. The old Blacksmith shop still stands, complete with hand painted lettering, even though it now serves as a junk shed. Beside the “Antique Mall”, is a storage area where one can find wagons and antique farm equipment rotting in the open. A few feet up the hill stands a dilapidated barn that contains the Daniel Boone stage coach.

Another barn on the premises houses more wagons, antique trucks complete with bullet holes and hand painted signs (by Apache Joe?).  At least Daniel, a twenty foot tall “muffler man” type figure still stands.  A similar Indian figure that once adorned the roof of the steakhouse across the street has vanished. If one cares to look, one can still find traces of the park in the form of waterwheels (pan for gold attractions?), a miniature covered bridge and a weather vane (part of the old train depot?), but these sights are disappearing daily. An old kiddies’ ride that I saw on a earlier visit, rotting away amongst some weeds, had been cleared away when I returned with my camera (see link for pics).  I just got the feeling that whoever owns the park may now be clearing out some of the old left over’s because the gates to the barns were open and the area where that kiddie ride had been was open after previously being cordoned off.

I did make a brief attempt to find old track, but that area is now a trailer park, and I did not want to arouse the suspicion of any tenants by poking around in their backyards. I would urge anyone interested in seeing what is left of the park to make the trip post haste. In these economic times, who knows what the current owner may have in mind for the property. Being an amateur singer/songwriter, my visit inspired me to write a new song about the old park. As soon as it is finished, I will post a link. Thank you all for your interest.
Sincerely,
-Camo

VIEW PHOTOS OF THE DANIEL BOONE RAILROAD & THEME PARK!

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