All Aboard! The Bryce City Smoky Mountain Railroad (BCSMRR)

Today was railroad day. We drove about 45 miles down to Bryce City, North Carolina, tucked away in the underbelly of the giant Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Sadly, the towns hugging the southern boarder of the park were economically depressed. After the touristy glitz of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, I wasn’t ready for this. Perhaps I was too hard on those two tourist towns. Given the choice between glitz and junkiness, I’ll take glitz.

Bryce City was better. The Bryce City Smoky Mountain Railroad is a big deal in Bryce City. It brings in bookoo tourists and their dollars. The BCSMRR operates year round. Today, a perfect 75º day, brought 300 passengers for the Tuckasegee River trip. Our economy car had great seating and the windows opened. This is going to be great.

Spending our tourist dollars at a local mom’n’pop cafe.

Some wall hangings at the cafe. There is a large Harley dealership next door. Andy Griffith’s Mayberry is located in North Carolina. I always loved the Barney Fife character.

Here is the rub. The train meandered along the Tuckasegee River, a major mountain river full of whitewater. The river itself was gorgeous. However, the river banks were spoiled with hundreds of beat up RVs, yards strewn with junk, and decaying buildings. The railroad track right-of-way was lined with old rusted abandoned railroad equipment. A big fat electric line spanned next to the track, exactly at eye level. Fortunately, several trees draped over the line pushing it down and out of the way once in a while. The electric line couldn’t possibly have been live. It should be removed.

A great mural near the depot.

The city’s caboose on display.

The depot on the corner.

Our train waiting for passengers. The BCSMRR has nice equipment.

Our car was excellent. I liked that we could open the windows. The day was plenty warm to do so.

The train followed the river, however, for 3/4ths of the trip the area was not very attractive.

Can’t have too many tires on hand.

Here, the electric line is ducking down out of the way for better picture taking. This happened a lot. I doubt if the line was “live”.

It went on like this for 3/4ths of the trip, when everything suddenly cleaned up. The remainder of the trip to Dillsboro was scenic.

We laid over for an hour in Dillsboro to spread a little more tourist money in the area. Dillsboro was cute. Along with several gift shops, the town featured a brewpub and restaurant. At least a half dozen IPAs were listed on a large board. I am not a fan of bitter IPA beers. I ordered the porter. Porters can be thick, heavy, and overpowering. Not this one. It was smooth, delicate, and flavorful.

The lonesome train whistle herded us all back on board for the return ride. In all, the trip lasted 4 1/2 hours.

I was overly psyched up for this excursion. Our last RR trip, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, was a blast. The scenery was first rate. If the BCSMRR would have started in Dillsboro and continued up the line from there, the scenery probably would have been much better. As much as I love railroads, this line underwhelmed me.

Now this is more like it. Sadly, all this wonderful scenery was squeezed into the last 1/4 of the trip.

There were several of these commercial tomato fields. The plants look played-out for the season, but lots of ripe red tomatoes were still waiting for harvest.

Tunnel.

Dillsboro.

Return trip.

One of the nicer RV parks. Still a bit too cramped for my taste.

Getting Santa’s reindeer ready for Christmas.

A resort featuring teepees for rent.

As we disembarked, we were told that the BCSMRR has a railroad museum that features a giant model train display. I dragged Wanda straight away for the museum. The operating display was impressive with several trains chugging around a mountain topography.

Surrounding the display were shelves and shelves of model train cars of every kind and vintage. Just as I was getting into it, the lights went out. Immediately, about 50 iPhone flashlights turned on and we found the exit. The whole town lost electricity. Time to move on.

Both my grandfather and dad worked on the Soo Line RR.

We headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Smoky Mountains National Park built two scenic parkways on the edge of the Smokies: 1) Foothills Parkway along the northwestern fringe. 2) Blue Ridge Parkway along the southeastern edge. Technically, both highways are just outside of the park, but the park built and maintains the roads.

Google Maps seems to dislike the Blue Ridge Parkway. When we got on it, Maps kept telling us to turn around. It claimed that there was a closure up ahead. We drove a few miles on the Parkway. It was a stunningly beautiful route. Cars were driving along both ways on the road. There were no signs warning of a closure.

The Smoky Mountains got their name from a natural blue haze that sits over the mountains giving off a slight smoky look. Suddenly, we rounded a bend and saw real smoke drifting up from a valley. From an overlook, we could see fire trucks down at the source of the fire. Apparently, the fire service was on the job.

Sunset was rapidly falling upon us. Google Maps was still insisting that we go a different route. I complied, only because it was getting dark.

The real star of the day was the weather. So far, coming to the Smokies in November has proven to be smart. The rest of the week will test that statement. The weather predictions for the next four days have been all over the place.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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