Doe River Gorge Ministry President Terry Vaughn points toward the direction the future Doe River Gorge Christmas Train track will run.

This is the railroad loop plan approved by the Carter County Planning Commission on Tuesday.

The Christmas Trains are stored under roof, but restoration work needs to be completed before the Christmas 2023 deadline.

Thousands of crossties have been manufactured and await start of the project.

The highest peak in this photo is the highest point of the Hampton Watershed bike trail. In the future, an outdoor enthusiast can ride his or her bike from the mountain top to the valley and catch the train around the Doe River Gorge property.

Doe River Gorge Ministry President Terry Vaughn points toward the direction the future Doe River Gorge Christmas Train track will run.

This is the railroad loop plan approved by the Carter County Planning Commission on Tuesday.

The Christmas Trains are stored under roof, but restoration work needs to be completed before the Christmas 2023 deadline.

Thousands of crossties have been manufactured and await start of the project.

The highest peak in this photo is the highest point of the Hampton Watershed bike trail. In the future, an outdoor enthusiast can ride his or her bike from the mountain top to the valley and catch the train around the Doe River Gorge property.

ELIZABETHTON — It was once a really solid Tennessee excursion. The daily trip of the little narrow gauge train called The Tweetsie was so incredible that passengers were advised on their tickets that one of the stops was at Pardee Point in the middle of Doe River Gorge. There was no building or siding for passengers.

The stop was simply a chance for passengers to get out and look at the mountainous scenery through which the little train was passing, high above the Doe River, but still deep within the walls of the gorge.

After many decades, it appears a narrow gauge railroad may return to property near the gorge in time for Christmas of 2023. On Tuesday afternoon, the Carter County Planning Commission gave site plan approval for a new railroad loop through the property of Doe River Gorge Ministries. Planning Director Chris Schuettler told the planners that he was excited about the project.

Never has such a million-dollar project been passed by that body with such ease. The planners are very familiar with the leaders of Doe River Gorge and those involved in the project, such as civil engineer Gary Tysinger, who are planning the new route for the locomotive. The plan calls for a 1.7-mile rail loop through the Christian camp.

After the Planning Commission approved the site plan, Schuettler told the applicants “Gentlemen, let’s get a train built.” He was told that the Christmas 2023 target is dependent on supply and labor. At the end of the discussion, Schuettler told the men, “Thank you for investing in our county.”

Carter County Mayor Patty Woodby attended the meeting and after adjournment she said “this is a wonderful economic driver for Carter County.” She believes that Doe River Gorge will not only draw train enthusiasts, but is an anchor for the expansion of the rails-to-trail bike trail from Johnson City to Carter County known as the Tweetsie Trail.

The county recently acquired the old East Tennessee and Western North Carolina right of way between Valley Forge and Rittertown. With that critical property, plans are in the works to extend the Tweetsie Trail to Hampton, ending at Green Bridge Landing. A side trail would connect to the Elizabethton-owned Hampton Watershed Mountain Bike Trail.

The city bought the hilly and forested 238 acres several years ago to protect Elizabethton’s most important source of fresh water. A hiking and biking trail was considered a comparable use of the property. A recent Doe River Gorge agreement with the city has allowed for the expansion of the trail system by offering a 5-year lease on 52.75 acres of neighboring Doe River Gorge property. The rent is zero.

Woodby said Phase I of the trail expansion has been completed. She sees the expansion as a way in which Doe River Gorge is helping to attract even more visitors to Carter County, especially with elevations on the trail ranging from 2,420 feet to 1,940 feet.

While the plans for the new railroad track were only approved by the county planners on Tuesday and approval from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has not yet been received, Doe River Gorge already has all the equipment and paraphernalia for the planned Christmas season 2023 opening. The already acquired equipment includes two H.K. Porter locomotives, 11 passenger coaches, 43 painted storyboards, 40 decorated Christmas trees, 210 decorated Christmas wreaths, a quarter-mile of garland, and more than 1,000 costumes depicting what railroad employees and passengers wore during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

All of this had once been the property of the successful Christmas Train in Oklahoma that was a part of Dry Gulch, a Christian ministry headed by Willie George. Doe River Gorge executives began coming to Oklahoma several years ago to get some ideas for starting their own railroad. Doe River Gorge President Terry Maughon said that in 2018, after their fourth trip to see the Dry Gulch train operations, George asked them to meet with him. Maughon said George told them he was planning to slow down and wanted to sell the train to them. Maughon said George presented them with a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to buy the railroad and move it to Tennessee.

The money to buy the railroad and move 57 tractor trailer loads to Tennessee came from many private donations. But there were even more expenses to prepare the land around Doe River Gorge for the train. Mitch Cox donated $1 million toward the project. It also included purchasing the neighboring sawmill property for $650,000 for the rail lines and the construction of the track.

Maughon said that has included generous support from Neil Poland of Mullican Flooring in providing the new crossties for the track and hauling them to West Virginia to be treated with creosote. Meade Tractor owner Chuck Meade donated the heavy equipment needed to level the hilly terrain for the track.

While the grounds are being prepared, Maughon said the equipment is also being readied. He said the 10,000-pound boiler for one of the locomotives has been removed and placed on a flat bed truck. It was then shipped to Lund Machine Works in Minnesota for restoration.

Christmas 2023 may seem like a pretty long time in the future, but there are a lot of big kid train buffs who are already listening for that whistle blowing eight to the bar.

John Thompson covers Carter and Johnson counties for the Johnson City Press since 1998. He grew up in Washington County and graduated from University High and East Tennessee State University

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop.

Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.

Please disable your ad blocker, whitelist our site, or purchase a subscription

Check your email for details.

Invalid password or account does not exist

Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.

An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.

Thank you. Your purchase was successful.

A receipt was sent to your email.