Okay, I think It's clear that I am a BIG fan of both the ET&WNC Railroad and the Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, NC. Part of Tweetsie Railroad's original consist was Excursion Car #11: (It's the car in the back there.) However, there's a bit of an issue: What happened to it? From What I can note, It's not in Tweetsie's possession anymore, and there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about where the coach went after leaving Tweetsie, and I can't find anything at all! Can I have some help here?

I searched all kinds of keywords, and I could not find any reference to a restoration of a Tweetsie passenger car.

Interesting.

ET&WNC Combine #15 is being restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer.

The excursion car was scrapped and burned at Tweetsie RR in Blowing Rock several years ago. Their former EBT coach rides on its trucks now, I've heard.
Combine #15 is being restored at Spencer.

The excursion car was scrapped a long time ago. Probably at least 30 years ago.

Mike Stillwell
Buena Vista, VA.

Is Combine #15 being restored for the Tweetsie operation? Or is it part of the Spencer Museum?

Wasn't there another ETWNC passenger car that survived that became a restaurant or something ?

shame the 4-6-0 #11 wasn't saved and donated to Johnson city. Apparently that came very close to happening.

Having talked to a couple of folk who have either worked at Tweetsie, or are in the know Tweetsie fans, I believe the metal parts of the excursion car are still on the Tweetsie property behind the shop. There are, however, no plans to rebuild the car from the bits & pieces.

Coach 23 became the Tweetsie Diner at Newland, NC. It was out of business when I saw it at the age of 11 in 1981.

It burned down a few years later.

Lee is correct about #23. One more sister of #23 survived for a few years (not sure if it was #22 or #24?), and was supposed to be brought to the site of the Doe River Gorge Playland (Hillbilly World). I have not seen photos of it there, but supposedly it, too, was burned. Since I go there to help the camp there keep their track & equipment in shape, I would love to know where its last site was, as I have wondered if any metal parts survived. It would be fun to go over the area with a metal detector, but we have no clue where it was. Also, much of the site has been re-graded, so its location may have been buried over the years.

Contacted Tweetsie Railroad about my question, and apparently, it was converted into one of their current excursion cars, but it's been so long they can't remember which one!

Sadly, it is not true about "conversion" into another car. Not sure who you talked to, but all of their excursion cars are built on extended ex-EBT hopper car frames, which can be confirmed by looking underneath them. Their ex-EBT coach #5 is currently riding on ET&WNC excursion car #11's trucks.

Was coach 23 one of those purchased from EBT as well?....Kind of looks like the EBT #8.

No, this coach was sold off when they got rid of their passenger coaches when the excursions ended. Later, realizing their error, they bought coaches from a New England line for the WW2 commuter trains to/from the rayon mills in Elizabethton.