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The Doe River Gorge
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Author:  Edd Fuller [ Thu Mar 30, 2017 9:19 am ]
Post subject:  The Doe River Gorge

A three mile section of the old East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad ran through the scenic Doe River Gorge. Jason Stamper, along with his two young sons walked the length of this long abandoned route, searching for traces of a nearly forgotten line where the whistle of narrow gauge locomotives once echoed in the mountains.

http://thetracksidephotographer.com/201 ... r-gorge-2/

Thanks
Edd Fuller

Author:  Frank J. DeStefano [ Thu Mar 30, 2017 7:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Doe River Gorge

Very neat, never realized some three foot gauge track was relaid through the Gorge.

I recognized the location from a series I really enjoy called The Glory Machines. It showcases different bygone railroads based on 8 and 16mm home movies, including a good amount of footage from the Tweetsie. You can even see a bit of it here from 1:44 to 1:52: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHeJGaL0wWA

Author:  Phil Raynes [ Sat Apr 01, 2017 12:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Doe River Gorge

The DRG line is owned & maintained by a Christian Camp, at the Hampton, TN, end of the gorge. During the summer the track is used daily by motor cars & trailers for camp activities up the gorge. Many summer Saturdays the camp is open to the public, who can use the lake, ride the train (8 ton Plymouth plus two ex-D&RG boxcars that were cut-down by 6-Flags of Atlanta), ride 750 foot zip-lines into the lake, or participate in many other camp activities at $18 per person for the day. I just returned to Ohio from volunteering there, where we cleared the ditches of winter leaves & rocks, and replaced a side-sill on one of the passenger cars. There are other developments going on which will be announced later in the year. If you belong to the ET&WNC Historical Society, you can also ride the gorge train during the annual convention.

Author:  WVNorthern [ Sat Apr 01, 2017 11:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Doe River Gorge

A&R Productions produced at least two videos of operations on the ET&WNC. One was titled "The War Years" and the other was titled "The Final Years". I bought both used VHS tapes from Ebay a while back. I don't know if A&R is still in business or not and whether DVD copies were ever produced. The titles are worth buying if you can find them.

UPDATE:

I did some "googling" and found that A&R is still in business and have a DVD with both programs on it. Here's the link:

http://www.trainvideodepot.com/DVD-Tenn ... Gauge_ET-1

Author:  Edd Fuller [ Mon Apr 03, 2017 6:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Doe River Gorge

Thanks everyone for the additional information--much appreciated.

Edd Fuller

Author:  p51 [ Mon Apr 03, 2017 7:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Doe River Gorge

Yes, this is owned by the Christian camp, and I'd think just walking up there without permission wouldn't be good. They're great people and they'll show you around if you just ask.
I took this shot on my first visit there in 2000. When I got home I realized I had a 1930s shot taken from the exact same post. To prove it, the loco and the smoke and the cliff face were placed into the photo:
Image
I first saw the place I think in 1980 or 81 when I was a kid. My Dad, brother, two uncles and a cousin all went up from the other end through the Blevins side of the gorge and found at the time the road ended right at the rails. Then, none of us realized they'd stopped running trains just a few years before at the ill-fated, "Hillbilly World" park there. The bridges still had tracks over them then, and we walked over the first of them and into the tunnel (#5, I think). I remember that we stopped at that point, not realizing how much more was still ahead. Man, how I wish we'd gone all the way down there but that's a long way to walk back uphill and the owners of the property then were not happy with trespassers.

Author:  Dougvv [ Tue Apr 04, 2017 6:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Doe River Gorge

Quote:
The DRG line


Hi,

I am having a mind bend every time I see DRG. I always immediately think of the D&RG(W).

When file names on computers would not allow ampersands or spaces, I would abbreviate D&RG to DRG. Crazy how the mind works.

Doug vV

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