Trip Images |
Andrea and I at the Train Station in Etowah, TN.
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Andrea at the train display at the train station.
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The train.
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More train.
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ALL ABOARD!!!
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Andrea after the 4th attempt of getting a photo of us together on the train.
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Andrea and I ready for the trip.
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View from the cabin car.
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Another view from the cabin car.
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Trip Report
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Hiwassee Valley Rail
November 2007
Etowah , TN
posted by Buster
There are a few trips I and my fiancé would like to take one day. I would like to go on a helicopter ride; I would like to go to Montana, etc. Andrea wants to go on a train trip. Well, Andrea’s Birthday was quickly approaching and I was scrambling for a gift. I was searching the internet for ideas and gifts. As with anything, I got distracted on the internet and I started looking up information on fly fishing the Hiwassee River. I am planning a fishing trip on the Hiwassee River in the spring.
I started a new search on for Hiwassee Valley and the first thing that resulted was Hiwassee Valley Rail….BINGO! I think I just found Andrea’s birthday gift. The train trip is a fifty mile, 3 ½ hour round trip through the Hiwassee Valley. I bought the tickets online and we were set to go. When I told Andrea I got her something for her birthday, she was like “ok.” I told her there were some requirements for her to fulfill.
She had to have the entire day off, and she need to wear tennis shoes and to dress warm. The first thing she said to me was “I am not going on a float trip (fly fishing trip)! This completely surprised me. I said, “But honey, I already have a pair of waders for her to wear.” And she repeated her statement again. “But honey, I even have a pink fly rod for you too.” From then on and until the night before the trip, she thought we were going on a fishing trip. So the night before the trip, I told her what we were going to do. She still had that look, like “Ya right, we’ll see when we get there.”
The train departs from Etowah, TN. Etowah, TN is on the eastern time zone and the train departs at 1:30 PM, which is 12:30 PM our time. To get to Etowah from Nashville, it is about a 3 hour trip. So, I told Andrea we were getting up by this time, we were going to leave by this time, so on. We decided to leave at 8:00 AM, get breakfast and lunch on the road and we will gas up during that time.
After getting ready and traveling to Etowah, we arrived at the train station and picked up our tickets. After you park at the train station and you then board a bus for the train, which is about 5 miles from the Train Station. Soon after we boarded the train and found our seats, the train was moving and we were on our way. The train departs from a state park area near the Hiwassee River, then travels along the entire length of Hiwassee River up to Appalachia Dam and then into Farner, TN. In Farner, TN, the train engine detaches from the cabin cars from the front and then reattaches to the cabin cars at the rear. The train then heads back down the tracks and back along the Hiwassee River.
The cabin cars are nice. There are two seats on either side of the aisle and the seats in front of you face you so you don’t stare at the back of someone’s head during the trip. Just so everyone knows they sell snacks and drinks (soda & coffee) on the train and there are restrooms. Andrea and I sat with a guy that was from Michigan. He was visiting his parents for Thanksgiving weekend and they all decided to take the trip too. During the trip, Andrea and I sat on the left side which ended up being the side that ran along the Hiwassee River. When the train first started out, we didn’t see any fisherman, but after awhile and a few miles up the river, we started seeing all kinds of fly fisherman in the river. We saw a guy hook up on a fish. Now I am really ready to go and fish the Hiwassee. I guess I will have to wait until the spring.
If you ever get the chance to go on this trip, I hope you have good time too. Just plan on staying over night in Chattanooga; Andrea and I drove back that night. I will tell you; six hours in the car, three and half hours in a train, breakfast on the road, lunch in Etowah, TN and dinner in Kimball, TN will make for a very long day. But the train trip is worth the time. We meet several new people along the way and had some interesting conversations and the train ride was a nice scenic trip along a river valley with the leaves of yellow, orange, red, brown, and green.
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