The George L. Carter Railroad museum had its first Heritage Day of the year on Saturday.
The Little Chicago Rail Day paid homage to Johnson City’s history as a railroad town, with large prototype layouts representing some of the railroads that have run through the city in the past, as well as some present day railroads.
The museum has four layouts, including east Tennessee and western North Carolina on one side and a general Appalachian layout on the other side.
Fully functional model trains made their way around the intricately detailed layouts for train and railroad enthusiasts who visited the museum Saturday. To put into perspective the size of the layouts, Dave Doughty, a volunteer at the museum, said the east Tennessee and western North Carolina layout contains up to 21,000 model trees, with 100,000 more intended to finish the layout over the next 20 to 30 years.
The museum draws visitors from all over the world, and, despite only being open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., it almost reached 10,000 total visitors in 2019 according to Mike Buster, coordinator of the east Tennessee and western Carolina layout. Visitors come from as far as England, Germany and Hawaii to see the museum’s renowned railroad layouts, particularly during Heritage Days.
Many young families walk through the museum’s doors each week, with the Little Engineer’s room popular with parents and their children. However, it is also popular with model railroad enthusiasts keen to keep the hobby alive. Doughty said the museum hopes to perpetuate the history and hobby of model railroading for as long as possible. With the average age of a model railroader being between 72 and 73 years old, it is important to cater to younger people in order to preserve the hobby.
“We try to educate the kids,” said Doughty. “It’s a lot of fun here. We make it fun for the kids. We’ve got families that come in here Saturday after Saturday and bring their kids here.”
Volunteer Logan Heaton picked up the hobby of model railroading after his grandfather and became a member of the museum after several visits with his mother.
“I’ve always had a passion for trains, especially steam engines,” said Heaton. “One day my mom found out about the museum, and she brought me over here, and I just instantly enjoyed being here.”
The museum is run by members of the Mountain Empire Model Railroader Club. The George L. Carter Chapter National Railway Historical Society and the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad Historical Society are also affiliated with the museum.
It is dedicated to the memory of George L. Carter who built the Clinchfield Railroad as a means of transporting coal from Eastern Kentucky to the Carolina Piedmont. Carter also contributed to the founding of ETSU, handing over his 120-acre farm and $100,000 toward the establishment of a school that later became ETSU.
