DILLSBORO, N.C. -- The Tuckasegee River winds its way through much of Western North Carolina like a long, emerald-crested serpent, punctuated by rippling whitewater and surrounded by farmland and lush forested mountains.
It is this kind of scenery that draws thousands of people to this small community each year to either float down the river or ride alongside it on one of many excursions aboard the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.
The railroad and the river are the heart and soul of Dillsboro and have been for more than a century.
Dillsboro, a compact linear town of some 210 people, is composed of several dozen specialty shops, restaurants, hotels and bed and breakfasts, all located within easy walking distance a few blocks from the train station and river.
The shops and restaurants offer an entertaining way to while away a few hours while waiting for a float down the river or a ride on the train. The town has several hotels and bed and breakfasts (including the charming 130-year-old Olde Towne Inn, located only a few hundred feet from the train station). Guests have a good view of the Smoky Mountains and the historic town from the front porch, where they can relax in a rocking chair while watching trains come and go. It's an easy walk across the street to the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad, the many crafts studios, gift shops and restaurants. Guests enjoy the country ambiance evoked by the smells of bacon and baking coming from the kitchen, mountain music or Southern tunes coming from the stereo, and the colorful quilts on comfortable beds. Olde Towne Innkeeper Dawn Hummel is not only an innkeeper, but she can regale you with colorful stories of local history as well.
The railway runs nearly 1,000 excursions each year, attracting more than 200,000 visitors from across much of America.
The town of Sylva is located just one mile east of Dillsboro and is the county seat -- with the county courthouse sitting high on a hill, offering a striking setting.
The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad begins in Dillsboro and follows the historic "Murphy Branch" constructed in the 1880's.
Numerous trips are scheduled throughout the year, with varying rates for children, adults and senior adults.
Trips ranging from 45 minutes to all day give passengers a chance to relax and feel the rhythm of the rails as they slip back in time.
Senior adults especially seem to enjoy the trips as they offer a connection to America's "good old days" past, when the country was basically built on railroads. Many children are also fascinated by trains and many seem to enjoy the rare chance to travel the unique, old-fashioned way.
The railroad limits its speed to 20 mph, so passengers get a leisurely opportunity to take in some spectacular scenery as the trains pass through unspoiled mountains, forests and farmland, minus traffic and commercial development. Fall foliage season is an especially popular time for rail travelers, with October as the biggest month.
You can usually count on getting a ticket on any ride just by showing up close to departure time, but sometimes trains are sold out in advance and making a ticket reservation might be a good idea.
Trips depart from both Dillsboro and Bryson City.
There are many specialty and holiday rail trips, including wine-tasting trains with vintages from the winery at Asheville's famed Biltmore Estate, an "Old World" wine trip featuring food from several European locales, and a "New World" wine train featuring salmon cakes and lobster. Other specialty trains include Mystery Theater Trains (night trips featuring whodunit mysteries with passenger participation), gourmet dining trains, Valentine's Day Sweetheart Train, Peanuts Great Pumpkin Patch Train, etc.
The railroad also offers special combination train trips/river raft trips.
Regular excursion trips include Tuckasegee River Excursion (32-mile roundtrip from Dillsboro, including about a one-and-a-half hour layover in Byrson City, where you can visit the Smoky Mountains Trains model railroad museum, featuring about 4,000 model trains), Fontana Trestle Excursion (two-hour roundtrip with views from the 100-foot-high Fontana Lake Trestle), Nanathala Gorge Excursion (4.5-hour, 44-mile round trip from Bryson City, featuring views of two rivers and the spectacular whitewater of Nanathala Gorge), and the Whittier Sundown Excursion (a three-hour roundtrip from Dillsboro, featuring open-air seating.).
Many trips offer riders a chance to purchase picnic lunches to take on the train (ranging from hot dogs to a chicken dinner for four).
The Mystery Trains are basically dinner theater trains that start off in the evenings about sunset and return in darkness. Riders can see a lot of scenery along the way, but not on the return trips.
All the daytime trains feature narration about interesting and historic spots along the trip, including the remains of a train engine, railcars and a bus used in the 1997 Harrison Ford movie "The Fugitive" (a special side rail track was built for the train crash scene, with the film believed to be the only movie ever featuring an actual train crash not using models). The trains also pass through the historic Cowee Tunnel (also featured in that movie) and Cherokee Indian burial grounds.
The trips also offer a lesson in the history of the area and of the railroad's importance to it.
Passengers are offered a chance to buy the book "Passage Through Time," featuring the history of the railroad and stories about interesting milepost points.
Written by Michael George and Frank Strack, the book points out the incredible hardships workers endured in building the mountain railroad, including how dozens were killed with a tunnel caved in on one train and how 19 chained prisoners, who were working on the railroad, drowned when a raft they were on capsized on the Tuckaseegee River at the mouth of the Cowee Tunnel. The convicts were buried on top of the tunnel in an unmarked grave.
The rail excursions are relatively new in that they only began about 20 years ago, shortly after the railroad almost became extinct in 1985 when the section from Andrews to Murphy was closed. The railroad company was on the verge of tearing up the tracks of the Murphy Branch when the state rescued the line as they purchased the rails. In 1988, The Great Smoky Mountains Railway was created to run tourist excursions using an accumulation of vintage rail cars (circa 1920) from around the country. American Heritage Railways, which also operates the Durango & Silverton railroad in Colorado, bought the railway in 1999 and changed its name slightly. It also gave its cars their distinctive Tuscan Red and Rio Grande Gold color scheme.
Some of the trains cross the 777-foot-long Fontana Lake Bridge more than 100 feet above the water, where parts of the 1999 movie "Forces of Nature" (Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck) were filmed.
Dillsboro was originally known as New Webster, but the state legislature officially changed it to Dillsboro in 1889 to honor William Allen Dills, the town's founder.
Dillsboro, located on Highway 74, just off U. S. 23/441, has numerous special festivals during the year, including Railfest (this year's three-day event is set for Sept. 19-21).
For more information on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad call 800-872-4681 or visit their Internet web site at www.gsmr.com. To contact the Olde Towne Inn, call toll-free at 888-528-8840, email to [email protected] or the Internet at www.dillsboro-oldetowneinn.com. To contact the Smoky Mountain Model Rail Museum call 866-914-5200 or online at www.smokymtntrains.com.

This story was published on 08 Jul 2008.