Where is Tweetsie Railroad located?

Tweetsie Railroad is located in NC.

How do I get tickets to Tweetsie Railroad?

Tickets and current schedules are available on the operator's official website at https://tweetsie.com.

Photo by Kularski, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Tweetsie Railroad

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Upcoming Events

No ticketed events are currently listed for Tweetsie Railroad. Many heritage operators publish schedules seasonally or run on regular open hours instead of dated events.

Check the operator’s website for current hours and special runs, or subscribe to event alerts and we’ll email you when something is scheduled.

About Tweetsie Railroad

Riding a 3‑mile (4.8 km) narrow‑gauge loop through the Blue Ridge Mountains, the train is pulled by historic 3 ft Baldwin locomotives No. 12 “Tweetsie” and No. 190 “Yukon Queen.” The attraction sits on US 321 midway between Boone and Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and operates from late spring through New Year’s, featuring themed evenings such as the Ghost Train Halloween Festival and Tweetsie Christmas.

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History

Tweetsie Railroad opens to the public on July 4 1957 after Grover Robbins purchases the former East Tennessee and Western North Carolina locomotive for $17,000 in August 1955 and restores it at Southern Railway’s Hickory shops. The line expands to a three‑mile loop in 1958, adds a second Baldwin‑built 2‑8‑2 locomotive in 1960, and builds a chairlift and amusement area inside the loop in 1961, making the site the first theme park in North Carolina. A fire on March 16 2008 destroys the museum and gift‑shop building that had housed the original depot, and in May 2008 Watauga County intervenes with a $3.5 million settlement to keep the park operating on leased land. The Robbins family retains ownership throughout, and the park’s flagship status is underscored by its continued operation into the 2020s, although No. 12 is taken out of service for a major rebuild on August 17 2024 and remains under overhaul into 2025.

The Trains

Tweetsie Railroad operates two historic 3‑ft (914 mm) narrow‑gauge steam locomotives: Baldwin‑built No. 12, a 4‑6‑0 built in 1917 that originally ran the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, and Baldwin‑built No. 190 “Yukon Queen,” a USATC S‑118 class 2‑8‑2 constructed in 1943 for the U.S. Army and later acquired from Alaska’s White Pass and Yukon Route. The locomotives pull a train of restored passenger cars along a 3‑mile (4.8 km) loop that winds between Boone and Blowing Rock, North Carolina, on the park’s 3‑ft gauge track.