Great Smoky Mountains Railroad

On Thanksgiving Eve 2021, we visited one of our all time favorite railroads, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. During our visit we caught steam locomotive no. 1702 pulling the Tuckasegee River train from Dillsboro to Bryson City, North Carolina.
1702 is a 2-8-0 S160 Consolidation built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1942 for the United States Army Transportation Corporation. Originally 1702 was intended for duty overseas in Great Britain, however she never went overseas. Instead she worked at the U.S. Military Base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In 1946, 1702 was sold to the Warren & Saline River Railroad in Arkansas she worked there until 1961. In 1962, she was sold to the Reader Railroad also in Arkansas. 1702 worked at the Reader Railroad until 1972 when she was put into storage. In 1985, 1702 was sold to the Fremont & Elkhorn Valley Railroad in Nebraska. In 1991, the locomotive was sold to the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad to pull passenger trains through the Great Smoky Mountains. 1702 operated at the GSMR until she had firebox issues in 2004 and was put into storage in Dillsboro. The 1702 was silent until in 2016 she felt the fire in her boiler for the first time since 2004. Since then, 1702 still operates to this day and pulls two trains for the GSMR those being the Natahala Gorge and the Tuckasegee River.
We had a blast chasing this historic locomotive through the Great Smoky Mountains. We hope y’all enjoyed this video.
www.gsmr.com/
0:00 Intro
0:13 Dillsboro
1:51 Barkers Creek
3:58 Wilmot
5:08 Thomas Valley
8:09 Whittier
9:16 Ela
12:18 Bryson City (Credits)

[@SteamZRailfan]

Awesome! Sweet pacing shots!

[@TrainChamber]

Great video Ty! I've the multitude of classic locations!

[@TyTytheTrainGuy]

Thanks Joe!

[@tracysmith6836]

Love the sound of the whistle in the mountains.

[@KeystoneRailProductions]

Nice job Ty, the pacing shots were a nice inclusion!

[@TyTytheTrainGuy]

Thanks Vince!

[@Bluebonnet_W_3162]

Good stuff, Ty! I've gotta visit the GSMR sometime in the future, loved the the pacing shots! Keep up the great work!

[@TyTytheTrainGuy]

Thanks Zach.

[@andrewgreene3376]

❤