Little River Railroad history preserved at museum in Blount County

Photo by Robert Wilson

Rick Turner, president of the nonprofit Little River Railroad and Lumber Company Museum in Townsend, stands aboard a Shay locomotive at the museum. The train once hauled logs out of what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Photo by Robert Wilson

Rick Turner, president of the nonprofit Little River Railroad and Lumber Company Museum in Townsend, stands aboard a Shay locomotive at the museum. The train once hauled logs out of what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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So much as disturbing a wildflower in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park can get you in a heap of trouble with the federal government.

But it wasn't always that way. It's difficult to detect nowadays, but about a century ago, before environmental concerns had much profile, the land was a commercial logging operation. There were as many as 150 miles of railroad track cutting through the hills and hollows, and the man in charge of the operation gave this mountain hamlet its name.

The history of the Little River Railroad and Lumber Co., founded in 1901 by Col. W.B. Townsend, is being preserved at a nonprofit museum that heritage tourists cannot miss as they pass by on U.S. Highway 321. There is a real Shay steam locomotive on the grounds, one that actually hauled timber out of the hills prior to the establishment of the park.

Rick Turner, president of the organization that runs the museum, said the group formed in 1982 and has spent the intervening years collecting artifacts and history of the operation, including old photographs, other period train cars, a renovated and relocated train depot and much more.

"We're here," Turner said, "to preserve the history of the Little River Railroad and Lumber Co.," which the organization does through sales at its gift shop and through a brick sale program for donors. There is no admission fee to the museum, and the museum is seeking grants to fund its operation and acquisitions.

In its heyday, the railroad also served the tannery that was in Walland, bringing in vital tanning bark, an endeavor which worked hand-in-glove with the logging operation.

Col. Townsend's operation at one time owned 80,000 acres of mountain land and eventually sold it to the federal government for creation of the national park.

Over the course of its life, the lumber company produced as much as 560 million board feet of timber, without the use of a chainsaw.

The museum has fascinating pictures of the logging and a collection of photographs of train wrecks that occurred in the hills. Train wrecks were an all-too-common mishap there because of the trickiness of running rails around the contours of the mountains and across streams.

The centerpiece of the museum collection is a Shay locomotive, No. 2147, one of several locomotives utilized by the logging operation.

A Shay, Turner explained, is characterized by not having the huge drive wheels that most other steam engines had. The Shays were driven by the smaller wheels and could only luster about 18 mph. But they had tremendous pulling power for the steeper grades that they encountered in the hills.

Also on the grounds of the museum is the train depot that once stood in Walland, where the Little River Railroad tracks began. The exhibit occupies the depot. An adjoining building housing the gift shop is a replica of the Elkmont Post Office.

Future projects at the museum include adding two flatcars and a caboose to the train on display.

Robert Wilson is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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