In conjunction with Norfolk Southern’s 21st Century Steam Program, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and the City of Attalla will feature the “Attalla Autumn Rail Adventure” train excursions to Birmingham and Chattanooga.
Steam Engine Locomotive No. 630 will operate both excursions.
The Attalla-to-Birmingham excursion is scheduled for Sept. 12, while the Attalla-to-Chattanooga trip is scheduled for Nov. 9.
For the Sept. 12 trip, the locomotive is scheduled to arrive in Attalla around 11:15 a.m. Tickets are $65 each for standard coach seating and return charter bus service.
The train will consist of standard coach cars with air conditioning and large picture windows for viewing the passing scenery, along with a commissary car selling light food items and souvenir items.
Passengers will board the train at 12:15 p.m. at the vacant lot beside the underpass located at the corner of 5th Ave. NW and 3rd St. NW. The train will depart at approximately 12:30 p.m.
The train will travel over Norfolk Southern’s Alabama Division main line, which began as the Alabama Great Southern Railway, or AGS. Passengers will unload at the former site of Old Southern Terminal Station in downtown Birmingham.
This route has not carried passengers since a Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum excursion, using a chartered Amtrak train, traveled the line in 1999. Arrival in Birmingham is expected around 2:45 p.m. with return to Attalla around 6 p.m. after stopping for dinner at the Cracker Barrel in Trussville.
The City of Attalla is the exclusive ticket seller of the Attalla-to-Birmingham excursion. Only a limited a number of tickets will be available and must be purchased by calling the Attalla Information Center at 256-538-1872.
The second excursion will operate over Norfolk Southern’s Alabama Division main line (former Alabama Great Southern) on a 174-mile round trip. The City of Attalla will offer morning and afternoon one-way trips for $85 per ticket for a standard coach seat. The price includes a meal served on the dining car. Breakfast will be served on the morning trip and dinner will be served on the afternoon trip.
The morning trip will leave Attalla by charter bus at 4:30 a.m. enroute to TVRM’s Grand Junction Station in Chattanooga. Departure time from Grand Junction Station is 7 a.m. CST.
The train will travel over the former Southern right-of-way onto the East Chattanooga Belt Railway and will enter the Norfolk Southern Railway at 23rd Street.
The train will arrive in Attalla at 10:45 a.m. for a 2-¼ hour layover.
The afternoon trip will depart Attalla by train at 1 p.m. CST en route to Grand Junction Station in Chattanooga and return by charter bus service at approximately 8 p.m. CST.
TVRM will provide a weekend of special trips out of Birmingham on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15, to both Parrish and Wilton, Ala. For information about these and other rail trips, visit TVRM’s website at www.tvrail.com or call 423-894-8028.
For ticketing on the Attalla Autumn Rail Adventure trips, contact Lisa Tur-ner at 256-538-1872.