For all of you guys who are not familiar with Tweetsie there are several photos on this site of the locomotives at this North Carolina landmark. Tweetsie is really a neat little narrow gauge railroad with a state of the art steam program. (I should know I used to fire the engines there). The old Depot (THE original structure at the park) that burned had numerous artifacts from the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) that cannot be replaced, luckily some items were saved. Below is the article from the 3/18/2008
Charlotte Observer concerning the fire. If you guys ever are in the area I recommend visiting this line.
www.tweetsie.com
TWEETSIE RAILROAD FIRE
Musuem chugs forward
Museum to draw from archives, donations from private collectors to replace items
MARCIE YOUNG
myoung@charlotteobserver.com
BLOWING ROCK --A charred red-and-green toy train peeked through the ashes of Tweetsie Railroad's museum on Monday while workers dug through rubble in the hope of salvaging photographs, tools and other memorabilia.
"There was stuff in here from the 1880s, easily," said Tim Smith, Tweetsie's head engineer. He had found a metal mile marker -- No. 236 -- and some old pictures buried beneath the debris.
The blaze, likely sparked by an electrical problem or lightning, ripped through the mountainside amusement park's 51-year-old depot early Sunday, razing the oldest building and destroying pieces of N.C. history.
A saddle and boots belonging to Fred Kirby, a singing cowboy and longtime kids' TV show host, burned in the fire. A ticket machine, timetables and train signs were mangled by the heat.
"You can replace the Thomas the Train stuff and everything in the gift store," said Frank Aldridge, who has worked as a foreman in the train maintenance shop since 1976. "But the Fred Kirby memorabilia, well, that's just irreplaceable."
All is not lost, said Tweetsie President Chris Robbins, whose father and uncle created the park, about two hours northwest of Charlotte, in 1957 after buying East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad Co.'s locomotive No. 12.
"We've gotten a lot of calls from train enthusiasts wanting to replenish this (from their own collections)," he said. Tweetsie also has extensive archives of other items that weren't destroyed.
The old-fashioned park, off U.S. 321 between Boone and Blowing Rock, opened its gates a year after Disneyland.
It's still scheduled to open on May 2 for its 51st year, Robbins said.
But the museum, which will be re-created with donated items and things from Tweetsie's extensive archives, may not be ready in time for the beginning of the season.
The park's future in Blowing Rock has been in question in recent years as a lease on part of the land was set to expire. But Robbins said the park is in lease negotiations now and he is hopeful Tweetsie will stay where it is for decades to come.
The fire, he said, won't affect the park's operations.
"It's just one of dozens of buildings," Robbins said.
tweetse railroad a victim of fire
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