Extra 710 West: The "Nashville Nancy"

Описание: On October 20, 2022, a private charter was operated by the Tennessee Valley Railroad over the East Chattanooga Belt Railway from East Chattanooga to the Sculpture Fields at Montague Park. The train consisted of locomotive 710, combine car 390 and coaches 907 and 661.

As a fun gesture to history, many around TVRM like to refer to this specific trainset as the "Nashville Nancy", referring to engine 710's lineage as a former Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway locomotive. The "Nancy" portion of that moniker comes from the three passenger cars. All three cars were built in 1947 by American Car & Foundry for the Central of Georgia Railway, and all three were assigned to the Nancy Hanks 2, which operated on a daily basis between Savannah & Atlanta, Georgia. Combine 390 has been restored cosmetically to its original CofG appearance, and the museum has plans to restore the other two cars into Central paint in the future.

The Nancy 2 was a seven car train when delivered in 1947 by ACF, and all but one car from that original trainset have survived. The train typically ran in the order of: Combine 390, Grill Car 690, a 540 series Half & Half coach (541, 542 or 543) and then the four 660 series cars (660, 661, 662 & 663). It wasn't long after delivery that 541 and 542 were rebuilt from 68 seat segregated cars into 56 seat cars for the City of Miami, and car 663 was also reassigned to the City of Miami as well.

Today, most of the train is in preservation, with many of the cars being operational. TVRM is the home of cars 390, 543 (now 907) and 661. The Southeastern Railway Museum owns car 662, however it is leased to TVRM for use on the Hiwassee River Scenic Railroad. Coach 660 is owned by the Meridian Railroad Museum in Mississippi, and car 663 is owned by the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Coaches 541 & 542 later saw service on the Agawa Canyon Tour Train on the Algoma Central Railroad before moving to their current home at the Railroad Heritage of Midwest America where they became Amtrak certified, and repainted into Milwaukee Road colors, and renamed "Wenonah" and "Nokomis". The only car not to survive into preservation was the original grill car, No. 690. However the backup grill car, built by Bethlehem for the "Little Nancy" (Atlanta to Augusta) did survive, and is owned by the Georgia State Railroad Museum. The cars on the Little Nancy could be substituted if need be to the "Big Nancy" on the Atlanta to Savannah route.

Join Georgian Rail & River as we follow engine 710 as it leads the "Nashville Nancy" on a trip down the former Chattanooga Union Railway line into downtown.