Climb Aboard A Gorgeous 1920s-Era Train And Take A Ride Back Through History In Tennessee
By Celina Colby|Published February 09, 2022
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Celina Colby
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Celina Colby is a Boston-based writer and native New Englander who has been covering travel, arts, food, and culture nationally for ten years. When she's not on deadline you can often find her reading, sewing, and searching for the perfect empanada.
Travel back in time to the glamorous era of train travel in this 1920s-era dining car at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. On special occasions, you can view this train from a historical perspective, and also enjoy the unique experience of dining in it yourself.
The town of Chattanooga, where the museum is located, welcomed its first railroad in 1850. The city blossomed into a railroad hub. Though the passenger rails waned in the 1960s in favor of cars and airlines, that history shaped the town forever.
Now the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum preserves that history so visitors can immerse themselves in the heyday of the railroad. The museum provides some fascinating context for our contemporary transit systems, particularly the use of public transportation over time.
For special occasions like Christmas, New Year's Day, and Valentines Day, you can book tickets to dine on the vintage train. This dinner is a unique and special experience, a far cry from the usual fare at your go-to restaurant.
The train moves out from Grand Junction Station and travels down the track during dinner service before turning back to return guests to the station. While you're riding, enjoy a four-course gourmet meal in the beautiful dining car of the 1920s train.
There's no official dress code, but guests love to dress up for this special experience, imagining how they would feel on a cross-country journey at the turn of the century.
With airline seats becoming smaller by the day and travel becoming more frequent, but less glamorous, there’s something magical about experiencing train travel as the 19th-century elite did. At the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, you’ll be transported back in time, just long enough for dinner.
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