Carter RR Museum Heritage Day will celebrate diesels

By Staff Reports

East Tennessee State University’s George L. Carter Railroad Museum will hold a Heritage Day Saturday, Sept. 29, with “Stainless and Steamless — Streamliners and First Generation Diesels.”

“The period from 1934-1950 revolutionized railroading in America, and the advent of diesel power turned the business upside-down,” says Geoff Stunkard, the coordinator of the museum Heritage Days program. “The new trains combined better utility and simpler maintenance with a style and design that was prevalent only in the streamline ‘Art Moderne’ movement. These new economic realities led to the decline of steam power, which all but ended by 1960. Heritage Day will be a special tribute to this design revolution.”

The George L. Carter Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and members of the Mountain Empire Model Railroaders (MEMRR) club will display pre-1952 diesels on the MEMRR club’s large 24×44 1:87 HO scale layout, one of four model lines housed in the museum. Also on exhibit will be artifacts from the 1933 Century of Progress, advertising items from General Motors and other mementos of this transitional time period.

The Carter Railroad Museum is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free. The museum can be identified by a flashing railroad crossing signal over the back entrance to the Campus Center Building.

The museum includes a growing research library, a National Railway Historical Society chapter, docent opportunities and an oral history archive being established as part of the museum’s programs. MEMRR works in conjunction with the museum to demonstrate and maintain the model layouts, exhibits and other projects. Visit www.memrr.org to learn more about the group.