Three Rivers Rambler
View of Volunteer Landing from Neyland Stadium showing the Three Rivers Rambler parked underneath the roadway bridges
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Service type | Tourist train |
| Status | Operating |
| Locale | Knoxville, Tennessee, United States |
| Current operator(s) | KXHR |
| Route | |
| Start | Knoxville |
| End | Marbledale |
| Average journey time | 90 minutes |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Track owner(s) | Gulf and Ohio Railways |
The Three Rivers Rambler is a scenic train ride in Knoxville, Tennessee along the Tennessee River provided by the Knoxville and Holston River Railroad, a subsidiary of Gulf and Ohio Railways.
The ride starts at their depot located at 2560 University Commons Way, 37919. The train heads out towards the river, going past the County Building, and under the Henley Street and Gay Street Bridges. The train passes the Star of Knoxville riverboat and the locomotive's watertower and shed at the end of Volunteer Landing, where it parallels the Knox County Greenways down the river to Governor Ned McWherter Riverside Landing Park. Beyond McWherter Park the train goes through the General Shale Brick Company and the Knoxville Utilities Board water treatment plant. The train then follows the river for a ways past Knoxville Downtown Island Airport, before turning away from the river and going under Riverside Drive and past the Hines Compost Company. The train then reaches the Three Rivers Trestle (also known as the Forks of the River Bridge and built in 1913), where the French Broad River and the Holston River come together to form the Tennessee River. The train slows on the bridge to allow passengers to take pictures of the osprey nest built above the tracks. After the trestle is crossed, the Rambler heads back into town along the same tracks. The trip takes an average of 90 minutes.
Washington & Lincolnton #203, Lindy, was built in 1925 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a 2-8-0 Consolidation built for the Washington & Lincolnton Railroad in Georgia. In 1932, the W&L went out of business so the 203 was sold to the Rockton & Rion Railroad in South Carolina. But because she proved she wasn't up to the heavy loads, she was placed in storage in Rockton. Occasionally she would be brought out to switch freight cars in Anderson Quarry. She last ran in the 1960s. In 1977, #203 was sold to the Trilby, San Antonio & Cypress Railroad, known as the Orange Belt Route, a tourist line in Florida. In 1983, #203 was sold to the Mississippi Railway & Transportation Museum. In 1990, the engine was sold to the Waccamaw Coast Line Railroad. By 1995, #203 once again was sold to Gulf & Ohio Railways and was restored in 1999. She is set to run on select days of the year and the Christmas Express in November and December.
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