| Great Smoky Mountains Railroad | |
|---|---|
| Reporting mark | GSM |
| Locale | North Carolina |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Length | 53 miles |
| Headquarters | Bryson City, North Carolina |
The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (reporting mark GSM) is a freight and heritage railroad in North Carolina with a depot in Bryson City. The railroad operates over the western leg of the "Murphy Branch", a former branch line of the Southern Railway.
The route of the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad passes through fertile valleys, through a tunnel and across river gorges in the Great Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina.
The railroad has four diesel-electric locomotives, #711, #777, #1751 & #1755. In addition, the GSMR owns two steam locomotives; 2-8-0 Consolidation #1702, and former Southern Railway 2-8-0 #722. Both of these locomotives require extensive restoration before they can operate again. Locomotive #1702 has been out of service since the end of the 2004 season. The 722 has never operated on the GSMR.
In addition to running tourist excursions year-round, the railroad also moves freight on its own tracks between Dillsboro and Andrews. GSMR interchanges with Norfolk Southern Railway in Sylva near Jackson Paper Manufacturing. In 2003, the railroad ran 963 excursions.
The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is owned by American Heritage Railways, which is the parent company of the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Texas State Railroad.
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The famous train wreck scene in the 1993 Warner Brothers blockbuster movie The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones was filmed in Dillsboro along the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. The wreckage set can still be viewed on eastbound Tuckasegee River Excursions departing from Bryson City.
The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad was also used in the filming of 1996 Warner Brothers comedy My Fellow Americans starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner when they stumble on to a charter train full of UNC-Chapel Hill fans headed for the NCAA Final Four.
Train scenes in the 1999 DreamWorks SKG film Forces of Nature starring Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock were also filmed on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.
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