Southern Appalachia Railway Museum

Southern Appalachia Railway Museum was delighted to participate in the grand opening of the Portal 4 Welcome Center at the Atomic History Campus at the former K-25 site in Oak Ridge this morning. The organization was well represented by members Ben Merritt and Stephen McGee, who shared the history of what SARM has accomplished on the K-25 site, what we continue to do, and what we will do in the future. Exciting times on this very important site of American history.

We can’t wait for tomorrow! Come celebrate the grand opening of the new Portal 4 Welcome Center and be sure to check out SARM’s new display inside the building—we’re excited to share it with you!

Many of SARM’s members are retirees or self-employed. Thus, we have started having more mid-week work sessions for our volunteers, and we are having great results.

Yesterday, several of us gathered to better organize and securely store some of our coach seat frames. We first needed to clean out some derelict Superliner coach seats that came with an Amtrak baggage car that we had acquired. Those were dispatched to the scrap bin. In their place, freshly grit-blasted and primed seat frames arrived for use in one of our coach restoration projects.

They look a LOT better versus when they went out to the local shop! Thanks to those who helped yesterday: Ed Bowers, Phil and Brennan James, Scott Lindsey, Stephen McGee, Jeffrey Young, and several East Tennessee Rail Car employees.

Dashing through the snow, Clinchfield 800 turns Blair, TN into a winter postcard. ❄️

📸 F Will Martin 1/31/2026

We made the list! If you’ve visited us before, feel free to share your favorite memory in the comments.

For more information about SARM, visit https://sarmrail.org

🎄🚂 Wishing you a Merry Christmas from Clinchfield 800 and everyone at the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum!

🛠️ Restoration in Progress on L&N Coach No. 3264!

On October 18th, our volunteers spent the day continuing restoration work on Louisville & Nashville Coach No. 3264. This work session focused on finishing the removal of rotted insulation — likely the result of years of leaky windows.

After clearing out the old flooring and insulation, the team vacuumed the coach frame, removed scrap conduit, and swept the floors, leaving the interior noticeably cleaner and ready for the next phase of restoration.

It’s amazing what a day’s work can do! We’re looking forward to getting back to it soon.

Want to help keep history on track? 🚂 Join our crew! Learn more at 👉 https://www.sarmrail.org/membership

🚂 A Visit from the Central of Georgia Historical Society! 🚂

On October 25th, we were thrilled to welcome the Central of Georgia Railway Historical Society for their annual fall meeting! Members stopped by to see the Central of Georgia and Savannah & Atlanta equipment in our collection — guided by our own Ed Bowers and Will Martin, who helped bring these historic pieces to life.

The group even held their board meeting aboard the Ft. Mitchell — now that’s dedication to staying on track!

Learn more about the Society and their preservation work at ➡️ https://cofga.org/

🚧 L&N Coach 3264 Restoration Update! 🚧

Last month, our dedicated volunteers got down and dirty removing rotted flooring and old insulation from historic L&N Coach #3264. It was messy, dusty, and honestly… pretty awesome. 😄

We’re rolling up our sleeves again this Saturday to continue the tear-down work — peeling back the years to prep this classic railcar for its next chapter.

⚠️ Send us a message if you’re curious about volunteering or joining the museum. We’d love to have you on board (pun very much intended). 😉

Help us restore a piece of railroad history — one board at a time.