Tweetsie Railroad

Tweetsie Railroad is proud to operate two vintage steam locomotives: the #12 "Tweetsie" and the #190 "Yukon Queen." When you visit Tweetsie Railroad during the operating season, the train will be pulled by one of these historic engines. Both locomotives are coal-fired narrow-gauge engines, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. Before entering service at Tweetsie Railroad, the locomotives were put into operating condition by Tweetsie's on-site steam train repair shop. Locomotive #12 is the last surviving narrow-gauge steam locomotive of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC), which ran train service from Johnson City, Tennessee to Boone, North Carolina from 1919 to 1940. When the Tweetsie Railroad theme park opened in 1957, this was its sole locomotive.  In 1960, Tweetsie Railroad acquired another steam locomotive,the #190 "Yukon Queen" from Alaska's White Pass & Yukon Railway. Both locomotives are coal-fired narrow-gauge engines, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. #12 was completed in 1917, and #190 in 1943. Before entering service at Tweetsie Railroad, the locomotives were put into operating condition by veteran engineer Frank Coffey, who trained new generations in Tweetsie's on-site steam train repair shop.