Ride with Santa on Secret City Scenic Excursion Train

For the next two weekends, a train ride that starts in west Oak Ridge and rolls north of the former K-25 site in Roane County will feature a special guest—Santa.

“Santa will leave his sleigh in the garage and climb aboard the Secret City Scenic Excursion Train,” a press release said. “He’s sure to delight all the children as he and Mrs. Claus make their way through the coaches passing out Christmas gift bags and posing for pictures with the children.”

Santa will be the excursion rides that run Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 1 and 2, and again Dec. 8 and 9.  The Southern Appalachia Railway Museum volunteers will have the train “all decked out in true holiday style to add to the enjoyment of the trips and the season.”

The train boards next to the Heritage Center in East Tennessee Technology Park on Highway 58, 10 miles west of downtown Oak Ridge or six miles north of Interstate 40, Exit 356-A.

On Saturdays, the train departs at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. Sunday departures are at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The rides last about one hour, and tickets are $17 for adults and $13 for children 3 through 12. Payment must be by cash or check only. Reservations are suggested and can be made by calling the museum at (865) 241-2140.

Here is more information from a SARM press release:

The train rolls through the former Manhattan Project site of the K-25 uranium enrichment plant and north through the hills and hardwoods of scenic Poplar Creek Valley. Riders will hear a short narrative on the railroad and the historic Manhattan Project, one of the world’s greatest industrial achievements. Coaches are heated, and restrooms are available. Popcorn, snacks, and souvenirs are for sale in the train’s commissary car.

Riding on the Secret City Scenic is a trip back in time, as the coaches used are from the 1930s and 40s, and have been restored by the museum’s volunteers. Even the track itself is a rich part of East Tennessee railway history, as the railroad was built in 1943 to serve the Manhattan Project and carried up to 50,000 freight car loads into and out of the site during World War II and beyond.

SARM is a nonprofit, all-volunteer museum dedicated to the preservation of the rich railroad history of East Tennessee and the South. Anyone 18 or older is eligible for membership. The museum’s volunteers take great pride in their restoration efforts and in enabling the public to experience riding back in time in classic vintage equipment on Tennessee rails.

The museum has commissioned an original oil painting, “SOUTHERN ROYALTY,” as a means to raise funds for the complete restoration of their former Southern Railway E-8A locomotive number 6913. The highly realistic oil painting shows 6913 on a spring day in 1969 leading Southern’s famed Royal Palm between Cincinnati and Jacksonville. The scene is in Nemo, Tennessee, on the CNO&TP mainline. The original was painted by Nicholas Hankins, an up-and-coming artist and native East Tennessean.

All proceeds from the sale of this fine lithograph will go to the museum’s 6913 restoration fund. A limited number of prints will be signed and numbered by the artist, including only eight canvas giclee prints. All those which are signed and numbered will be accompanied by a commemorative history booklet complete with signature of authenticity and matching number. An order form for prints can be found on the museum’s web site at http://www.techscribes.com/sarm/sarm.htm or by calling the museum at (865) 241-2140.