":Chattanooga Choo Choo"

[Pastor Dave]

Greetings,

Trying to finish up Sunday's sermon and want to reference the "Chattanooga Choo Choo." I assume it was a Norfolk Southern train, but can anyone tell me if it survived until Amtrak was formed?

Dave

 

[rrdude]

Greetings,

Trying to finish up Sunday's sermon and want to reference the "Chattanooga Choo Choo." I assume it was a Norfolk Southern train, but can anyone tell me if it survived until Amtrak was formed?

Dave

"Norfolk & Western" and "Southern Railway" were both independent (not merged) at the time of Amtrak.

Here's the WIKI Link to it. I used to use snippets of the song in radio ads when I ran a dinner train............

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattanooga_Choo_Choo

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Pastor, I hate to throw water on your sermon but there was no such thing as that for a literal train name or locomotive name.I am 65 years old born and reared in Chattanooga.I have hundreds of timetables for the region. Nobody has produced real railroad info about that being a literal name.

I have so many equiment lists, no serious railroad produced mention anywhere of a chattanoga choo choo. I have several books on the Southern RR and the Norfolk and Western, the ones which would have been inolved.

A reporter nicknamed the new train from Cinncinati to Chattanooga as the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Just a nickname that stuck.This was the early 1900's I think

The song was written in the 40's. I have never seen any proof that a specific train was meant.

Now for solid info, the route was Pennsylania RR from NYC to WAS. Southern RR from WAS to Monroe/Lynchburg. Norfolk and Western Lynchburg,Roanke, Bristol. At Bristol they changed back to the Southern RR which then took such trains through Knoxvile to Chattanooga. Beyond Chattanooga they went variously to Birmingam, to NOL and to Memphis.

The oldest train name was the Birmingham Special. The Tennessean name started in 1941(replacing the Memphis Special) and the Pelican name was taken in the late 40's.

Personally I have aways thought the Birminghm Special was meant. The song says it left NYC quarter to 4. Well, for years the BHM Special left WAS at that time so that seems close enough.

All were gone before Amtrak.

I saw the google reference. It says it was composed on the Bimingam Special but much further down says it does not refer to any one train.

 

[George Harris]

I think Bill has it right. The Birmingham Special was the best fit, but there was a good deal of poetic license taken in the song. The other possibility was the Pelican, which left New York about 9:00 pm and got to Chattanooga about 4:00 to 5:00 the next afternoon,but that seems most unlikely because the departure time was way off, and it was not a logical train to take if your purpose was to be in Chattanooga to do something other than eat supper and go to bed.

Just curious: What is your topic, or the scripture you intend to use as the subject?

 

[henryj]

Here is the complete production as posted on youtube. Hang on to you seat.

 

[Pastor Dave]

Well fooey! Luckily I never let the facts get in the way of a good story....lol

 

[Pastor Dave]

For George,

The lectionary text is Luke 14:7 - 14. What I'm illustrating is that "dinner in the diner" isnt' always finer when you can't choose who you sit next to.

Dave

 

[GaSteve]

For George,

The lectionary text is Luke 14:7 - 14. What I'm illustrating is that "dinner in the diner" isnt' always finer when you can't choose who you sit next to.

Dave

Pastor, that is a great analogy, however. :lol:

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Well fooey! Luckily I never let the facts get in the way of a good story....lol

Pastor, I was unable to respond to your kind remarks on your PM so I am thanking you for them here.

 

[dlagrua]

Just for reference the train Station at Chattanooga TN is still there but has been converted to a hotel. The train platforms behind it are also stil there but I believe that there is only one track left that goes out to the main line. Severla years back there was some RR equipment there as well and I believe that a tourist train still operates there. Since the 1970's, Chattanooga is just one of 100's of cities that lost passenger rail service. Service is returning to a few of them today but restoration has been very slow. With rail travel on the rise, the trend is up but as long as congress continues to starve Amtrak of funding, it will be a long road back.

 

[Ashland Train Enthusiast]

Just for reference the train Station at Chattanooga TN is still there but has been converted to a hotel. The train platforms behind it are also stil there but I believe that there is only one track left that goes out to the main line. Severla years back there was some RR equipment there as well and I believe that a tourist train still operates there. Since the 1970's, Chattanooga is just one of 100's of cities that lost passenger rail service. Service is returning to a few of them today but restoration has been very slow. With rail travel on the rise, the trend is up but as long as congress continues to starve Amtrak of funding, it will be a long road back.

I recently stayed in the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel this past spring. It was a neat experience, in that they still have all of the track and platforms laid out, and they have old sleepers there that they sell as rooms (they also have "normal" rooms for the more frugal pocketbooks out there). They also have a couple of diners there so you can really have "dinner in the diner," even though it's only stationary. The main hotel complex is in the main hall of the old station, and they have kept the decor and architecture of the original station which is a plus. Overall I'd say it's a good stop for any railfan traveling through the Chattanooga area.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Just for reference the train Station at Chattanooga TN is still there but has been converted to a hotel. The train platforms behind it are also stil there but I believe that there is only one track left that goes out to the main line. Severla years back there was some RR equipment there as well and I believe that a tourist train still operates there. Since the 1970's, Chattanooga is just one of 100's of cities that lost passenger rail service. Service is returning to a few of them today but restoration has been very slow. With rail travel on the rise, the trend is up but as long as congress continues to starve Amtrak of funding, it will be a long road back.

Yes, the station that is still standing and which was converted to a hotel and dining complex is now called the Chattanooga Choo Choo. RR cars converted into hotel rooms are still very much there. I visit Chattanooga 3 or 4 times a year. One can either stay in a regular room or in a railcar.One room equals half a railcar.

There were two stations in CHA. This one, the former Terminal Station, was the one used for trains to and from NYC, among other directions. It was the Southern RR station.

The other station,long since completely torn down, was the Union Station, which served the Nashville Chattanooga and St. Louis RR. It was absorbed by the Louisville and Nashville in 1957.

There is a model RR at the Choo Choo which shows both stations quite well.One boo boo is that it shows some Amtrak equipment which is not correct, Amtrak never served CHA.

The track to the mainlne refered to is probably the one served by the trolley.

Excursion trains park north of the station and do not enter the station complex itself.

There is an old steam loco on exhibit which is sort of suggested to be the orignal choo choo but if you read it closey it is sort of like the type of loco which might have served what that newspaper reporter from long ago nicknamed the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

 

[had8ley]

Pastor, I hate to throw water on your sermon but there was no such thing as that for a literal train name or locomotive name.I am 65 years old born and reared in Chattanooga.I have hundreds of timetables for the region. Nobody has produced real railroad info about that being a literal name.

I have so many equiment lists, no serious railroad produced mention anywhere of a chattanoga choo choo. I have several books on the Southern RR and the Norfolk and Western, the ones which would have been inolved.

A reporter nicknamed the new train from Cinncinati to Chattanooga as the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Just a nickname that stuck.This was the early 1900's I think

The song was written in the 40's. I have never seen any proof that a specific train was meant.

Now for solid info, the route was Pennsylania RR from NYC to WAS. Southern RR from WAS to Monroe/Lynchburg. Norfolk and Western Lynchburg,Roanke, Bristol. At Bristol they changed back to the Southern RR which then took such trains through Knoxvile to Chattanooga. Beyond Chattanooga they went variously to Birmingam, to NOL and to Memphis.

The oldest train name was the Birmingham Special. The Tennessean name started in 1941(replacing the Memphis Special) and the Pelican name was taken in the late 40's.

Personally I have aways thought the Birminghm Special was meant. The song says it left NYC quarter to 4. Well, for years the BHM Special left WAS at that time so that seems close enough.

All were gone before Amtrak.

I saw the google reference. It says it was composed on the Bimingam Special but much further down says it does not refer to any one train.

Bill, it has been quite a few years but wasn't there a steam engine parked at the bumper at the Choo-Choo hotel, right in front of the restaurant, that had a plaque declaring it the first engine to bring a train into Chattanooga? I think they dubbed the engine the "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." It's been quite some time and I don't even know if the engine is still there.

 

[George Harris]

The other station,long since completely torn down, was the Union Station, which served the Nashville Chattanooga and St. Louis RR. It was absorbed by the Louisville and Nashville in 1957.

And the head house of this station was built in the 1850's. With all the uproar about "historic" structures that are of no historical significance whatsoever, to lose this one is a travesty. Likewise, the Memmphis and Charleston station in Memphis is also gone, even though built in the 1840's, and last used for its design purpose in the 1960's after the shut down of UnnionStation.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Pastor, I hate to throw water on your sermon but there was no such thing as that for a literal train name or locomotive name.I am 65 years old born and reared in Chattanooga.I have hundreds of timetables for the region. Nobody has produced real railroad info about that being a literal name.

I have so many equiment lists, no serious railroad produced mention anywhere of a chattanoga choo choo. I have several books on the Southern RR and the Norfolk and Western, the ones which would have been inolved.

A reporter nicknamed the new train from Cinncinati to Chattanooga as the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Just a nickname that stuck.This was the early 1900's I think

The song was written in the 40's. I have never seen any proof that a specific train was meant.

Now for solid info, the route was Pennsylania RR from NYC to WAS. Southern RR from WAS to Monroe/Lynchburg. Norfolk and Western Lynchburg,Roanke, Bristol. At Bristol they changed back to the Southern RR which then took such trains through Knoxvile to Chattanooga. Beyond Chattanooga they went variously to Birmingam, to NOL and to Memphis.

The oldest train name was the Birmingham Special. The Tennessean name started in 1941(replacing the Memphis Special) and the Pelican name was taken in the late 40's.

Personally I have aways thought the Birminghm Special was meant. The song says it left NYC quarter to 4. Well, for years the BHM Special left WAS at that time so that seems close enough.

All were gone before Amtrak.

I saw the google reference. It says it was composed on the Bimingam Special but much further down says it does not refer to any one train.

Bill, it has been quite a few years but wasn't there a steam engine parked at the bumper at the Choo-Choo hotel, right in front of the restaurant, that had a plaque declaring it the first engine to bring a train into Chattanooga? I think they dubbed the engine the "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." It's been quite some time and I don't even know if the engine is still there.

Look at my post number 12 above, last paragraph.

But then, too, Jay, I might have added that paragraph after you read it.

 

[Nickrapak]

The other station,long since completely torn down, was the Union Station, which served the Nashville Chattanooga and St. Louis RR. It was absorbed by the Louisville and Nashville in 1957.

And the head house of this station was built in the 1850's. With all the uproar about "historic" structures that are of no historical significance whatsoever, to lose this one is a travesty. Likewise, the Memmphis and Charleston station in Memphis is also gone, even though built in the 1840's, and last used for its design purpose in the 1960's after the shut down of UnnionStation.

The problem is that all of these stations were demolished before people had a chance to realize what they had done when they demolished Penn Station. Just remember, the loss of one station paved the way for many more to be saved.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Early on I mentioned that Chattanooga had had two stations, the one preserved as the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel complex and the other one, Union Station, long since destroyed.

If any railfan touring CHA today wanders where the old Union Station was I am here to tell you. It was immediately literally accross the sreet from the venerable Read House Hotel. That is facing south, sort of facing Lookout Mountain. Completely gone, other buildings built on it but that is where it was.

The Read House Hotel is easy to find and anyone who rides the free shuttles goes right by it. It is an oldie goldie restored beautiful old hotel. Rather small but the older part of it is very handsome and beautiful,for its small size.

It comes complete with a ghost on the third floor.