Blowing Rock, North Carolina -
Tweetsie Railroad

Tweetsie Railroad is probably in its last season. Their lease is running out, with no plans to renew. Clever investors should consider acquiring the site and either keep the Tweetsie theme, or go for a Hogwart's Express. (Why not?) Not sure who owns the actual train, it would be a shame to see it stuck into a museum rather than running the rails. This used to be part of a larger rail line that ran all the way to Tennessee. [Charlie, 05/28/2005]

[RA: April 2007 - Dean Jeffrey sent a news clip reporting that the Tweetsie Railroad was able to renegotiate a lease that keeps them open at least to 2010. Part of the park is built on leased property worth much more to developers now than it was when the park opened in 1957. Tweetsie Railroad is considering an ultimate plan to move the entire park if need be...]

I went to Tweetsie Railroad with a girlfriend I had in college. It has a railroad, Old West Town, shows, rides, deer park, etc. It's a laid back family attraction. But what really trips my memory cells is the train ride the 3-mile ride, which is interrupted by a train robbery. We took the train ride and watched as a strong box was pulled off by the bad guys and a money bag was removed. Fortunately, the good guys arrived in the nick of time. After the train ride, my girlfriend and I were wandering the attraction when we entered the sheriff's office in the old west town. There was the strong box. While my girlfriend kept watch, I looked inside. Sure enough, there was the bag of "money." I removed it and hid it in a pot belly stove in the sheriff's office. We then boarded the train for the next ride. Sure enough, on board came the strong box. And as expected, the bad guys robbed the train. As not expected, the bad guys found an empty strong box. We watched as the head bad guy proceeded to kick the strong box in anger. After the train ride, I was able to move the bag back into the strong box so future shows could continue without a hitch. [Joe Hickman, 09/24/2004]