There is nothing like fall in East Tennessee! If you are searching for a family friendly fall outing, check out the Tennessee Valley Railroad. We have a little train enthusiast in our family and have been looking for an opportunity like this to take him and let him ride the train. We wanted to make this day extra special for our little guy because he has been so gracious and patient with all four of his sisters and always participates in the things they love with a positive outlook, so we wanted to treat him to something he’s been begging to go see. To add to the fun and excitement we purchased a junior engineer kit from the gift shop which included adorable conductor hats and train whistles. To save money on tickets, we purchased some of our tickets on localflavor.com. With the money we saved on train tickets, we were able to reserve the junior engineer kits for the same price as buying just the tickets.
We packed a picnic lunch and headed out that morning to make the day trip down to Chattanooga.
We arrived at the museum about an hour and a half early to give ourselves time to check out the museum side of the event. The folks there were welcoming and let the children test out the mini model train set. There were locomotive coloring pages for the kids to do and lots of rich railroad history to soak in. We enjoyed reading about the trains and how they were operated. We had some time to check out the gift shop and it did not disappoint. There were so many unique gifting items available, so if you want a souvenir, they’ve got you covered. Later, we found some picnic tables near the parking lot and enjoyed eating our lunch while taking in all the sights and sounds of a rail yard.
We decided to book the Missionary Ridge local train.
This train begins at Grand Junction Station and goes over bridges and through the pre-Civil War Missionary Ridge tunnel. The entire train ride is about 55 minutes including a layover where you can get out and observe the train turntable demonstration. There are restrooms and quick snacks available during the layover. When boarding the trains, I would like to note that at least one of the cars does not have air conditioning, and because it was such an old train car, there were pieces of the cloth seats coming off onto our clothes. I love vintage and can respect the fact that they are continuing to use original train cars, but the kids seemed way more comfortable in the newer car. If you have small children or an elderly person with you, I would advise looking for the cars that have air conditioning to better suit their needs.
At various points of the trip, we felt like we were taking a step back in time and enjoying traveling by rail. The kids absolutely loved taking a ride on the train and playing with their junior engineer kit around the house. We all had such a great time and can’t wait to come back when Thomas the Train comes in the spring. Our son will be celebrating his birthday with Thomas the Train, so we know this will be a key memory for him. 
There are lots of other train rides to choose from and some really cool options for all ages. I would love to experience the tea room or any of the Christmas dinner train rides. My husband and I have even talked about that being a great date night adventure some day. There are trains that take off from Chattanooga and Delano at varying price points and train ride durations. Check out their website and book your tickets at tvrail.com.
This looks like such a fun trip!