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Monday, September 19, 2011

A little ride to Andrews

So where is Andrews???? About 35 West of Bryson City. On  a railroad with a speed limit of just 15 it was a long trip, BUT a very scenic trip. Maybe that is why it was called a “Photo Excursion.” You may remember back last May when we rode the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad and i rode in the cab with Engineer Dale…. well Dale was our engineer again today and gave us a wonderful smooth ride. Part of the trip involved climbing a mountain which has a 5% grade. (The max grade on a railroad is 6%.)  We stopped twice and got off to photo and video the train coming through. The videos will get posted after i edit them. For now here are some stills of the trip.

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Most of the turns on the GSMR are really tight. One has a 5 mph speed limit due to limited sight distance (about 100 ft).

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 IMG_0734 IMG_0739The mountain scenes get better and better around every turn.

 

 

 

 

These are a few of the barns seen along the way.

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These are house boats on Lake Fontana. They are permanently anchored and moored. The owners get to them by boat. If you are wondering what happens when you flush,,,, well you call for the ‘pump-out boat’. This is part of the fees a houseboat owner would pay yearly. Not advised for sleepwalkers though!!!!

Grenville

9 comments:

MadSnapper said...

the slow speeds enable lots of photo shots. love the barn and the house boat and can feel the train rocking along.

Tammy@Simple Southern Happiness said...

I am sure enjoying your trip, more please~~

I so want to take a train trip like this. Maybe one day. Such a beautiful place.

Have a safe trip home!

Anonymous said...

Just beautiful! Well I know where to go when I retire one day! I love those barns and especially the house boats!

I almost bought a boat to make it a house boat once but moved to the county I live now instead, far away from any bigger lake :-) :-)

Thanks for showing us this fantastic place and train ride!

Christer.

Carole Barkett said...

beautiful place, love the hous boats. I could live in one of those :O)

Susie Swanson said...

Awww, you should have called me, I'm just down the road on the outskirts of Murphy, going towards Georgia on 19/129..

Susie Swanson said...

Awww, you should have called me, I'm just down the road on the outskirts of Murphy, going towards Georgia on 19/129..

Connie said...

Looks like a lot of fun with lots to see. Cool houseboats! :-)

Elaine said...

You must have been in heaven getting to take two train rides like these! They look wonderful.

Ginnie said...

Lovely photos but I especially like the barns. There was a time when I drove all over NC taking pictures of just barns. Great.