Train Excursions on the Mercury and Chase Railroad

The North Alabama Railroad Museum will run several train excursions on its line April through October. Please see our Train Ride Schedule for more details. This year, thanks to a lot of hard work by our track crew, we have opened up a new extension to our line. This extends our trackage to make a total roundtrip of 10 miles, with some great new scenery thrown in. We now cross a high fill with a babbling brook below in a valley. The train travels over a section of the historic Huntsville Branch of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway. The train passengers will board when visiting the North Alabama Railroad Museum presently consists of a recently repainted vintage diesel locomotive, a 60 seat air conditioned passenger coach, a baggage car that has been prepared to use as an observation car and our converted dining car. Starting at the front of the train, the locomotive is a 1949 ALCo S-2 with a 1000 horsepower turbo-charged diesel engine. It has recently been repainted in a paint scheme fashioned after that of the of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway in that era. You may find out more about our ALCo locomotive by looking at our Recently Completed Projects page. The coach we use, No. 6082, was made in 1939 by the Budd Company for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Later it was sold to Amtrak from whom it was purchased by NARM. The baggage car is an ex-Southern Railway unit, No. 139, that has been prepared to use as an observation car complete with depot style benches. This car is used to sell railroad and museum souvenirs and other items. If you like the wind in your hair, this could be the car for you ! The dining car began life as an Army hospital car and later it was used as a Stategic Air Command car by the airforce. Much hard work was put into the effort to convert this car over to a dining car, but we think it worked out quite well.

On our regular excursion that lasts about an hour and fourty minutes, the train departs from the Chase depot and travels down hill to the west. We keep our track in tip-top shape and safety is always our number one concern. As we cross Chase Road and then Higdon Road you will hear the sounds of the steam-like Hancock air chime (whistle). As we approach the woods, be on the lookout for the museum's menagerie of concrete animals. Look carefully, they get really still when the train rumbles by. There are some more sites to see as we go deeper in the woods and reach the culvert. There, our "aquatic life", as we jokingly call our concrete porpoise and frog, await the train. The kids can keep a watchful eye out for some real horses in these parts as well (not to mention smaller animals you would expect to see in the woods)! Then we reach the stop known as Normal, Alabama. This is located just across from Alabama A&M University .

At Normal, the train pulls into a siding and the locomotive is uncoupled, runs around the train and then is re-coupled on the other end to begin the trip back east. After we do our brake test and throw some switches, we're on our way. Slowly we will chug up the hill towards the Chase depot with an occasional burst of smoke from the locomotive as it works hard in "transition". After we cross the previously mentioned two roads, look for the Chase depot which will be visible on the south side of the train and wave at the Station Operator as he or she inspects our train. Then the train crosses Moores Mill Road where we kick in "Big Mamma", our extra loud Nathan air horns. Hold your ears ! Then we pass the museum's storage compound and proceed into the woods. Depending on the season, we have seen several types of interesting wildlife here, such as deer, owls, rabbits, groundhogs and even an occasional snake slithering accross the tracks. Keep an eye out for such interesting sites as we proceed east. Finally we reach the TVA siding, which used to be our terminus until recently. But thanks to the hard work of our track gang now we are able to take you much futher. Next we come to Shields Road. From this point you are riding on newly laid track. We will cross several residential crossings, cross a culvert and stream over a high fill and make our way into a newly developed subdivision. Then we reach the end of the line at Naugher Road. Here we have another run-around track and while the passengers enjoy the open scenery, the hard working train crew puts the locomotive on the front of the train for the return trip. After the train is again coupled up and the brake test is completed we begin our trip back to Chase. Now it's your turn to sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery ! Upon arrival at the Chase depot, the passengers are greeted by friendly waves as they complete their 10 mile trip. Hope you enjoy your trip!

Please, when you visit, do not walk on top of the rails or allow children to. Rails are very slippery and can cause a very nasty fall. We want your visit to the museum to be an enjoyable one.

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Last updated 02/07/2001