The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad Motorcar Excursion-Part 2-Bryson City to Andrews | NARCOA

On the trip back, I was driving, so I set my GoPro to record all the way back. I did edit out a good bit to keep the video from being so long.
#POV
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www.gsmr.com

[@TheGrundyRailfan]

GSMR needs to reopen that line at some point in the future because it is BEAUTIFUL

[@SmokyProductions-gb6qv]

Man i wished they reopen that section of the line and let 1702 pound up the grade like it did in the 90s.

[@njlarry100]

Beautiful trip and video! Anyway to add a map of the trip and stats like milage, speed etc? Hope to see more like this and also on the speeders themselves. Thank you.

[@motorcarlamar]

I really should do that. I need to check on copyright restrictions for using images from Google Maps and such. KZbin is real quick to hand out penalties for things like that.

[@DorniNerd]

Great trip! Sad for the jumps in the footage... Might be nothing but green but easier to follow along at home.

[@motorcarlamar]

A full, uncut video would be about 4 hours long and would take about a week to upload (no joke). I don't know if it's because I'm a small channel or what, but processing takes forever.

[@DorniNerd]

@@motorcarlamar Sure! Understand totally.

[@milepost4846]

Wow, I didn't realize they still allowed you all to operate between Andrews and Nantahala still. I thought the track was out of service and trees down all over. Though looks like washouts have taken care of some of the track structure along that stretch and some ties exposed to the streams.

[@motorcarlamar]

They keep the track in pretty good shape. There is a rail-bike tour group that operates out of Andrews now that runs towards Bryson. They go through the tunnel to a picnic area that they have set up. I think it's about five miles each way. It looks like a lot of fun.

[@milepost4846]

@@motorcarlamar I saw a advertisment for the rail bike tour, I'll have to check that out sometime. I cannot remember who it was, but someone invited me to ride with the NARCOA group from Bryson City to Andrews and back, back in the the early 2000's, very fun experience, even operated a hand pump car, really hope to do that again sometime over the GSMR and the Hook and Eye if I ever luck out again. After going to work for NS as a dispatcher for 13 years, I lost track of folks.

[@davidmickley3843]

Can I book an excursion ?

[@theatypicalgenz]

Do citizens get the chance to ride the motor cars just like the train?

[@motorcarlamar]

Sorry, but no. These are all privately owned. Although, at Andrews, NC there is a rail bike outfit that takes people on a 5 mile trip on peddle-powered railcars. I don't know any more about them, but it looks like fun.

[@theatypicalgenz]

@@motorcarlamar Oh, so you can own one like your car for your own transportation or only if work for the train?

[@motorcarlamar]

@@theatypicalgenz Yes, all these cars are owned by individuals. It's a hobby with members from all walks of life. This is a national organization with about 1200 members. it's divided into regions with excursion coordinatorss that contact the railroads. IF a railroad welcomes us, we will rent the railroad for a day or more. We follow all FRA rules and have to pass tests every couple of years plus we have to have insurance. www.narcoa.org