ETSU’s final 2022 Heritage Day is Saturday

Published 8:56 am Wednesday, December 14, 2022

JOHNSON CITY — The great railroads from yesterday will return to life in model form at the free-admission George L. Carter Railroad Museum, located in the Campus Center Building of East Tennessee State University with “Fallen Flags.”

The event is Saturday, Dec. 17, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

The term “Fallen Flags” referred to the removal of real flags from a locomotive at the end of its job, organizers said. Today’s super railroads were spawned by the combing of numerous firms, and to market themselves, most of these operations had signature identities through logos, slogans, songs, paint schemes and more.

“Some of those names were ensconced in song, others were in the public psyche of the past generations,” said Geoff Stunkard, the museum’s Heritage Days coordinator. “Fans recall it was ‘Santa Fe – All the Way,’ ‘the Rock Island Line is a mighty fine line’ and ‘Southern Serves the South,’ plus many others. This is always a fun event because we never know what might show up from members of the Mountain Empire Model Railroad Club, who owns the largest layout in our building.”

Open on Saturdays from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., the Carter Railroad Museum includes model railroad layouts, a special children’s activity room and ongoing programs. There is no admission fee, but donations are welcome.  The museum will be closed on Christmas Eve but will hold a special “Final Whistle Stop” event on New Year’s Eve. Visit www.etsu.edu/railroad for more details.

Identify the museum by a flashing railroad-crossing signal at the back entrance to the Campus Center Building. Visitors should enter ETSU’s campus from State of Franklin Road onto Jack Vest Drive and continue east toward 176 Ross Drive, adjacent to the flashing railroad crossing sign.