The family is planing a vacation to Florida this spring which will take use right through Chattanooga. Time is limited for a stop. We may not have time to ride a train. If not is there anything to see? The TVRM site is vague on what if anything there is too see at Grand Junction Station. It refers to "our main display yard" there but does not say what that entails.

At East Chattanooga it days that the shop tour is part of the 55 minute excursion. Is the shop tour available without the ride?

Information would be greatly appreciated.

There are a few items to see at the TVRM Grand Junction Yard. We are not very specific about items on display as they tend to get relocated from time to time, seeing as the yard also serves as a working storage yard for equipment not in use. We do have a Display Car with exhibits located at that yard that is open to visitors. Rolling stock of interest on display consists of an an ex-Central of Georgia 4-4-0 built in 1893 along with Baltimore and Ohio No. 98 (office car) and Pullman No. 97-the Clover Colony. Visitors can enter the cab of the locomotive but neither passenger car is open .

As far as the ride and the shop tour, it takes at a minimum 75 minutes without deleting the shop tour. I know this because I timed it when I was a passenger conductor there. Usually the tour is provided by one of the trainmen. The yard at East Chattanooga is a repair facility and passengers are not permitted to leave the public walkway or enter the machine shop area unaccompanied. Unfortunately, if the East Chattanooga Depot is closed there is not much in the way of passenger services at East Chattanooga due to the amount of work that the shop has.