Check the museum's web-site or call for train ride schedules. The restoration job done on the roundhouse and passenger station, and the working equipment, is first class. This museum is among the finest. Definitely worth a day trip if your are within 200 miles. Hours are reduced and the museum is closed Mondays during winter.
Admission is free.
Off the Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 291 at the Boone exit. The Tweetsie Railroad is North Carolina's first theme park, and offers a trip back into the days of the Old West. Hop aboard the train for an unforgettable three-mile journey through the scenic mountains . . . Can-Can girls at the Palace Saloon. Walk down Main Street, and chat with the cowpokes and gunslingers.