The Chattanooga Choo Choo and the Model Railroad Display

The hotel offers 100 well-appointed guest rooms, each featuring a microwave, refrigerator, cable satellite television with HBO, high-speed internet access, coffee makers, am/fm alarm clocks. This two story facility with exterior corridors is well appointed and nicely maintained. There was an outdoor pool, dry cleaning, and large meeting rooms. The staff was very helpful and did their best to answer any questions. One of the special things about this particular hotel was that there was an on-site 24 hour restaurant called the City Café that offered a discount to hotel guests.

Back around 1905 the Southern Railroad purchased the property and built a new passenger station with a huge domed ceiling. At the time it was the most attractive design of the time. By 1908 the station was operational and began serving the city with passenger rail service. But as the world changes so did Chattanooga and in 1970 the last train pulled out of the station.

The Chattanooga Choo Choo on display at the station is a restored version of the same Baldwin wood burning steam engine that made those first non-stop runs.

The Model Railroad layout started in 1973 when an agreement was made between the Chattanooga Choo Choo and the Area Model Railroad Club. Today they have created one of, if not the largest and most detailed HO scale (1:87) layouts open to the public. More than 50,000 hours have been put into the layout, and includes over 3,000 feet of track, 320 structures, 150 switches, 120 locomotives of all types, 1000 freight cars, 80 passenger cars, three major yards, two small yards, and four passenger stations. The layout covers an area almost 175 feet long and 33 feet wide at its widest point. The detail shows from all of the local Chattanooga buildings, Outlook Mountain, and very realistic water and smoke.

If you like model railroading at all this is going to be the best thing you have ever seen!!

It is unusual enough to have a 24 hour restaurant attached to the motel or hotel where you are staying, but to have one that actually is worth eating in is even more unusual. Well, to look at this one you saw neon lights, mirrors, colors, and even a big turning display of some of the most outrageous cakes you have ever seen. And all of them were made right there. And none of those cakes were small, but at least six or seven inches high and so nicely decorated you could drool just looking. The Menu of breakfast, lunch and dinners was much like you would find in any slightly nicer than Denny’s type place. Large portions, excellent taste and decent prices. Needless to say, our meal was very good.

Lookout Mountains cave system has been a part of the local history for centuries, but in 1905 the Southern Railroad Co in building its rail system had to cut a tunnel across the face of Lookout Mountain and close off the natural entrance.

A local cave enthusiast, Leo Lambert, knew about the cave and wanted to reopen it but from a different point. He wanted to drop an elevator shaft down from well above. He finally got enough investors together and in the fall of 1928 began the effort. Then on Dec. 28th a small void in the rock gushed some air. This was not expected because it was 160 feet above the original cave. A small crew went down to explore the new find. It was only 18 inches high and about five feet wide. They crawled through and found some wonderful formations and finally the falls. That first entry took them 17 hours for the round trip. Leo was so pleased with his discovery that he went and got his wife to join him on a return trip into the cave. When they arrived at the falls he proclaimed that he was naming the falls after her…. and thus it became Ruby Falls.

Today only the Ruby Falls cave is open to the public and it has been opened up with fairly level trails cut so that you can walk to the 145 foot tall falls which is over 1100 feet below ground. This as a real thrill to see and experience.