The railroad exhibit features an introductory 10-minute film and approximately 20 panels as well as railroad artifacts. The film also features Andrews Geyser in Old Fort and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial in Asheville.

The exhibit consists of numerous panels, each one describing a different aspect of western North Carolina’s railroad history. The panels describe the convicts building the railroad in the 1870s and how the trains made this part of the state more accessible for tourists and commerce. It shows how the Southern Railway and the Clinchfield Railroad both made an enormous impact on mountain people and their communities. Because of the railroads, towns like Marion, Asheville, Hot Springs, Black Mountain, Little Switzerland and Waynesville became vacation destinations for all kinds of people, according to a brochure.

Other panels talk about the many small logging railroads that operated back in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Events such as the great flood of 1916 and how they devastated the rail lines are described.

The exhibit is expected to be open most Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons and early evenings from 2 until 6 p.m., except on holidays such as Good Friday, through approximately June 15. After June 15, the display will head to Saluda, which is home to the steepest mainline railroad grade in the United States.