Toe River Model Railroaders

08/22/2023

It truly is great to see all of the new followers on our page. I'm sorry that I don't always post very much. This page is for informational purposes. Hopefully we can get some new group members to join our team!!! Take care everyone!!!😋🙃🚂

05/01/2023

Our layout at Child Fest with a special guest!!

It's May Day. Globally it's a day to recognize workers. So we present Sam, handing out flyers for the Orchard and "working" at ChildFest this past weekend. Think he's having too much fun to call it work, but...

01/21/2023

Hello folks. Here we have our window display. Still set to Christmas!! We do periodically update this scene, soon to happen again. This is located in the window of Tree House Realty next to one of our favorite eateries, DT's Coffee Shop. Have a great day folks!!🚂😃

01/21/2023

Hey folks. Sorry we haven't posted much. COVID put a real hitch in everything. I wanted to post our latest group of childrens creations. Here we have a Mars Settlement, a Farm, and a Stunt Track. Hope you like. Thanks. Caleb🚂😃

05/06/2022

Hello folks. We are back at the Orchard at Altapass this year. We just uncovered the layout from winter storage and have added a barrier fence to keep the kiddos from crawling onto the layout. We are also adding 12 more feet which includes a historic Altapass scene and an Over the Mountains Boys scene. The season at the orchard begins this Saturday, (I think). We look forward to progress on the layout and working with the public!! Can't wait to see you all there!! 😁 Caleb

02/03/2022

Work on the layout at the Orchard this past season.

09/13/2021

Poor Mary.

On September 11, 1916, an itinerant hotel clerk in St. Paul, Virginia, was hired by a circus that happened to be traveling through town. This clerk, Red Eldridge, was to learn how to handle the circus’ elephants and become an elephant keeper.

That was not to be.

The next day the Sparks World Famous Shows circus made a stop in the brand new city of Kingsport, Tennessee, for a show. Prior to the show a parade was held with an elephant named Mary in the lead, since she was the main attraction. Eldridge rode atop Mary In the parade.

As the parade proceeded through town Mary noticed a watermelon rind someone had discarded beside the road and, being a bit hungry, decided she was going to eat it. When she moved out of line, Eldridge prodded her behind the ear with a metal hook to get her attention, something he shouldn’t have done.

Mary, it’s said, was found to have had a bad tooth in the area behind that ear and didn’t like the prodding. Enraged, she reached up with her trunk, grabbed Red and threw him to the ground, then stepped on his head, killing him.

There are several accounts as to what happened next, many of them silly and many of them gruesome, but there is no doubt that a decision was made to euthanize the elephant, since she had had other instances of losing her temper in the past.

On this day in 1916, after a Sparks show in Erwin, and before a large crowd of 2,500 circus-goers, Mary the elephant was placed next to a railroad derrick in the Clinchfield Railroad railyard, a chain placed around her neck, and she was hanged on the second attempt (the first failed when the chain broke).

(The photo is reported to be of Mary, with Red Eldridge riding on her back during the 1916 parade)

02/26/2021

Hello folks! Starting tomorrow through Saturday is the train show at the Ashville Ag Center in Fletcher. We hope to see many happy faces there with masks on of course!! Be safe everyone!!!😷😃🚂🚃

12/08/2020

Hello everybody! We hope all are well and safe! We are open with restrictions, face masks, distancing, etc.. Also we have trainsets available for no cost. We are looking for disabled, destitute, and deserving children. Always we are open Wednesdays 2to5PM. We hope to see you. Thanks, Caleb

10/07/2020

09/30/2020

Great!