A new railroad with a nationally-publicized locomotive named " Tweetsie " has come to the famed Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Formally known as the Shenandoah Central Railroad, the new road won't compete with the Southern, which provides freight service into and out of the Valley-nor with any other railroad for that matter. The new road's entire trackage (1 mile) lies on a beautiful rolling farm six miles east of Harrisonburg, Va.

On May 29, people arrived from hundreds of miles around to witness the official dedication of the "Tweetsie Route, " as the little narrow-gauge Railroad is affectionately called. (Narrow-gauge track measures 3-ft. between rails as compared to the standard' gauge of 4-ft., 8-in.) The ceremony was complete with band music, congratulatory messages from officials of the Southern and other neighboring railroads, and even the driving of a "golden " spike by a national figure, Maj. Gen. Carl R. Gray, Jr., Veterans Administrator of Washington, D.,C., and wartime head of the Military Railway Service in 'Europe.

The fanfare, of course, was all for "Tweetsie, " a picturesque little narrow-gauge steam engine once the "queen " of a proud fleet 'of similar engines serving the Grandfather Mountain country of Tennessee and North Carolina since 1866. The pint-size 4-6-0 class engine will pull three equally ancient and colorful passenger cars on its one-mile run through the farm.

Maj. Gen. Carl R. Gray, Jr., Veterans Administrator, Washington, D. C., drove a "golden" spike with a silver-painted spike maul to signify the completion of the Shenandoah Central Railroad.

Passengers board the train at its gleaming white, one-room " depot " alongside U. S. Route 33 at Penn Laird, Va., ride around a curve, through a cut, over a bridge spanning a brook, and arrive at a cool, tree- shaded picnic grove. Travelers are free to use the picnic grounds for as long as they wish. Their "return-trip tickets " are good on any subsequent trip, departures are made every twenty minutes.

The "Tweetsie" is more than an amusement train. It represents the fulfillment of a dream shared by three men to bring back the days of yore and to preserve them with a romantic relic of American railroading.

It all began when Dr. Paul S. Hill, a prominent Harrisonburg surgeon, decided that a few acres of his picturesque livestock farm at Penn Laird would make a perfect site for a small, narrow-gauge railroad. He remembered when as a youngster he used to spend many happy hours after school playing aboard an engine operating on a short-line railroad running near his home.

This early experience with trains kindled an interest in railroading for young Hill and left a lasting ambition to some day have a real train of his own.

Dr. Hill talked over the idea of a railroad on his farm with his close friend, C. Gratton Price, Jr., a former railroader and now an insurance agent at Harrisonburg. Gratton Price readily agreed to become a partner and to contribute his experience with railroads to the venture. His railroad background includes service as a mechanical engineer with a nearby shortline railroad and during World War II he was a member of the Army's Railway Division, serving as engineer for General Eisenhower's train in Europe on occasion.

The spark which was then the Shenandoah Central Railroad was given added fuel when a third man joined the two partners. Wade W. Menefee, Jr., owner and operator of a Harrisonburg coal, oil and feed supply firm caught the "railroad fever" after hearing of the idea and was invited to become an active partner.

From discussions among the partners there arose a plan to buy some out-dated narrow-guage equipment sufficient for a mile-long railroad on Dr. Hill's farm. It was to be a sort of " operating museum " while at the same time satisfying the owners' ambition to " play engineer" at the throttle of a steam engine.

A number of queries were sent to known sources of narrow-gauge equipment. Only one drew a favorable response. The East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad had abandoned its narrow-gauge line in 1950 and still had available one 50-ton locomotive, one combination mail-baggage-passenger car (the only one ever built for a small-gauge track) and an open observation car. The engIne was "Tweetsle".

A sign near the Shenandoah Central's depot marks the start of the ..Tweetsie Route" for motorista driving along U.S. Route 33 near Harrisonburg, Va.

It was "love at first sight" when the three partners saw the toy-like train at Johnson City, Tenn., where it sat gathering dust and facing an uncertain future. But the project seemed doomed to failure even before it began, for the asking price was beyond the means of the prospective railroad operators. The three men's hope was revived, however, when the sympathetic president of the line heard of their purpose and had the purchase price reduced by two-thirds. The happy trio promptly bought the train and had it moved to Penn Laird.

This heart-warming act by the president and board of directors of the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina was the beginning of a series of similar contributions to the project from individuals and companies once word spread of the owners' intentions. A passenger coach was acquired, also for one-third of the asking price, from a Pennsylvania narrow-gauge railroad. A local railroad contributed the necessary rail on a loan basis; grading was done at cost by a local contractor; and track laying was undertaken by a nationally-known railroad building firm at no cost, using materials donated by sympathetic contributors. The Southern, too, joined the list of donors by supplying numerous parts and other items for the engine and cars.

Typical of the tremendous interest aroused by the " Tweetsie " line among railroad fans was the act of a young Marine Corps corporal stationed at a base 300 miles from Harrisonburg who used three days of a four-days' leave polishing "Tweetsie's" boiler jacket and painting the tops of the cars.

All this attention is nothing new to "Tweetsie, " however. In the bygone days when she jauntily rode the rails of the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad with a string of cars clicking merrily behind she was the pride and joy of the mountain people along the way. It was they who bestowed upon her the endearing nickname, perhaps because of the shrill " tweet " of her whistle as it echoed in the mountain passes.

An article about the little engine in a recent issue of the Washington (D. C.) Sunday Star said of "Tweetsie": "Her trainmen ran errands 'in town' for folks on her route. Once she backed up two miles to find a passenger's hat that had blown off. Another time she waited an hour for a passenger to have a tooth pulled. She was the 'Honeymoon Special' for hill- country newlyweds. After the area became popular with 'tourists, she would stop amid the dogwood- covered hills to accommodate camera fans."

Now transplanted to a picture book setting on a Shenandoah Valley farm the little train is again thrilling young and old alike. And most important, its three owners-President Paul S. Hill, Vice President and General Manager C. Gratton Price, Jr., and Secretary-Treasurer Wade W. Menefee, Jr.-have preserved a segment of America's fast-fading, historical narrow-gauge railroads.