Graham County Railroad a short line connecting with Southern in the North Carolina Mountains starts a scenic passenger service operating to and from a station that is also a railroad museum.

The little Shay engine with its off-center boiler chugs and puffs up the steep inclines and around the sharp turns at a steady six miles per hour. Behind it, riding in specially-designed open-sided cars, rail buffs and nature buffs and other assorted tourists take in the breathtaking beauty of Nantahala Gorge.

This is the Graham County Railroad, its steam up and its rail polished by the steady trips of the Shay "side-winders" carrying delighted youngsters and oldsters alike on the nine-mile excursions begun this past summer at "Bear Creek Junction."

A large crowd gathered at the Bear Creek Junction depot, modeled after an 1890's Southern Railway station, to watch the driving of the final spike required to open the Graham County Railroad's scenic passenger service.

Latest "place-to-see" in the fast-growing Smoky Mountain recreation area, Bear Creek Junction has much to do with Southern Railway. The Graham County Railroad, a small but busy freight line, has for years interchanged freight cars with Southern, which is its link with the South and the rest of the nation. The authentic depot where passengers buy tickets for the scenic steam rides is modeled after a turn-of-the-century Southern Railway depot in Scottsboro, Ala. Old rail- road cars, some of them Southern, are a prime attraction for visitors to the museum at Bear Creek Junction.

Shays have been operating over the Graham County Railroad since 1925, but until recently were limited to freight service only. Now they not only provide an opportunity for a steam journey through some of the nation's most picturesque countryside, but start and end the ride at a station designed to be a railfan's delight.

A museum is housed in several old railroad cars, and uses exhibits such as the "history of rail" pictured here to tell the fascinating 140-year-Iong story of America's railroads.

Between train rides, visitors can spend hours inspecting the railroad museum exhibits housed in several old boxcars, enjoy lunch served in a real dining car, or while away the time in the old-style depot, which also houses a museum and gift shop.

Railroad cars in the museum include a suburban passenger car, old cabooses, baggage cars, Pullmans, freight cars, and combination mail and baggage cars. Most popular of all, though, is the car called the "most distinctive of all exhibits" by the Asheville (N. C.) Citizen-Times-the one carrying the name and color- scheme of the famous parlor-observation car from the old Crescent Limited, the Robert E. Lee. "This car," the Citizen- Times described, "has the distinctive brass- railed rear platform, green and white awning, with the Crescent Limited lighted disc. It is painted in three shades of green, the same famous authentic greens that' marked the charm of the early days of the Crescent Limited . . ."

Nestled in what have been called the "oldest mountains in North America," the depot and tracks of the Graham County Railroad enjoy one of the most scenic settings of any railroad-providing ideal backgrounds for the cameras of railfans and nature buffs alike.

But for almost every visitor, the high point of the day begins at the ticket window of the depot at Bear Creek Junction. Signaled by the conductor's husky " All-l-l aboa-a-ard," the little Shay's idle puffing turns to the steady chug it will hold throughout the hour-long journey. In minutes only a plume of engine smoke marks the little train's passage .4lmong the trees of Nantahala National Forest.

At the half-way point-near the small railroad's junction with Southern Railway-the engine stops for a while, allowing passengers to climb to "photographer's roost" to see and photograph the landscape of the 1,OOO-foot-deep gorge formed through thousands of years by the flowing waters of Nantahala River.

Bear Creek Junction is a cooperative enterprise of the Graham County Railroad and Government Services, Inc., the corporation which operates Fontana Village Resort in the Great Smokies. Development of the rail line and museum station owes much to the interest of John B. Veach, president of the railroad and chairman of the board of the Bemis Hardwood Lumber Company, who felt that a scenic steam railroad trip in this area of rugged natural beauty would have a great appeal to the public.

The little Shays which have for years linked their mountain-based shippers with Southern Railway and hence the rest of the nation, will now also provide reminiscing oldsters and goggle-eyed youngsters with the sights and sounds of the "Age of Steam."

Now, each summer, Shay engines will answer railfans' dreams. And, mingled with the hoarse melody of the Shay whistles, an occasional diesel air chime will serve as a reminder to passengers that they are enjoying an earlier age of railroading. .