Trolley Car @ The Chattanooga Choo Choo

This trolley car was originally built in 1924 by Pearly Thomas Car Works of High Point, NC. The trolley operated along the Canal Street Line in New Orleans until 1960.

It Came to Chattanooga when the Choo Choo opened as a hotel in 1973. It runs most every day giving guests a tour of the complex. During the down hours, the crew works to restore and refurbish the trolley.

Stong Building - Chattanooga

This flatiron shaped building is next door to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo at the corner of Market and 14th and was operated as the Terminal Hotel to serve reailroad passengers until 1930. The Hotel was operated by Chester Davis who worked at the Choo-Choo termial as a porter and then saved his tip money to purchase this building.

The building was vacated in the 80's and looked ready for demolition until it was purchased in 2006. The new owners in 2009 opened this as the Terminal Brewhouse. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and had been on the Tennessee Preservation Trust’s Top 10 list of endangered buildings.

The Dome ceiling inside the Chattanooga Choo Choo

This information was taken from the Chattanooga Choo Choo website:

The Terminal Station was erected in 1908, with its centerpiece - a magnificent dome - that rose majestically over the concourse. Built of steel and concrete and buttressed by huge brick arches, the dome rested on four steel supports 75 feet apart. Suspended from the ceiling were four brass chandeliers, each with 40 lights circling an 18-inch opal globe. From an architectural standpoint, this dome over the entire 68 x 82 foot general waiting rooms was the most attractive design feature of its time.

It was on the underside of this dome, the part in view above the waiting room, that the only attempt to decorate in colors was made -- artistic plaster embellishments of heraldic emblems, which are now fully restored. The dome was truly lavish and beautiful in its different prismatic colors, especially when lighted at night.

www.choochoo.com/thetrainstation.php?dest=62

This photo was taken near dusk on a clear night.

Train service stopped in 1970, and the depot was converted to a Hotel. The main room with the dome is now the hotel lobby

Chattanooga Choo Choo sign

This is the sign atop the Chattanooga Choo Choo, the hotel and tourist stop inside Chattanooga's Terminal Station

Here's the animated version: