Written by L’Nyah Mattress

Racing through the pitch black of the tunnel, dense clouds of steam funnel out the chimney and coal residue fills passengers’ airways as the whistle blares; here comes Southern Railway 4501 charging down the track. The massive steam locomotive is one of many engines in the care of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM).

Jason Fields, a qualified trainman for the TVRM, works to share his lifelong passion for trains and preserve train history in Chattanooga and for anyone who passes through. His position entails working in passenger train service as a historian who gives train tours—from sharing interesting facts to occasionally aiding engineers, he has experienced it all.

“I’ve been going there even before I was in Rail Camp when I was 13, so any chance I could’ve gotten to go out and get involved there, I took it,” said Fields.

Field’s love for trains started when he was a child. Growing up watching Thomas the Train, he fell in love with Edward—an engine with a 4-4-0 wheel base consisting of four wheels in the front, four driving wheels under the boiler, and none under the cab.

“Here in the United States, the first real locomotive that we introduced was called the American Type, 4-4-0, and so I always equated that with him [Edward from Thomas the Train],” said Fields.

Chugging into its 63rd year of preservation, the TVRM continues to preserve the history of railroading in the Chattanooga area. Through individuals like Fields, the TVRM exposes its patrons to the important history of trains in Chattanooga and how railways and engines have evolved through the years.

“We like to run our steam locomotives and actually show the young people what a steam locomotive is. It’s one thing to go to a museum and see a locomotive on display or a passenger car on display,” said Fields. “Our goal is to actually run them and let the public come out and actually see it, hear it and smell it because it’s a whole different ball game, and it really puts a new light on what it takes to be a railroader—not only nowadays, but a hundred plus years ago.”

In the 1950s, the need for trains in America dwindled upon the innovation of airplanes and highway interstates. Striving to keep the dying art of railroading alive, a group of railroad enthusiasts in Chattanooga founded the TVRM in 1961.

“Our goal is to preserve and interpret railroading in the southeast,” Fields said.

Founder’s Day, the anniversary of the TVRM dedicated to sharing its history, the museum outfitted Southern Railway 4501 as another railway’s engine, a Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio (GMO) locomotive, where around 50 railroad photographers came for a night photography session. It was around 70 years ago that the GMO switched to diesel, and one of the TVRM archivist’s grandfather was the one who got rid of steam for that railroad; this Founder’s Day helped honor him and his family.

“Other than that, it was just pretty much normal operations,” said Fields.

Chattanooga’s history with railroads dates back to the 1850s when the first railroads were built here. The city became a major river and railroad hub, having hosted up to seven different railroads at a certain time—major ones being the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, The Western and Atlantic Railroad, and The East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad.

“All of those railroads over the years would combine into the Southern Railway and Louisville-Nashville, and later on, they would become the Norfolk Southern Corporation and CSX Transportation, respectively—those are the two major players in the Chattanooga area that service the railroad industries,” Fields said.

Railroads were strategically used during the early years of the Civil War, remaining true in the Battle for Missionary Ridge. This was a violent battle that involved the Western & Atlantic Railroad, a railway that runs through Chattanooga.

Missionary Ridge, also known as Tunnel Hill, was a major strategic point for the Confederacy and Union as it allowed trains to travel in and out of Chattanooga. At opposite ends of the 986-foot-long tunnel, conflicting sides shot cannons through its entire length in a bloody battle that ended in Union victory.

“By the time the battle was completed, they would have taken the casualties of that battle and thrown them into the tunnel,” said Fields. “It’s said you could climb on those bodies and touch the top of the tunnel, and that tunnel is at least 18 feet tall.”

Aside from preserving history, the TVRM harbors an extensive collection of locomotives and train memorabilia.

“We have over 300 pieces of rolling stock in our collection that are also very regional and regionally significant to the Chattanooga area,” said Fields.

The museum’s most notable piece in their collection would be their steam engine Southern Railway 4501—the first locomotive purchased by the Southern Railway of a class of 485 2-8-2 Mikados built in 1911 by Baldwin Locomotive Works. After running an excursion service from 1966 to 1988 and going through a four-year restoration period for $2.5 million, the locomotive has been running for around ten years now.

“It is the only surviving locomotive of that class left from the Southern,” Fields said.

One of Field’s favorites in their collection is The Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railway Number 80—the first high-hood GP38 diesel locomotive built in 1968 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division. The locomotive was named the John A. Chambliss after the railroad’s vice president and was dedicated to him on his 80th birthday, hence the number 80.

“It went through on the main line with Norfolk’s Southern until it was retired and sold at auction to the Chambliss family; they would turn around and donate it to us here at the museum, and it says [since] 2017 we’ve been running it,” Fields said.

Fields shows his passion for trains and their history everyday as a trainman for the TVRM. From attending the museum’s train camp for children called Rail Camp to now being able to interact with children like him, Fields continues to preserve train history with the TVRM.

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