The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

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Greg_Lewis
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The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by Greg_Lewis »

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LivingLegend
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by LivingLegend »

Last time I visited the Chattanooga Choo-Choo hotel was the last time N&W 611 ran from Birmingham to Chattanooga back in the 90s. I would usually chase the steam excursions NS made out of Birmingham..... 611, 1218, 4501, A&WP 290, etc. NS used the hotel as the end of the first leg of the "steam train" trips running into Chattanooga. While the tender was refueled and filled with water, passengers ate lunch in the hotel and then had time to roam around the area until boarding for the return trip.

The hotel had a large model railroad layout inside. Last I heard it had been, or was about to be removed.
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Pontiacguy1
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

The huge model railroad display has been torn out. No longer there. I was over there back in December and was told it had been removed. First time ever to go to the Choo-Choo and not see that. From what I heard, they offered the model railroad club a smaller space right off of the main rotunda where you check in for building another model railroad. If I was them, I would refuse. What's to say they don't decide 2-3 years from now that they want something else in that space too? The whole thing about the display being torn out is, I heard that the owner of the hotel has let his son pretty much take over the business, and he's not into nostalgia and all that, and wanted that space upstairs to turn it into a comedy lounge. They've also cut the gift shop size in about half. Lots of changes over there, not all of them good.

RayeRoad's 3/4" scale Atlantic is still on display where you enter the gift shop.

They also told me that they are going to stop doing the trolley car ride too! At least that's what the plan was when I was there last. They were just going to park it and display it, not run it anymore.
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LVRR2095
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by LVRR2095 »

When in the area I would highly recommend riding the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway. The views are magnificent.
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Fender
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by Fender »

Anybody know what happened to the Atlantic that was on display at the Choo Choo hotel? I understand it has been removed.
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Bill Shields
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by Bill Shields »

get FENDER to act as tour guide....giggle
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

They used to have a 1/2" scale (Gauge 3) 4-6-4 steamer displayed upstairs right where you entered the model railroad display. It was Built by a Mr. Ribbeck back in the late 1940's. That ended up being removed and is now on display in the Tennessee Valley Railroad depot where you board their local. Last time I was at the Choo-Choo hotel, about 20 months ago, the Rayeroad 3/4" Atlantic was still there. If they have decided to get rid of it, it might end up over at TVR as well. I'm not surprised about its disappearance based on the other decisions that management seems to be making in the past couple of years.
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Fender
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by Fender »

The Atlantic wasn't at TVRM when I was there last weekend. The model RR guys were very upset about the disppearance of the Atlantic, and didn't know what happened to it.
Dan Watson
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Steve Bratina
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by Steve Bratina »

A while back, when I posted about this engine, the original owner seemed to be interested in it. Maybe he bought it back?
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Pipescs
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by Pipescs »

All this aside, I will only speak to the quality of the service and the hotel. I have stayed there twice. The first time was to attend a conference in the area. At the time I was spending sixty to a hundred days on the road, so I get to see a lot of hotels, some good, some bad. The service was non existent and the room was dingy and had a smell. When I called down to the desk they sent up a made with a can of Lysol for me to spray.

Some years later my wife and two other families booked rooms. Once again we found the rooms dingy and found ants in the bathroom. When we called down to the desk to complain the sent us a can of spray raid and left it outside our door. The other two families moved out of the hotel during the night after finding ants in bed with them. This after the management said there were no other rooms to give them. They were not offered a refund by the way.

The next morning when I asked to speak with a manager, he would not even come out to the desk.

Needless to say we have not been back.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by Greg_Lewis »

You can look them up on TripAdvisor. The recent reviews are mixed.
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johnpenn74
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Re: The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

Post by johnpenn74 »

It was there when I came up for the EP spring meet. Took a photo. It was in the dining room then.
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