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Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

thetransitguy.substack.com

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Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#3

Post by flippyhead »

> Dollywood Express, the heritage steam train that operates within Dollywood, has a higher rail ridership than 27 states.

I don't now if it's useful, but this way of putting quanties in context, would be neat to see about all kinds of things. Like how they seem to always do rare things compared to your chance of getting hit by lightning.

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#4

Post by xnx »

> The trains run all day during park hours and can burn through up to four tons of coal per day and 4000 gallons of water.

Oof. That's a lot of coal. ~ 1000 tons of coal/year or the CO2 equivalent of 10 million miles of driving.

Edit: corrected math

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#5

Post by jonah-archive »

I've ridden it before, it's really fun! The two locomotives are Baldwin 2-8-2 Mikados built in 1938/9, more details here: https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=Canada&...

I think my favorite part is when the announcer explains the emergency stop system, and clarifies that getting a cinder in your face doesn't count as an emergency (IIRC they have safety goggles you can wear if you're concerned about it).

EDIT: found a video I took of it going by where you can hear the whistle blow (I was there over the holidays which is why it's decked out for Christmas): https://www.instagram.com/p/B64mteDJUBl/

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#7

Post by lisper »

The comparison of the Dollywood Express ridership to statewide railways is pretty unfair. The Dollywood Express is not really transportation, it's an amusement park ride, more comparable to the Disney Railway than Amtrack, and I'm pretty sure more people ride the Disney Railway than the Dollywood Express. The economics of amusement park rides and actual transportation systems are radically different. (Actually, the Disney Monorail(s) would be a more apt comparison because it actually serves as transportation!)

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#9

Post by moron4hire »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #2

It's a great time, highly recommend if you're in the area.

I concur. We did a family trip a few years ago with my parents and my sister and her family. 5 adults (2 in their 60s) and 3 children aged 5 to 8. Pigeon Forge and Dollywood were a great experience for everyone.

My mother has some mobility issues and the park was pretty well laid out for her to get around with an electric scooter. The park has lots of rides for different ages of children. And the surrounding Pigeon Forge area has lots of other attractions to make a jam-packed week of activities.

Re: Dolly Parton's Dollywood Express

#10

Post by crooked-v »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #2

It's a great time, highly recommend if you're in the area.

For people who aren't theme park nerds: Dollywood consistently gets ranked as one of the best theme parks in the US. It's absolutely worth planning a vacation around if you generally like that sort of stuff but shudder at the current pricing of Disney/Universal.

The city it's in is also right next door to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so it's very easy to make a day trip for various trails or tours.

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