2026 Membership Drive
2025 closed out well for the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum. Despite not yet finding a home for our own operations, the strategy of leasing passenger equipment to other tourist railroads continues to fund our operating costs and restoration projects. Progress was made in restoring our L&N coach 3264, including removal of the walls, flooring and kitchen appliances from the car’s last assignment in Pan Am Railways wreck train service.
2026 is especially promising for SARM, with on-going equipment leases and the opportunities to potentially restore and display several cars and locomotives in Oak Ridge. We are currently in the process of acquiring seats for the L&N 3264. In addition, we have begun offering various signals for sale to the public. Most are of Southern Railway heritage, but we also have some available from L&N, Santa Fe, and Burlington.
None of these activities are possible without the many contributions of our membership base. Participation is even more important as we build upon recent successes to ensure long-term viability. Thus, we invite you to join SARM and help with our mission to educate the public of our rich railroad history through restoration, displays, and related activities. Membership information is provided below.
Thus, we ask that you renew SARM membership through our website (sarmrail.org/membership) or by mailing your membership renewal payment to our PO Box address:
SARM, P.O. Box 6756, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831
If you are already a lifetime member, we thank you for that commitment. If not, please consider that option.
-SARM Board of Directors
The Southern Appalachia Railway Museum (SARM) was incorporated in May of 1990 by a small group of people who wanted to preserve the region's railroad history. We wanted to be able to collect regional railroad equipment, artifacts, and data that would assist us in achieving that goal. SARM felt that railroad equipment restoration should be done to operating condition while maintaining the original appearance as much as possible. Basically, our equipment should look and operate as it did in service.
SARM has many ongoing projects: rebuilding our rolling stock, fundraising, sales, ticket office, data cataloging, computer work, souvenir design, and sales are just a few of the things with which we always need assistance. Or, you can just provide moral support. Our membership is a diverse group of all ages, backgrounds, and both genders. If SARM sounds like your kind of railroad museum, then please join. We would love to have you aboard!
Membership helps cover you when working on equipment. Here are the details on the various classes of membership and how to join:
Regular Membership - Any person of good character interested in the railroad hobby and the purpose of this museum shall be eligible for regular membership. Annual dues for this class of membership are $30.
Youth Membership - For individuals under 18 years of age. Annual dues for this class of membership are $20.
Family Membership - To encourage participation in the activities of the museum, we offer Family Memberships for up to 2 adults and 2 children. Family members have all the rights and privileges of a regular member. Annual dues for this class of membership are $75.
Lifetime Membership - Any person, regardless of age, can become a lifetime member of this museum. Lifetime members have all of the rights and privileges of a regular member for the full extent of their natural life. Dues for this class of membership are $450.
Lifetime Family Membership - Covers 2 adults for their natural lifetimes. Each membership has one voting privilege. Dues for this class of membership are $600.
1/19/21
Website Changes/Updates
Hi everyone,
We are working on some major website updates. We’ve been very busy on equipment restoration projects and have some updates for the equipment pages coming soon. Stay tuned!
Interested in helping us out? Become a member (see the Membership button) and send us an email to get on the mailing list.
10/8/2020
New - Donation Button
We’ve had a lot of requests for a PayPal donation button, so here you go. You can specify a project to donate to or just general restoration/maintenance/preservation work. Thanks!
8/26/2020
“Rumors of [our] demise have been greatly exaggerated”
SARM Work sessions continue; continued work towards new operations; new website
The Southern Appalachian Railway Museum is still working on our mission - preserving, restoring, and operation when possible historical railroad equipment. We recently changed our domain name to better reflect our current status. We are now “www.sarmrail.org”. With the recent COVID-19 situation, we’ve limited our membership meetings and work sessions, but we are still working on projects, including restoration of McPhearson and several locomotives.
5/20/2018
SARM Granted $10,000 from John Emery Rail Heritage Trust
The Southern Appalachian Railway Museum is extremely pleased to announce that we have been granted $10,000 from the John Emery Rail Heritage Trust for continued restoration work on the Central of Georgia Fort McPherson passenger coach. The grant is a tremendous boost in project funding and will greatly help restoration work.
Volunteers have been working on cleaning out the car, removing walls and getting new spray foam insulation added. Old 32V DC switchgear has been removed, along with copper steam radiators. We acquired new (to us) seats and frames, and are planning on painting replacement wall panels soon.
This grant from the John Emery Rail Heritage Trust will help us get HVAC systems installed and updated electrical work done on the car.
The museum owns the sister car, the Fort Oglethorpe, and finished restoration on the car approximately 3 years ago.
11/28/2017
SARM Museum Activities Continue
While the Secret City Excursion train operations have ceased, the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum continues its mission of preserving and restoring historic railroad equipment. With the generous help of CSX, Inc., SARM was able to get the Clinchfield 800 F7 beautifully restored. In addition, the SD45 engine got some needed upgrades. These two engines were then the power that pulled the historic 75th annual Santa Train from Shelby KY to Kingsport TN. Many SARM volunteers spent countless hours getting ready for this event. We are very proud to have been a part of such a great cause/event and hope to continue working with CSX, Inc. and the rest of the railroad community to continue preserving and restoring equipment while we looking for a new home for running excursions.
If you would like to help us continue our mission, please feel free to donate. We are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your tax-deductible donations go towards:
1) Car storage fees imposed on us by the track owners at K25
2) Car restoration (we recently purchased new seats to get the Fort McPherson coach available for example)
3) Engine restoration
4) Insurance fees (we still have to pay full liability insurance even though we aren't running excursions)
5) Other on-going expenses such as maintaining our website, etc.
We are working on an online donation button, but in the meantime, donations can be mailed to SARM Donations, P.O. Box 6756, Oak Ridge TN, 37831. If you would like a receipt or to have your donation go to a specific item, please let us know.
Older News
Secret City Excursion Train Operations Cease
It is with great regret that we have to announce the suspension of the Secret City Scenic excursion passenger trains operation. We received notification earlier today from the owners of Heritage Railroad, that they would be unable to renew our Operating Agreement.
In nearly two decades of service SARM is most proud of the thousands of volunteer hours worked and tens of thousands of passengers transported safely.
The museum's extensive equipment collection is safe and we will be working on other opportunities in the future. We would like to thank the Department of Energy, CROET, Energy Solutions, the Oak Ridge Heritage Rail Authority, Walden's Ridge Railroad and the Oak Ridge community for their years of support in this endeavor.
All pre-paid reservations have been refunded.
