Riding the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway

The track this train runs on is the reason Blue Ridge exists. The Marietta and North Georgia Railroad reached the spot in 1886, the town was incorporated the year after, and the depot has been the centre of things ever since. Freight still moves over the same rails: the excursion operation started in 1998 and runs as a subsidiary of the Georgia Northeastern Railroad, which is why the line is maintained to a standard a tourist railway on its own could not justify.

The trip is 26 miles round, north out of town along the Toccoa River to McCaysville on the Georgia side of the state line and its Tennessee twin, Copperhill, then back the way it came. It is not fast and it is not dramatic. It is a slow river valley with hardwood on both banks, back gardens, fishing spots and the occasional wave from somebody's dock. People who board expecting a gorge are disappointed; people who board expecting to sit still for an hour and look at a river are not.

Which trip to book

Two formats, and the difference is the layover.

The extended trip is the default and it is the right one for most adults. The express exists because four hours with a two-hour gap in the middle is a long time for a small child, and because a rainy layover in a town of a thousand people is a long two hours for anyone.

Which car

Three broad options and they suit genuinely different people.

• Open-air cars. Sides open to the air, a roof, bench seating. The best choice in spring and autumn, and the only choice if you want unobstructed photographs. Cold in March and in late November, and you will feel every degree of it at 25 mph with the valley air moving through.
• Enclosed heated cars. Glass, seats, warmth. The sensible choice in winter and on the Santa trains, and the one to book if anyone in the party will be uncomfortable in wind.
• Premier Class. A private car with a tote bag of souvenirs, unlimited drinks, a light snack of cheese, crackers, fruit and a cinnamon bun, a dessert on the way home and a group photograph. Whether that is worth the premium depends entirely on how much you like being fussed over on a train.

There are restrooms on board and a snack car selling concessions, and the railway is equipped with a lift for wheelchairs and motorised scooters. Lap infants have to be held for the duration and taken out of car seats, which is worth knowing before you carry one to the platform.

Which side of the train

This is the most asked question at the ticket window and the answer is more useful than a compass direction.

The train goes out and comes back on the same single track, and the cars are not turned at McCaysville. The locomotive runs round the consist; the carriages stay as they are. That means whichever side of your car faces the Toccoa on the way north faces it again on the way south. You do not get one river side and one bank side. You get the same side for the whole trip.

So it matters, and it is worth asking at the ticket office or the platform which side of your specific car faces the water on the day. Open-air cars sidestep the problem entirely, since you can cross to the other bench when the view changes. If you are in an enclosed car and the answer matters to you, ask before you sit down rather than after.

The layover, honestly

Two hours in McCaysville and Copperhill is either delightful or slightly long, depending on the weather and your appetite for small-town shops.

The thing everybody comes for is the state line. It runs diagonally across the street grid rather than along it, cutting through buildings, and a blue line painted on the pavement marks where Georgia ends and Tennessee begins. People queue politely to be photographed standing with a foot in each state. It is the kind of attraction that sounds thin and is genuinely good fun for about ten minutes.

Two other things worth knowing while you are there. First, the river changes its name under your feet: the Toccoa becomes the Ocoee at the state line, same water, different name, and that single fact explains why tubing here and rafting an hour north are completely different activities. Second, this was copper country. The Copper Basin was mined from the 1840s until 1987, and the roasting of sulphur-bearing ore killed the forest so thoroughly that the hills stood bare red clay for decades. What you see now is reforestation that mostly began in the 1980s. The green is younger than most of the people looking at it.

McCaysville has around 1,150 residents and Copperhill around 440. Lunch options are limited and fill up when a train arrives, so if you have a preference, walk straight there rather than browsing first.

With small children

The honest assessment: excellent for a train-obsessed four-year-old on the express, hard work for a toddler on the extended trip. The ride itself is slow, safe and endlessly interesting to anyone who likes engines. The layover is the difficulty, because it is two hours of a small town with no playground at the end of it and a fixed departure you cannot miss.

If you are travelling with a child under about five, book the express when it runs on your dates. If it does not, book the extended trip anyway but treat the layover as lunch plus the blue line plus a walk to the river, and bring something to do.

When it runs and when to book

Trains generally run Friday to Monday from late March to the last weekend in December, with daily service except Wednesdays in the first full week of April and again from the middle of June to the end of July. Santa trains take over from Thanksgiving weekend until about a week before Christmas, and normal excursions come back for the last week of the year.

October weekend departures are the first thing in Fannin County to sell out and they go a long way in advance. If your trip is built around a fall colour ride, book the train first and plan the rest of the weekend around the departure you actually got.

The depot is at 241 Depot Street in the middle of town and the ticket office publishes hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern. Downtown parking is finite on a Saturday; arrive with time in hand rather than with minutes to spare, because the train will not wait and there is no second one that day.