Little River Railroad (Tennessee)

The Little River Lumber Company owned over 76,000 acres (31,000 ha) of prime forest land in Blount and Sevier counties.

In 1925 Townsend agreed to deed all of the holdings of the Little River Lumber Company to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for $273,557, or $3.58 per acre.

The purchase permitted the Little River Lumber Company to continue logging within the park boundaries until 1938.

Today, the Little River Lumber Co & Railroad Museum in Townsend, Tennessee, preserves the history of the LRR.

Within this section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are numerous trails that owe their existence to the LRR.

The Little River Railroad and Lumber Company Museum in Townsend, Tennessee. The red machine on the left is a logging skidder, used to load logs onto flat cars. A 70-ton Shay engine, used to pull a typical logging railroad, is in the back in the center. A railroad flatcar, which carried the logs, is on the right.
70-ton Shay engine at the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company Museum in Townsend, Tennessee. This particular engine was used in the Tellico area to the west of Tuckaleechee.