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Dollywood

Dollywood

Dollywood is a theme park jointly owned by entertainer Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment. It is located in the Knoxville-Smoky Mountains metroplex in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Hosting over 3 million guests in a typical season-Presidents' Day to the Christmas holidays-Dollywood is the biggest "ticketed" tourist attraction in Tennessee.

In addition to standard amusement park thrill rides, Dollywood features traditional crafts and music of the Smoky Mountains area. The park hosts a number of concerts and musical events each year, including appearances by Parton and her family, as well as other national and local musical acts, and is the site of the Southern Gospel Museum and Hall of Fame. Wild Eagle, America's first wing coaster, entering the brake run.

Alongside sister waterpark Dollywood's Splash Country (35-acre), and Dollywood's DreamMore Resort (100-acre), and Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner Attraction (5 acres), Dollywood is the anchor of Parton's 295-acre Dollywood amusement resort.

The park opened in early 1961 as a small tourist attraction by the Robins brothers from Blowing Rock, North Carolina, named "Rebel Railroad", featuring a steam train, general store, blacksmith shop, and saloon. In the spirit of the Civil War, centennial visitors could ride the train and experience an attack by Union soldiers, train robbers, and another attack by Indians. The train and its riders were protected by Confederates who fought off the attacks, thus the name "Rebel Railroad". The park was modeled after the Robins brothers' first successful theme park, Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock. In 1970, Rebel Railroad was renamed "Goldrush Junction" when it was bought by Art Modell, who also owned the Cleveland Browns football team. In 1976, Jack and Pete Herschend bought Goldrush Junction and renamed it "Goldrush" for the 1976 season. In 1977, they renamed it "Silver Dollar City Tennessee" as a sister park to their original Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.

In 1986, Dolly Parton, who grew up in the area, bought an interest in Silver Dollar City. As part of the deal, the park reopened for the 1986 season as "Dollywood". In 2010, Parton said she became involved with the operation because she "always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, that I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area."

Dollywood has 3,000 people on its payroll, making it the largest employer in that community.

From 1986 to 2010, the park doubled in size to 150 acres. In 2009, the park had a six percent decline in attendance, which a park spokesman attributed to bad weather, however, many other theme parks in the United States suffered attendance drops that year, as often happens to relatively high-priced tourist attractions in recessions. As of 2017, the prices for admission to the park are $67 for adults and $54 for children.

On November 16, 2010, Dollywood earned the industry's most prestigious award, the Liseberg Applause Award, which was accepted by Dolly Parton during a ceremony at IAAPA Attractions Expo 2010 in Orlando.

Parton said in 2010 that she would like to open more Dollywood parks in the future. "We definitely want to expand with new things every year, eventually with a resort," she said. "We may eventually have Dollywoods in other parts of the country, where we can kind of be true to whatever's going on in that part of the world."

During an announcement on August 21, 2013, Parton announced Dollywood's DreamMore Resort, which opened on July 27, 2015.

Further information: List of Dollywood attractions

Dollywood is organized into ten themed areas. The Showstreet, Rivertown Junction, Craftsmen's Valley, Village, Country Fair, Timber Canyon, and Jukebox Junction areas reflect the historical eras and culture of east Tennessee, while the Owens Farm and Adventures in Imagination areas explore Dolly Parton's life and imagination. Many attractions focus on the history and culture of the Southern Appalachian region. Dollywood features a full-size steam train, one of the park's signature attractions.

Festival of Nations offers five weeks of cultural events by performers from around the world.
Barbeque & Bluegrass is a bluegrass music and barbecue festival including world-renowned bluegrass musicians and the award-winning barbeque.
Great American Summer, a summer festival, includes new shows and a nightly fireworks display.
National Southern Gospel & Harvest Celebration features gospel music and professional craftsmen.
Smoky Mountain Christmas is a nine-time award winner of America's Best Christmas Event and features holiday performances and four million holiday lights.

The Dollywood Express is a 3 ft narrow gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

It runs along a 2.5 mile loop-to-loop track from the Village to the top of the mountain Dollywood borders to the north. It is pulled by two ex-White Pass & Yukon Route 2-8-2 mikado steam locomotives, each burning five tons of coal each day. It is the oldest attraction in Dollywood, opening at the theme park "Rebel Railroad" in 1961. It is also one of the signature attractions at Dollywood, appearing in almost all advertising.

In 1957, North Carolina real-estate developer Grover Robbins opened a theme park between Boone and Blowing Rock called Tweetsie Railroad with ex-East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad 4-6-0 12. The park was an instant success. In 1961, he acquired two USATC S118 Class 2-8-2s from the White Pass. The success of Tweetsie prompted him to send one of them, 192, to the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee for a second theme park, called Rebel Railroad. The other, 190, was sent to Tweetsie and still operates there.

In 1966, Robbins renamed the attraction Gold Rush Junction and a western-style "shootout" was added at the midway point in the ride, allowing the locomotive to stop and "cool its heels". In 1970 the Cleveland Browns football team bought the attraction, but the locomotive and cars retained their colors and text.

In 1976, Jack and Pete Herschend bought Gold Rush Junction, renaming it Silver Dollar City Tennessee, making it a sister park to its Branson, Missouri attraction Silver Dollar City. The ride was renamed again. This time, instead of a minor text change, 192 was given a complete new look. She was painted black instead of Tweetsie green. She was also fitted with balloon stacks to give her a more western look. In 1977, the ride acquired two new locomotives from the WP&YR, 70 and 71.

In 1986, Dolly Parton became part owner of the property, and the park was renamed Dollywood. The ride, to go with the new name, was renamed Dollywood Express. After the 2004 operating season, the park removed the balloon stacks, which were proving to be unpopular, and gave the locomotives a new coat of paint. Since the removal of the balloon stacks, the locomotive's paint schemes have been constantly changing.

Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this locomotive was the first 2-8-2 owned by the White Pass. It is one of Dollywood's most famous ride vehicles, and burns two tons of coal each day. She was built in 1938, and operated on the White Pass until 1963. She was sold to Silver Dollar City TN in 1977, and became known as Cinderella and was undergoing a rebuild and in 2010 went back in service.

The 70 is a 2-8-2 built in 1938 by Baldwin. It has 17" cylinder diameter with a 22" stroke. Total engine weight is 235,000 pounds generating 25,200 pounds of tractive effort through 44 inches drivers. It is superheated with front-end throttle and power reverse and a 6-ET Brake Stand.

Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this locomotive is the ride's least-known locomotive. She was built in 1939 and ran on the White Pass until 1963. She was sold along with #70 to Silver Dollar City in 1977, and is sitting behind the backshop, her wheels and cab detached and on the ground nearby. She will not return to service in the near future.

Engine 72 was built by Baldwin in 1947 and operated on the White Pass until 1964. It was destroyed in a roundhouse fire in Skagway, Alaska in 1969. Everything besides the chassis was scrapped in 1974. The remains were sold to the Silver Dollar City in 1977 along with #70 and #71. Dollywood scrapped the chassis in 1999.

A 2-8-0 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in November 1887 for the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railway as their 419. In 1894, it became Southern Railway 107. In 1942, it was sold to the Smoky Mountain Railroad to help with the construction of the Douglas Dam. It retired when the SMRR brought in a GE 44-ton switcher on December 9th, 1954. The 107 is a 4 ft 8 1/2 in standard gauge locomotive, and thus has never run on the park's tracks. She has been on static display near the entrance of Dollywood since it opened as Rebel Railroad in 1961. She has been repainted many times to keep up with the ride's ever-changing paint schemes, and is currently wearing the Black and Silver Livery of 2011.

Built by Baldwin for the US military in 1943, 192 is slightly lighter than the other locomotives at Dollywood, being a USATC 190 Class 2-8-2, but still burns two tons of coal every day. The Army turned the locomotive over to the White Pass in 1946. She operated there until 1958. She was sold to the Rebel Railroad in 1960 and began operation there in 1961, and has worked there through the various ownerships and name changes the property has undergone, known as Klondike Katie. This has earned her the position as the Express's representative locomotive, occupying the official website's photo album, most T-shirts and merchandising.

The 192 is a 2-8-2 built in 1943 by Baldwin. It has total engine weight 118,000 pounds producing 16,000 pounds tractive effort through 48 inches drivers. It has 16 inches diameter cylinders with a 24 inches stroke. It is a superheated with dome throttle and Johnson Bar and a 6-ET Brake Stand.

Depending on the park's operating schedule, the general timetable for departing trains begin an hour and a half after opening, and the final run one hour before the park closes. The fireman will report to work about three hours before departure, and will begin inspections. The track is inspected each morning, and the locomotive is serviced by removing the stack gag, opening all operating valves to appliances to test their operation, as well as blowing down the sight glasses, cleaning the banked fire, cleaning the smokebox cinder bonnet, refilling lubricators, cleaning the ashpit, coaling the tender, and a scrubbing down of locomotive and tender with soap and water. Once the engine has been serviced, the engineer or fireman will perform a hammer test on all pins, nuts, and wedges on the running gear and replace brake shoes and tighten up driving box wedges as necessary. The whole process usually takes 1.5 hours to make the engine operational for the day, and the rest of the time is used to clean and make adjustments.

Once the train is ready and a brake test has been performed, the train is pulled around the lower loop into the station. The consist is generally seven open-sided, bench seat style cars, which were constructed for the park from former East Broad Top Railroad freight equipment. The last car on the train is capable of wheelchair access, and the conductor on the trip will narrate and observe the train from here. A full train can haul upwards of 600 passengers per trip, and an estimated 5,000 passengers throughout the course of the day. The track length is between 1.9 miles, with a loop and a spring switch on each end with the total round trip being 2.9 miles.

The locomotives perform much differently for the crews going up the grade. The 70 has more power and does not usually struggle with a loaded train, however the 192, with larger drivers, longer frame, and lower boiler pressure, needs to be run with the throttle wide open and speed adjusted with the Johnson Bar. The first grade right out of the station is upwards of 5%, and the 192 will stall and need to make another run at the hill if it loses enough momentum. The grade does flatten out for a couple hundred feet as it approaches the Thunderhead Gap bridge. The engineer will blow a warning whistle for the crossing just beyond the bridge, and as the train emerges from the trees, the throttle is opened up as the engine hits the second hill and grinds up the 3-4% grade to the horseshoe curve beyond Sawmill Rd. At the end of this curve, the 192 with its long frame will buck against the curvature which is evidenced by the wear on the frame behind the trailing and pilot trucks. After negotiating a small S-curve through a cut in the hillside, the grade steepens again to about 6% until topping over near the upper loop switch. The crew will need to have enough water in the boiler to keep the crown sheet of the firebox covered for the downhill trip, and while the engineer is blowing the whistle and making the first brake pipe reduction, the fireman is using the raging fire to inject water against the climbing pressure gauge.

Though the cars are fitted with K-1 and K-2 triple valves with retainers, the retainers are always set for the full release position. Brake pipe pressure is set to 70 lbs. fully charged and controlling speed with needed reductions as the grade and load require. The light weight of the cars is accentuated when the train is full vs. empty, making a big difference in how the engineer will handle the train on the return. While riding the train, you will likely hear the hiss of air being released from the brake cylinders as the train goes into the long horseshoe curve, where the grade is flat enough to maintain speed and recharge the brake pipe at the same time. As the engine nears the end of the curve, another set is generally made progressively and will be maintained until the Thunderhead Gap bridge, where the process is repeated and the final application is made for the descent into the lower loop. Once on the lower loop, the train drifts past the engine house and pulls the light grade back into the station.

At the end of the days runs, the train is shoved back to clear the shop lead switch, with the cars being tied down, and the engine spotted for the night of the track pans to clean the fire the next morning. The fire is banked and the boiler is filled with water to sit through the overnight hours. Once that is complete the sight glasses are shut off, along with the air compressor and check valves to the boiler, the dynamo, blower, and injector lines are closed, and finally the turret is shut off and the stack is gagged.

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