Hanging around the Chattanooga Choo Choo
Here's a photo of the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn around 1978. These old cars are used as guest rooms, and the interiors are quite opulent. This part of the Hotel takes on the feel of an old train station and you can almost hear Mack Gordon and Henry Warren's famous 1941 song by the same name.
The song, featured in the movie "Sun Valley Serenade," depicts traveling from New York to Chattanooga, but was inspired by a trip on a small wood burning 2-6-0 type engine from the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. Back then, most trains traveling south passed through the super hub of Chattanooga Tennessee.
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Small Steam Engine
Hawthorn Melody Farms 1965
A small amusement park steam engine is shown above pulling kids and adults alike in Vernon Hills, Illinois at the former Hawthorn Melody Park. The 75 acre amusement park was built and run by Hawthorn Melody Dairy. The park later became the Cuneo Mansion and Gardens and is open to the public today.
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NASA Tour Bus 1971
During the height of the space race, we visited Cape Canaveral to tour the space museum and the launching pads of the Saturn rockets. I can remember traveling on this bus and wanting the tour to be over so I could check out the exhibits and the gift shop. We still have our plastic astronaut figures we purchased there - my kids play with them almost everyday. I can still remember picking them out of a barrel in the gift shop.
1 comment:
I have never heard of the Hawthorne Melody Farm, however it did sound like a very nice place for families to visit back in the days. I like seeing the Nasa GMC Fishbowl bus, wich almost looks like it is wearing the CTA 1960's color scheme. My family visited the Chatanooga Choo Choo hotel back in May of 1990, I thought it was very nice. We stayed in the brick hotel building.
I love seeing Your photos.
Thank You.
Eddie.
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