Railroad museum’s model-room momentum building brick-by-brick

Members of the Unicoi County Heritage Museum’s board of directors have sold more than 150 polished granite bricks in order to raise funds for a model train room at the Clinchfield Railroad Museum, and efforts are still underway.
Martha Erwin, curator of the museum, explained that she and others on the board have been selling the custom engraved bricks for only a few months, and already, enough funds have been raised to cover the cost of a storage building that will make way for the model train room.
“The storage building has been purchased with the money from the bricks,” she said. “We are planning to renovate the storage room at the railroad museum to make the model train room, so we had to have the building to store all the items from the storage room.”
Erwin added that the model train room will be the first of many projects that will increase the items and offering inside the Clinchfield Railroad Museum, which opened last month.
“We hope to be able to complete renovations and open the model train room by the fall,” Erwin said. “We will have to put in a new wall and renovate the storage room, but I think it’s going to be nice.”
While no estimates have been gathered for the cost of the model train room, Erwin explained the board hopes to raise the funds for the renovation first, in keeping with the tradition of being debt-free on railroad museum projects. According to Erwin, the bricks have been and continue to be a successful means of raising the necessary funds.
“Erwin has been and continues to be a railroad town,” Erwin said. “The board of directors of the Unicoi County Heritage Museum are proud that Clinchfield Railroad bricks have been purchased in honor of so many railroaders.”
The majority of the bricks sold are already on display outside the Clinchfield Railroad Museum, while some are still in the process of being ordered and engraved. The polished granite engraved bricks are still available. For more information, call Erwin at 743-8923 or Barbara Ollis at 753-9233.
The following people have been honored by the bricks for the service to the Clinchfield Railroad:
J.H. Harris Jr.; J.H. Harris Sr.; O.C. Harris, Frank Dick Moss; Paul C. Monk; Frank P. Shull Sr.; Ernest D. Shull; Arthur J. Erwin Jr.; Robert E. Rice; Frank T. Horton; S.E. Tony Benedetto; Earl F. Jones; James E. Lonon; Gene L. Lewis; Jack E. Hawkins; Thomas “Ted” Lynch; J.H. “Cap” Lynch; Earl Franklin Banner; A.R. Morgan; Clarence D. Morgan; George R. Cook; Kate Fagan Cook; W.E. “Eddie” Phillips; T.H. “Tom” Peters; Eugene “Pete” Peters; Vivian S. Bullington; Alfred L. Edwards; W.D. “Bill” Edwards; Arthur J. Burrell; William “Bill” Smith; William D. Slagle Sr.; D.H. “Henry” Burgner; Isaac “Ike” M. Garland; Frank Burrell; H.M. “Jack” Grubb; Joe Frazier; Toby Stallard; Larry Dennis Edwards; James Stanley Edwards; James Madison Edwards; Floyd Dayton; Milburn Rice; Jack D. Metcalf; David E. Bullington Sr.; Reid Erwin; Algie Padgett; Robert “Bob” Sams; M.B. “Bernie” Webb; Pat A. Brown; W.C. Reese; P.C. Alford; J.M. “Sam” Fortune; Jack B. Conley; S. Brady Stockton; William A. Fain; Samuel S. Harvey; H.M. “Pete” Chitwood; Everette “Dick” Tinker; Charles S. McNabb; R.L. Edwards; E.E. Evan Woodruff; W.S. “W” Hensley; Allen S. Alford; Richard G. Edwards Jr.; George L. Hatcher; George C. Hensley; James A. Goforth; W.A. “Bill” Steffey; Everette Allen; Louis H. Phetteplace; Ulis Grant Webb; Jerry W. Peterson; Frank Peterson; Tommy T.J. Runnion; Tom Sellars; Walter L. Rice; G.H. “Red” Thomas; Karl Thomas; I.E. “Gene” Erwin; Shane Parkey; Fred McCurry, Hank Johnson; Jacob “Jake” Hartsell; William E. Ewing; Dr. Robert H. Harvey; Robert L. Love Jr.; Floyd D. Edwards; Gary Swinehart; Bob Ensor; Ronald Lee Mullins; James W. Godsey Jr.; J. Arthur Erwin Sr.; Karl Lee Justice; Ernest Edwards; James D. Davis; Jack Edwards; Robert H. Davis; Brandon C. Haun; G.B. Hensley; D. Michael Hensley; Ernest Arrowood; Charles King; W. T. Wohlford; John D. Tipton; Eldridge L. Manuel; H.R. Castle; G.R. “Dick” Frazier; Claude Jones; Harvey Gage; Clinchfield Federal Credit Union; F.B. White; Fletcher B. White; Hubert A. Tolley; Sidney Patton; T.E. “Ed” Hatcher; P.O. Likens; C.D. Moss; T.D. Moore; Mike Mannion; Carl Bruce Ford; Robert “Bob” Likens; Clarence F. Bailey; Tony B. Maxfield; Robert “Bob” Hatcher; Kenneth Kerns; Albert N. Miller; Bill E. Welch; Joe H. Fuller; John Calvin Whitson; Fate Whitson; M.O. Crowder; Suel D. Bailey; John W. Thomas; June Kegley Padgett; Floyd R. Foster; James Ernest Galloway; Harry Hicks; Jim Brown; Jack B. Britt; Curtis Bennett; David S. Davis; Larry K. Banner; Charlie L. Bailey; A.W. “Arthur” Johnson; John L. Peterson, Cratus Peterson, Gregg Bogart; Charles H. “Brook” Ervin; Scott Jessee; Joseph O. Goforth; Roddey L. Stewart; Fred Britt; Worley L. Mauk; Sam L. Mauk; William D. Slagle Jr.; Frank Duncan; James “Jim” Burrell; Fred L. Orren; Ralph “Doug” Orren; Roger C. Orren; Gene Burrell; Lloyd Street; Glen D. Calhoun; T.E. Goodin Sr.; Margaret Burrell Evans; E.W. Murphy; Roy M. Chapman; John LaVerne; Dallas “Dal” Jones Sr.; John Bailey; Floyd Bailey; Harlan Bailey; W.W. Atchley; C.E. Ferguson; Walter H. Callahan; David G. Crockett; J.B. Lamie; Dewey Gossett; C.B. Morris; Nick Phillips; Herman Carathers; and Robert W. “Bob” Starnes.