Take a ride on the 1937 “doodlebug” the former Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf #M-4, which was used in passenger service on that railroad from 1937 into the 1950’s. Please Contact us to schedule ahead for groups.
Train Tickets
- $6 Per Person
- Children 5 and under - Free
The Museum is open: Wednesday – Saturday, 9am-4pm. Closed during major holidays.
Train operates as needed.
Please purchase tickets from the Commissary, and enjoy your ride through history!
Train Route
The M-4 “doodlebug" loop tour takes you from the Commissary past the station agent's house, and across Longleaf Road, and climbs the steepest currently operating railroad grade anywhere in the USA outside of New Mexico or California. Continuing on, the railroad drops down again, and comes up along the original Crowell & Spencer Lumber Co railroad grade, which operated from 1895 to 1954. This part of the trip takes you behind the sawmill and the site of the large timber dock, where the huge timbers that were cut every day at Long Leaf were loaded into railroad cars, then by the Car Knocker’s shop, where RR&G Locomotive #106 is undergoing restoration, then the Machine Shop, and Engine house, before curving to the left and dropping down hill through the remains of an old, finished lumber shed. At the bottom of the hill, the loop passes the main water pump house on the right, where water was pumped out of Barbers Creek to supply the mill and the town of Long Leaf, then past the Planer Mill (our primary wedding venue), the Civilian Conservation Corp Museum, the Hardtner exhibit and Camp Claiborne Museum, the Caroline Dorman exhibit, the old Long Leaf Post Office, and the Naval Stores exhibit, before returning to the Commissary.
