Western and Atlantic railroad was the first company to set up a rail connection from Atlanta to Chattanooga. The first train, a combination of passengers and freight, set out in 1849. Outside Chattanooga, wagons were used to haul passengers and cargo over the mountains, and continued on a train to the new Tennessee destination. The following year a tunnel was completed, and Chattanooga became the hub of the south. The railways, interrupted by the Civil War, wouldn't see a connection with the north until 1880. It was the Cincinnati Southern Railway that established service to Tennessee, nicknamed the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Sixty years later the world would be reintroduced to the Chattanooga Choo Choo and Track 29, when Glenn Miller and his orchestra topped the charts with their famous song.
     Today, the Chattanooga Terminal Station has been converted into a hotel complex. The Chattanooga Choo-Choo entertains over a million guests a year, introducing everyone to its Victorian splendor and the golden age of railroads. The colorful wood burning choo choo on display is the same type locomotive used in the first run from Cincinnati to Chattanooga.