Mineral Bluff has its own railroad. It's short, it's run by volunteers, and it only carries passengers three weekends a year. The track starts at the brick depot at 150 Railroad Avenue, crosses the Toccoa River on an iron bridge and ends at Murphy Junction. The round trip is five miles. The last ride weekend of 2026 is Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25.
The Tri-State Model Railroaders run it. HawkinsRails, whose photos of the depot are dated September 2024, reports that Fannin County owns the building and leases it to the club. An older historic-structures account, written while the depot was being rehabilitated, describes Georgia DOT as the owner with a lease to the county. According to HawkinsRails, the club maintains the building and runs rides on more than two miles of branch line track that still runs west from the platform. The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway has its own route and its own schedule, and neither one depends on the other. That split explains why this ride stays easy to miss, and why it's worth putting on the calendar.
Three Weekends A Year, And October Is The Last
The club's 2026 Ride the Rails schedule had three dates: April 10–11, July 3–4 and October 24–25, so this month's dates close out the 2026 schedule. FetchYourNews ran the October listing over the first weekend of the month, so word is starting to get around Fannin County.
Here's how the day runs, using the club's published schedule:
- 11 a.m. The depot opens.
- Noon, 1, 2 and 3 p.m. The railroad motor car leaves the depot on the hour, crosses the iron bridge over the Toccoa to Murphy Junction, then comes back over the bridge to Mineral Bluff.
- Between rides there's a short trip on a real railroad hand car, which you pump by hand. Children get a free ride on a miniature hand car built to 7½-inch gauge.
- Inside the depot the club's big HO-scale layout is running. More on that below.
The motor car costs $15 for adults and $5 for children 3 to 12. The hand car is $2 per person per trip, and the miniature hand car is free. With four departures a day over two days, there are eight motor-car runs in all before the season ends. You can find the club's contact details and updates at tsmri.org, and the Chamber's event listing has the same schedule and fares.
Two Railroads Along The Same River
The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway runs 13 miles from Blue Ridge to McCaysville and Copperhill. It follows the west bank of the Toccoa and crosses the river about a mile before McCaysville. It's been running since spring 1998. Its trains leave from the Blue Ridge depot, and its published route doesn't include the Mineral Bluff depot. The motor car from Mineral Bluff ends at Murphy Junction, and railfan guides place that junction on the Blue Ridge to McCaysville line that the scenic railway uses.
That makes Murphy Junction the place where the two railroads meet. One side carries the heavily promoted scenic excursion. The other is the stub of the branch that once carried trains to Murphy, North Carolina.
| Mineral Bluff depot rides | Blue Ridge Scenic Railway | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Historic L&N Depot, 150 Railroad Avenue, Mineral Bluff | Blue Ridge depot |
| Distance | 5-mile round trip to Murphy Junction | 13 miles to McCaysville/Copperhill |
| Crosses the Toccoa | On the iron bridge near the depot | About a mile before McCaysville |
| Fall 2026 dates | October 24–25 only | September 19 through November 3 |
| Run by | Tri-State Model Railroaders, a volunteer club | The scenic railway |
| Adult fare | $15 motor car, $2 hand car | Varies by trip |
The scenic railway's fall season runs September 19 through November 3, with two-hour and four-hour round trips along the Toccoa. The longer trip includes a layover in McCaysville and Copperhill. Winter rides run November 5, 2026, through February 28, 2027, and the railway lists a Trick or Treat Train on October 31 at 5 p.m. The two calendars barely touch. The scenic railway runs for weeks. The Mineral Bluff motor car runs for two days.
What's Left Of The Line To Murphy
The Marietta & North Georgia Railroad built the depot in 1887 as a passenger and freight station. The L&N later took over the line, and the depot became a stop on the L&N branch from Blue Ridge northeast to Murphy. Passenger service ended in 1949, and freight service ended in the late 1950s.
The branch had a history of its own before that. The Marietta & North Georgia first built the route as a narrow-gauge line running from Marietta to Murphy. Most of it was converted to standard gauge in 1889 and 1890, but the section from Blue Ridge to Murphy wasn't changed over until late 1897. So the rails through Mineral Bluff stayed narrow for about eight years after most of the line had been widened.
The track past Mineral Bluff toward Murphy is long gone, and sources don't agree on when it was taken out. HawkinsRails puts the L&N abandonment in the late 1970s. The Town of Murphy's history page says the L&N line was removed in the mid-1980s. Either way, the track that still runs west from the depot is the last piece of the old route that anyone can ride.
The rest of the local rail picture took shape in the 1990s. Georgia DOT bought several pieces of the old line in the mid-1990s, among them the tracks from Blue Ridge to McCaysville and Copperhill and the short branch from Blue Ridge to Mineral Bluff, and leased them to the Georgia Northeastern Railroad. A historic-structures account describes a federal fiscal year 1996 Transportation Enhancement grant that paid for rehabilitating the depot, including a new concrete floor. In March 2007 the depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Same Line, In HO Scale, Every Fourth Saturday
The October ride weekend gets the most attention, but the depot is open more often than that. The club holds open houses on the fourth Saturday of each month. This month's is Saturday, October 24, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., which overlaps with the first day of rides. Parking is free and there's no admission charge, though the club accepts donations. The Chamber's listing also shows Saturday, November 28, as an upcoming date. That gives the depot one more public day after the motor car stops running for the year.
The layout inside is a model of the real railroad outside. It fills a 22-by-37-foot space, has more than 100 structures and shows the L&N around 1952, including the branch to Murphy. It's built on two levels and follows the L&N "Old Line" from Atlanta to Etowah, Tennessee. That's the route known as the "Hook and Eye," where the line loops over itself to gain elevation. The open house listing describes how it runs: cars travel from town to town dropping off and picking up goods, and engines go to the shop for repairs, all controlled with modern wireless throttles.
So the branch the motor car rides on is also built into the model. Visitors can ride the real track to Murphy Junction, then go inside and see the full line to Murphy in HO scale as it looked around the time freight service ended.
The club describes itself as a regional civic organization, and in 2022 it started a Junior Engineer Program for younger members. Details for families are on the club's youth group page.
Planning Around The 24th
October is busy in Fannin County, so the depot weekend has some competition. Blue Ridge's 16th annual Fall Arts in the Park takes over Downtown City Park on October 10 and 11, with more than 140 booths, hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and $5 adult admission. That's two weekends before the motor-car rides, so the dates don't conflict. After October, the Chamber calendar lists Light Up Blue Ridge on November 27 and 28 and Light Up McCaysville on November 27.
If you want to make a day of it, The Tavern at Old Toccoa Farm at 194 Golf Drive in Mineral Bluff is open to the public. It serves dinner Wednesday through Sunday and brunch on Saturday and Sunday, and reservations are required. Its Tavern page has current hours. Book the Saturday or Sunday of ride weekend ahead of time.
For a timed plan, the depot opens at 11 a.m. and the 3 p.m. motor car is the last departure of the day. On Saturday the open house layout runs until 3 p.m., so arriving by late morning gives you time for the model, a hand car ride and one of the motor-car trips over the iron bridge.
If you've lived near the Toccoa for years and just found out the old Murphy branch still carries riders, Lucretia Collins and our team would love to hear about it. We keep up with dates like this one across Fannin County and the rest of the mountains, and we're always glad to share the local calendar with neighbors. Let's Connect.
