Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum

Calera, Alabama is home to a railroad museum whose excursion line runs on part of an old Louisville and Nashville Railroad route built in eighteen ninety-one. The Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum began as the Heart of Dixie Railroad Club, a group of Birmingham-area rail enthusiasts who began saving locomotives and rolling stock before they could be scrapped. The collection eventually moved from Birmingham to Calera, where it acquired several hundred acres.

Today the museum operates standard-gauge trains, maintains two restored depots, and holds an outdoor collection of steam and diesel equipment. Coal, timber, and cotton all moved through yards like this one.