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Big South Fork Scenic Railway, Stearns, KY

Photo: treewoman8, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sightseeing

Big South Fork Scenic Railway

A vintage tourist train in Appalachian Kentucky that runs round trips to Blue Heron through the Big South Fork area.

66 Henderson St, Stearns, KY 42647 · Stearns, KY

About Big South Fork Scenic Railway

Based at the Stearns Depot in McCreary County, this tourist railroad runs a round trip on the historic Kentucky and Tennessee Railway line through scenic Appalachian country. Riders travel to Blue Heron, spend time exploring the site and its history, then return to the depot. A narration covers the area's history along the way. The railway also offers a holiday Polar Express ride for children, and the depot has a steakhouse and an event space.

  • #tourist railroad
  • #scenic train
  • #Appalachia
  • #Blue Heron
  • #Stearns

What's around here?

The closest stops to Big South Fork Scenic Railway, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Museums

    McCreary County Museum

    Under $25

    Local history museum in Stearns, Kentucky, set inside a former coal and lumber firm's office building.

    Right next doorSwitch it up: Museums

  • Sightseeing

    Blue Heron

    No admission fee

    A rebuilt outdoor museum of an abandoned 1937-1962 coal mining town within Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

    4.3 mi awayMore like this

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Outdoor Adventure

    Cumberland Falls State Resort Park

    No admission fee

    See the 68-foot Cumberland Falls pour a 125-foot-wide curtain of water and, on clear full-moon nights, a rare moonbow.

    13 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

  • Eat & Drink
    Quirky Fun

    Harland Sanders Café and Museum

    No admission fee

    Eat in Colonel Sanders' restored 1940s dining room and see the kitchen where his fried chicken recipe took shape.

    28 mi awaySwitch it up: Eat & Drink

  • Sightseeing
    History Buff

    Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument

    No admission fee

    Watch a short film on the January 1862 Union victory, then follow a 10-stop driving tour and a ravine trail across the Kentucky battlefield.

    29 mi awayMore like this

  • Sports & Outdoors
    History Buff

    Levi Jackson Wilderness Road Park

    Check prices

    Hike sections of the Wilderness Road and Boone's Trace, see a reproduction 1939 grist mill and walk through a pioneer village museum.

    36 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

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