Text across the first frames of the video reads “If you’ve been wondering about that fall foliage train through the Georgia mountains,” and the creator behind @alainapinkney, who shows the name Alaina Pinkney, spends the next 50 seconds on what the ride is like. Her opening line names it as the Fall Foliage Train ride through the Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains.
She organizes the video around three reasons. The first is the scenery. “You’ll ride 26 miles round trip along the Toccoa River through the North Georgia mountains with all those gorgeous fall colours surrounding you,” she says. The frames back that up with green and gold leaves rushing past an open window, a creek running beside the tracks, and a steel truss bridge with an American flag flying from it.
The second reason is choice. “You can either take the two hour ride if you just want the train experience, or book the four hour ride like we did,” she says. The longer ride includes a two hour stop in McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee, “where you can literally stand with one foot in Georgia and one foot in Tennessee.” She adds, “I think this is the definition of being in two places at the same time.” On screen, a man in a light blue shirt stands beside a sign that reads Copper Basin and, in the next frame, grins at the camera, and a sidewalk lined with shops and a gift shop sign shows the town stop.
The third reason is the commentary. “You’ll actually learn something along the way,” she says. “You’ll hear the history of the railway and the Blue Ridge area while getting a completely different view of North Georgia in the fall.” Other frames show a crew member in a yellow safety vest in an open vestibule and passengers seated in rows by the windows, and the last frame shows a blue locomotive beside the platform.
In the caption she writes that the four hour experience comes with a two hour stop in McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee, “to eat, shop and explore,” and warns, “PLEASE don’t spend your whole two hours just walking around.” She lists three stops she recommends: a Cuban cafe where she says to “get the rum cake,” a locally owned soap shop, and a grill for burgers and sandwiches. Her closing instruction for the stop is to “get your picture at the Georgia/Tennessee state line before you head back to the train.”
The railway’s own site supports the outline of the video. According to the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway, the fall foliage rides depart from the historic depot in Blue Ridge, Georgia, on a round trip of 26 miles along the Toccoa River, and the longer ride includes a 2 hour layover to visit McCaysville and Copperhill.
Explore Georgia, the state’s tourism site, describes the layover as two hours in McCaysville for lunch and a walk across the “Blue Line” into Tennessee, which is the state line stop the creator tells riders to photograph.
For a reader planning the trip, the order of decisions follows from the video. Pick the ride length first, because only the four hour option includes the town stop. Then use the two hour stop as the caption describes it: do not spend the whole two hours just walking around, and leave a few minutes for the state line photo before heading back to the train.
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