An organization based in Tennessee is coming all the way across the country this spring to charter the Wallowa Union Railroad passenger train for a fund-raising outing on the Joseph Branch.

The Southern Appalachia Railway Museum has just announced an all-day excursion from Joseph to Elgin and back on Saturday, May 22, designed to raise funds for both the museum and the Wallowa Union Railroad Authority (WURA), the operator of the line.

The railway museum is based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and have been operating special passenger trains around the country each year for the past 10 years for passengers who want to ride the rails where passenger trains don’t normally operate.

Museum spokesman Barton Jennings said that the museum organization had a chance to meet representives of the former Union Pacific Joseph branch while running a train in Idaho last year.

“That conversation led to our group to decide to help the operation by chartering a train and selling tickets around the country,” said Jennings, who used to work for UP and was in fact once the UP Roadmaster for the line to Joseph line.

Jennings said that tickets sales for the Joseph-Elgin charter excursion from his normal customers has already been strong and orders have been received from more than a dozen states and Canada.

Ben Casey, president of the Friends of the Joseph Branch organization which is in charge of managing runs for the railroad’s fledgling passenger service, the Eagle Cap Excursion train, is enthusiastic about the exposure that the special May charter will give the Joseph branch.

“They will bring in a lot of people who are really fanatics about railroads,” said Casey. “They’ll come back and tell all their friends if they like it.” He said that in the future the hope is to charter the train for business meetings, class reunions, family reunions, weddings and all sorts of special occasions.

Casey called the line’s most recent project, the Santa Train, which carried a total of 558 people on Dec. 20, a resounding success. “The kids loved it, the parents loved it. I think we’ve turned the corner on support for the railroad,” he said.

The Friends of the Joseph branch meets in Elgin Wednesday, Jan. 7, to talk about a future Eagle Cap Excursion schedule, including one or two runs a week this summer.

“We’ll probably talk about a run for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, possibly Memorial Day, and at least one a week for the summer.”

The Southern Appalachia Railway Museum has put out the word nationally on its May 22 charter, emphasizing that it will include “some of the most scenic country in Oregon and cover the Wallowa Valley made famous by Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce.”

Tickets for the event are now available to the general public and are only available from the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum. Prices are $109 per ticket with an optional lunch for an additional $11.

Full details and an order form for the train ride are found on the Museum’s website at http://www.southernappalachia.railway.museum or they can be obtained by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to SARM Oregon 2004, P.O. Box 5870, Knoxville TN 37928.

“We want everyone to be very comfortable on the train so we won’t sell many more than 100 tickets for the train so that there is plenty of room to move around,” said Jennings.