The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad has received a $7.5 million low-interest loan from the Federal Railroad Administration, allowing the company to move forward with long-range plans to expand its operation and services in the region.

The loan will be used to engineer and construct the long-awaited engine turn-around tables — one in Bryson City and one in Dillsboro. It will also be used to put new rails on four miles of track and replace 56,000 ties.

“It means we will be hiring some additional labor for the next 18 months to help us do these projects,” said Robert Franzen, the new general manager for the railroad, which was only the eighth in the nation to receive a loan under the federal program.

But the majority of the loan will be used to restructure existing debt with a lower-interest rate over 25 years, improving the railroad’s cash flow and better positioning the railroad to tackle additional long-range projects, Franken said, such as a third engine turntable west of the Nantahala Outdoor Center and rounding out the Bryson City vision.

The railroad — one of a handful of major players in the tourism market west of Asheville — has been a driving force behind Bryson City downtown revitalization over the past year, building a railroad promenade in the depot area and renovating a vacant, rundown building for shops, offices and a railroad hotel.

Another component of the diverse, long-range business plan for the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad is a new subsidiary company called Rail Events. The new venture develops, markets and promotes rail events similar to the annual Thomas the Tank children’s train and the holiday season Polar Express train.

The first special train to be launched under “Rail Events” will be the Little Engine that Could, a replica of the train in the famous children’s story book. The special rides will be based out of Bryson City May 13 through 15 and May 20 through 22.

“There will a whole array of activities going on at the depot for families and children. It is a very family-centered event,” said Kim Lyons, marketing manager.

While it will be similar to the structure of Thomas the Tank — an event that draws 20,000 annually for the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad — it will be different in one key aspect, from a business angle anyway. Thomas the Tank is the property of another company, and the railroad has to pay each year to bring the special train here. With the Little Engine that Could, Rail Events will hit the road after it leaves Bryson City and travel to other tourist trains around the country, all of which pay for the right to host a Little Engine event at their railroad.

The Little Engine that Could will travel to nine other railroads in the country. The Rail Events venture was launched by the Smoky Mountain railroad’s parent company, American Heritage Railroad, which runs a second tourist railroad in Durango, Colo. Jon Schlegel, the former general manager of Great Smoky Mountain Railroad, helped launch and now manages Rail Events.