If one moment in time could be frozen and kept that way forever, the scene in Dillsboro Friday would be hard to beat.

It was a typical Thomas the Tank Engine festival, with train whistles, fantasies come to life and smiling children with faces sticky from ice cream cones. It was a scene that, in Dillsboro, most likely will never happen again.

The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, for 20 years the backbone of Dillsboro’s tourism economy, announced last week that it is ceasing operations in the town and taking Thomas the Tank Engine and other events with it.

“Based upon the state of local and regional economic conditions and rapidly rising diesel fuel costs, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad has been thrust into a position where the consolidation of train services ... is immediate,” stated the memo issued by the company July 23. The train will be based solely in Bryson City, and will no longer even travel through Dillsboro.

The move stunned town and Jackson County officials, as well as business owners.

“I was totally shocked,” said David Gates, who owns Bradley’s General Store directly across from the train depot. “The (train) schedule was already made for the rest of the year, and our biggest month is coming up in October.”

Making Bryson City the hub where all trains originate from had already been a component of the company’s master plan, as detailed in the press release that went out July 23, but “at no time was there ever a discussion of eliminating Dillsboro from the plan,” said Julie Spiro, executive director of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.

Dillsboro Mayor Jean Hartbarger has yet to officially be informed of the train’s decision to cease operations in her town. She found out about the move from media outlets calling to inquire about the railroad’s press release. The mayor said cutbacks in services offered by the train did not come as a total shock to her.

“I think with the economic slowdown they’ve cut down on things,” Hartbarger said. “We thought it was just a matter of time before they did this, though there’s been no official notification to the town.”

The train called the move “necessary for the preservation of the company as a whole,” as well as the businesses that rely on it. But for shops in Dillsboro, shutting down a major source of customers is hardly compatible with preservation. In fact, it could be a devastating blow.

“The train is a very important economic driver in Jackson County, and thousands of people ride the train out of Dillsboro each year, so to have them cease running trains in Dillsboro is definitely going to impact the economy here,” said Spiro. “It will also indirectly impact the rest of the county, because when that tourist comes to Dillsboro to ride the train, they do other things throughout the county.”

It is estimated that up to 60,000 people a year embark on train trips from Dillsboro aboard the railroad, which is owned by American Heritage Railways. American Heritage operates other excursion trains in Colorado and Texas.

Impact on businesses

As the news spread last week, shop owners debated the impact the loss of the train would have on their business.

Bradley’s General Store is a favorite of train customers, who come for the ice cream served at the old-fashioned soda fountain and to shop for an array of items, from jam to toys to blankets. Sales doubled here when the train opened, and will undoubtedly suffer with its departure, Gates said.

“It’s going to have a substantial impact on Bradley’s Store,” he said. “In October (typically the busiest month), I’ll definitely be down. I can count 10 shops that I don’t think will make it.”

Even businesses that don’t draw as many train customers admit the train’s departure will be felt. John Wattick owns Cabin Supply Company, which sells furniture and home furnishings to adorn the many second and third homes in the area.

“Anything that impacts traffic has some effect, it’s natural. The more traffic, the more sales,” he said.

Hepps, though, describes the train as “usually an accessory business to me.” Riders tend to purchase smaller items, since they are more likely to have stopped in the store by chance rather than to buy a large kitchen table they’ve had their eye on.

Close by, John Meile at the Golden Carp is confident his customer base won’t be too greatly impacted.

“I think it’s going to hurt smaller businesses that rely on the tourist trade,” Meile said. But the Golden Carp, in business 18 years, “never really benefited directly from the train customer,” he said. Instead, the store carved out a niche in the market by selling unique, hard to find home décor from all over the world. The key for Meile has been to keep changing the store’s inventory.

“People know we’ll always have new things and new ideas,” he said.

Still, “bodies bring bodies,” said Meile, and by introducing a new wave of visitors to the town with each trip, the train increased Dillsboro’s name recognition.

Merchants aren’t giving the train enough credit for just how much it helped sell the town, Gates says.

“The thing they don’t realize is the amount of advertising they’ve done,” he said.

“They’ve driven the name Dillsboro. There’s no way we could come up with that amount of money to spend on advertising.”

The town isn’t just losing money. It will also lose jobs — the train cut 40 positions when it announced it was pulling out of Dillsboro.

“We hired a lot of college students and a lot of retired people,” said Malcolm MacNeill, a Jackson County resident who along with his wife started Great Smoky Mountains Railroad before selling it to the current owners in 1999. “The railroad helped a lot of people, and it was a very good thing for the area.”

A different Dillsboro

Despite the loss of 60,000 train customers, the prevailing attitude among business owners and officials is overwhelmingly optimistic.

“We’ll miss the train, but it’s not the devastating thing they make it out to be,” said Hartenbarger. “We were here a long time before, and I know we’ll be here a long time after.”

The railroad is intrinsically linked to Dillsboro’s past and its identity. The town was founded as a railroad depot and has been welcoming visitors who came by train since 1886. Yet the current Great Smoky Mountains Railroad that runs through town has only been in place since 1988. Over the years, Dillsboro has had ample opportunity to develop a unique culture separate from the train. In fact, the culture is what drew the MacNeills to establish Great Smoky Mountains Railroad there in the first place.

“Dillsboro was a great draw because it had a lot of shops and it’s a beautiful little town,” MacNeill said.

The Jarrett House, a restaurant and inn, is 120 years old. The Riverwood Shops, which houses a collection of artisans, marked its 50th anniversary last year. The Dogwood Crafters Co-op was founded around 1975 and is still going strong today. All of these, along with many more businesses in Dillsboro, are indicative of the historical arts and crafts culture the town is known for.

“We were really growing and a lot of good quality shops were coming in, and that’s when the train came,” said Hartbarger, whose family owns the Jarrett House. “It kind of took all the parking, so we kind of lost the people who would come down.”

Meile envisions the town going back to the “way it was before,” as an enclave of art, shopping and architecture.

“We’re evolving into something else now,” he said.

Spiro agreed that arts and crafts does provide another avenue to attract tourists to the town, but she believes the train was an integral part of the Dillsboro experience.

“Dillsboro has always been known for its fine quality arts and crafts, so there’s certainly another side of tourism there,” she said. “But the train enhanced the economy in Dillsboro and throughout the county.”

Hartbarger says Dillsboro currently has much more to offer than the train. Among its highlights are the county’s Green Energy Park, the Monteith Farm that will include a 16-acre multi-use park with a historical museum, amphitheater, performing arts center, recreation area and public parking, and the Tuckasegee River on which fishing, kayaking and rafting are popular activities.

In the mayor’s eyes, the train isn’t coming back, and it may well be time to move on.

“We kind of feel like they’ve made their position pretty clear,” she said. “There’s been some talk about coming back and having Dillsboro as a destination, but that probably isn’t going to happen. We’re going to proceed without the train, putting that aside and going on with ideas.”

Merchants seem to agree, and are looking forward to the next step.

“You need to sit down and see what you can do to fill the void, and be creative and progressive,” said Wattick. “People are still traveling, shopping and buying. Make (the town) better — that’s the attitude that’s important.”

Gates says the train’s departure has “opened a door,” and hopes Jackson commissioners and the board of the Economic Development Commission step in to help to bring industry back to the area.

Spiro is already planning a brainstorming session in August.

“We hope the merchants in the area, as well as county and town officials, will come together and help us brainstorm about where we’re going with Dillsboro,” she said.

Spiro has a view of the future that differs from the mayor’s in that she hasn’t given up on the train completely. Instead, she sees it as continuing to be part of the town.

“We’re really optimistic that when the economy improves that we will be able to work something out with Great Smoky Mountains Railroad,” she said. “We hope that the train will resume operations on some level from the town of Dillsboro. I’m optimistic, I really am, about the railroad working with us in 2009.”