Take a short drive to Spencer Nov. 3 or 4 for a special, all-day rail adventure to Georgia or Virginia.

Distance

Spencer is about 50 miles northeast of Charlotte via Interstate 85, about a 45-minute drive.

To see and do

The N.C. Transportation Museum is a fun outing any day. The state-owned facility occupies the grounds of what was Southern Railway’s largest steam locomotive repair shop. The yards, the sheds and the roundhouse have proven a fitting place to store and display the hulking coal-burning and diesel dinosaurs. Some holdings are still in motion: You can take a 25-minute train ride around the grounds, and the 37-bay roundhouse has a still-working turntable that will give you a five-minute spin.

The weekend of Nov. 3-4 is when the museum, in conjunction with the Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society and Museum, really accents motion – with a pair of one-day excursions that leave the grounds for trips through the autumn countryside.

Nov. 3, the Virginia Autumn Special leaves Spencer for Appomattox, Va. After a stop for additional passengers at the Greensboro station, the 25-car train crosses White Oak Mountain, the Dan and Roanoke rivers, turns east at Lynchburg and makes for Appomattox.

During the 2 1/2-hour layover, you can enjoy the shops and restaurants of Appomattox or board a shuttle bus and visit Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (www.nps.gov/apco; $3; 15 and younger, free) – where the Civil War ended in 1865 with Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender – or go to the Museum of the Confederacy’s newly opened Appomattox branch (www.moc.org; $6-$10).

On Nov. 4, the train departs Spencer at 7 a.m., arrives in Greensboro at 8 a.m., leaves Greensboro at 8:15 and is scheduled to arrive in Appomattox at noon. The train departs Appomattox at 2:45 p.m., stops at Greensboro at 6:30 and is scheduled to be back in Spencer at 8 p.m.

Only coach-class seats remain for this trip: $150 each, in modern Amtrak cars.

Nov. 4, the same cars will leave Spencer at 7 a.m., arrive in Spartanburg at 9:30 to take on more passengers, leave Spartanburg at 9:45 and arrive at noon at the northeast Georgia town of Toccoa. The route crosses rolling foothills and the 100-foot Seneca River bridge over Lake Hartwell. During the three-hour layover in Toccoa, you can attend the annual Harvest Festival (handmade, handcrafted, home-grown items from vendors; live entertainment, etc.) or take a bus shuttle to Toccoa Falls, the scenic 186-foot waterfall on the campus of Toccoa College.

The returning trail leaves Toccoa at 3 p.m., stops at Spartanburg at 6 p.m. and is scheduled to pull into Spencer at 8.

Only coach-class seats remain for this trip: $150 each, in modern Amtrak cars.

Coach-class passengers can bring their own food, buy food in the café car or buy a box lunch ($15; ordered in advance).