Opened on July 4, 1957, Tweetsie Railroad began as an excursion train ride pulled by coal-fired steam locomotive #12, the only surviving narrow-gauge engine of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC). Built-in 1917 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, #12 is a narrow gauge coal-fired locomotive that ran from 1918 to 1940 carrying passengers and freight over the ET&WNC's line through the Appalachian Mountains from Johnson City, Tennessee to Boone, North Carolina. The name "Tweetsie" was given to the original ET&WNC by area residents who became accustomed to the shrill "tweet, tweet" of the locomotive whistles that echoed through the mountains. The nickname stuck with the railroad and its trains and became more identifiable than the railroad's official name. On February 9, 2017, Locomotive #12 celebrated its 100th Birthday. An official ceremony was held for the locomotive during Tweetsie Railroad's Heritage Weekend on August 26, 2017.