Dillsboro is waiting on a train.

• Position: Western

John Chinners likes to call Dillsboro "The Front Porch to the Smokies." Its quaint shops--many in small buildings dating to the 1800s--sit near the junction of U.S. 74 and U.S. 441 not far from Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee Indian reservation. "If you leave Asheville and go to Cherokee or Bryson City, you go right by our front door. If you leave Atlanta and are going to Bryson or Cherokee or Asheville, you go right by our front door."

That's the problem: Tourists go right by and don't stop. At least not as many as when Great Smoky Mountains Railroad ran a train from Dillsboro to Bryson City, which sits closer to the park. Innkeepers, store owners and restaurateurs didn't have to advertise then, because the railroad's ads brought them plenty of visitors, who might drive to Dillsboro, stay overnight and catch the train for some mountain sightseeing the next day.

But in August 2008, the railroad, part of Durango, Colo.-based American Heritage Railways, stopped originating trips in Dillsboro because of dwindling passenger demand. The number of visitors prowling the town's business district has been cut roughly in half to about 20,000 a year, says Chinners, owner of Country Traditions gourmet shop and president of The Dillsboro Merchants Association. A weak economy and high gasoline prices have discouraged long road trips from big cities.

The town is still a turnaround point for train trips from Bryson City, so it still sees some riders, but they don't stay as long or spend as much money. "The layover is usually an hour and a half," says Kim Albritton, general manager of Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. "Passengers deboard the train there and are able to go have lunch and do a little shopping.''

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