Sky-high land prices could derail Tweetsie.

• Author: Martin, Edward
• Position: TAR HEEL TATTLER - Tweetsie Railroad

Tweetsie Railroad inherited a lot from the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad, which served Boone from 1916 until 1950. Among other things, its high-pitched "tweet, tweet" whistle gave the Wild West theme park its name when it opened in 1957 with an antique ET & WNC steam locomotive pulling its train. Now Tweetsie is struggling with an adversary even more ornery than the faux train robbers that have been attacking it for 48 years.

It's lease time. And whether the little engine that could survive Disney and Carowinds can withstand relentless mountain real-estate inflation remains to be seen. Even Executive Vice President Chris Robbins, 50, son of founder Grover Robbins Jr., isn't sure. "The future depends on the time of day you ask me."

Unlike Land of Oz, the Beech Mountain theme park that closed in 1980, or Ghost Town in the Sky, the Maggie Valley attraction that shut down in 2002, Tweetsie remains profitable. Robbins won't give details, but he says Tweetsie Railroad Inc. has had about $7 million in revenue annually in recent years. It employs a seasonal high of 250.

Its problem is its location: It's too good. "Twenty years ago, land around here was $500 an acre," says Kelvin Byrd, Watauga County tax administrator. "We see some going for $30,000, and the developer has to build eight or 10 miles of road to get to it."

The theme park, Robbins says, covers about 200 acres off U.S. 321 between Boone and...