The Smoky Mountain Railroad started out as the Knoxville, Sevierville and Eastern Railway and was built in the years 1908-1909. Changing ownership five times, it struggled financially for most of its life, except for a small period of time during World War II when the Smoky Mountain Railroad was called on to haul materials and equipment for the construction of Douglas Dam on the French Broad River, to which a temporary spur was built north of Sevierville.
The line was abandoned in 1962; little evidence of it exists today, and what remains is quickly disappearing.