Before the traveller met Tennessee Tornado in Craftsman’s Valley, this corner of Dollywood belonged to Thunder Express. That earlier Arrow mine train was removed in 1998, but its station was spared and put to work again, a practical Tennessee economy beneath a far bolder machine. coaster101.com· dollywood.com

Dollywood announced Tennessee Tornado in June 1998. Arrow Dynamics supplied the steel, Alan Schilke designed the layout, and the eight-million-dollar project was taking shape at Arrow’s Clearfield, Utah plant before its long journey east to the Smoky Mountains. coaster101.com· coaster101.com

The work was not merely a matter of raising columns. In the fall of 1998 the red supports went vertical, while crews blasted rock for the 128-foot drop through the mountain and dealt with natural springs found near the bottoms of the great elements. coaster101.com

When the ride opened on April 17, 1999, it gave Dollywood a three-inversion steel coaster with a 110-foot Spiro Loop, described by Coaster101 as the largest inversion on any Arrow coaster. Hidden by trees and hillside, it remains more discovery than monument: a storm you come upon in the mountains. coasterpedia.net· coaster101.com