The Fort Smith Trolley Museum celebrates 25 years
by July 12, 2010 7:16 am 193 views
story and photos by Ruby Dean
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The hot, humid weather did not keep train lovers at home Sunday (July 11) as the Fort Smith Trolley Museum welcomed approximately 200 guests to their 25th annual open house.
Events included trolley rides, refreshments, face painting and tours for the guests. Guests were able to climb aboard the Frisco 4003 steam locomotive to see the cab and cabooses. Also on display were the restored Hot Springs Street Railway 50 and the newly acquired Veracruz 9 single truck open car. The open car was part of the Lake Shore Electric Museum collection in Cleveland that was originally at Trolleyville USA.
Visitors were also able to tour the newly remodeled Charles Winters Library and archive building. The reading room was used by the Arkansas & Missouri Rail Road for their January, February and March excursion train station. For a small fee, adults and children could ride on the Arkansas & Missouri train from the trolley museum to the bridge.
The museum also had souvenirs for sale that ranged from books, hats and mugs. To honor Katy, the first “trolley cat,” children were given coloring sheets. For those who don’t know, Katy was given that name in honor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company (MKT) which used the name “Katy” in its logo.
The Fort Smith Area Amateur Radio Club set up a 46-foot multiband antenna by the Charles Winters Library to reach people by ham radio across the United States and around the world. The Federal Communications Commission assigned them a special call sign for this event which was K5T. Anyone who they were able to reach if they send in a SSAE (stamped, self addressed envelope) will receive a QSL card (like a greeting card).
One volunteer at the museum, Ron Esserman is an avid collector of trains. He helps part-time at the museum in Fort Smith and has his own museum in Dover. He owns a Birney type street car and a yellow street car – PCC type car – President’s Conference Committee. These are only part of his collection.
