Hagerstown & Frederick Railway Historical Society, Inc.

The H&FRHS Winter Meeting will be held at the National Road Museum in Boonsboro this coming Saturday, January 13 with informal gathering beginning at 11:00am. Members of the public are welcome to attend. During these events, the Society officers and members discuss the organization's activities and opportunities, as well as sharing new acquisitions before and after the meeting.

DO NOT park in the private lot immediately beside the building, free parking is found along the street and at Shafer Park behind the museums.

Following the meeting, attendees are welcome to tour the Boonsboro Trolley Station Museum next door which was redeveloped in 2023 by the Society and the National Road Heritage Foundation who are working to open the National Road Museum.

The National Road Heritage Foundation along with the Town of Boonsboro, manage the property and bills for our Trolley Station Museum. Once their National Road Museum opens next door to the trolley station, both will be able to open on a very frequent schedule benefitting our organization and other museums and businesses in the area. Please read this message from their organization:

"As we approach the new year, we would like to wish you a Happy Holidays from all of us at the National Road Heritage Foundation.

We would also like to take this opportunity to invite you all to become a part of opening the National Road Museum in Boonsboro! Our ongoing work is approaching the final step: fabrication of the exhibits! We have raised 75% of the funds needed to open the museum and YOU can help us to raise the remaining $100,000. Our organization is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and your donation can be tax deductible.

When the museum opens, all of our donors will be listed in a special area of our website. There are also several donor levels with various benefits. Donations of $1,000 and more will also be listed with a plaque on the museum’s donor wall, however donations of any amount will help us to reach our goal. Feel free to contact us to learn more! "

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We would like to congratulate our friends at the Hagerstown Aviation Museum as they officially open their museum on a regular Friday & Saturday schedule. So many of their volunteers have worked hard for years to reach that goal.

During the latter years of trolley service in Hagerstown, these commuter tickets were sold allowing passengers to ride a trolley to the square or even the edge of town and then transfer on to a bus in order to reach the airport. Fairchild workers likely would have purchased books of tickets like this one if they did not have their own vehicle. This ticket was used May 11, 1946.

Don't forget that we have our exhibit at the Myersville Library until 4pm today as part of Frederick County's Museums by Candlelight event. Most of the county's museums and historic sites are participating.

We are honored to be placed on the cover of the event program this year!

It might be windy, but at least the rain has passed. Today will be the day to come to Catoctin Colorfest and the Thurmont Fall Festival! Find our mobile exhibit beside H&F number 5 along Main Street, just outside of the fire company carnival grounds.

The Society is seeking additional volunteers for the Boonsboro Trolley Station Museum for our 2023 season from April through October. Training is provided.

The museum will not open every weekend however the schedule will consist of select Saturday and Sunday dates, most dates only for 3 hours. Interested individuals should be able to commit to at least 2 dates during the season and be able to answer basic questions with minimal assistance.

Volunteers are also expected to be a member in good standing with the H&FRHS or a member or donor of the National Road Foundation. The museum is not yet wheelchair accessible.

Volunteers are also being accepted for H&F outreach events throughout the year. If interested contact [email protected].

Several tickets and artifacts have now been dropped off at Heritage Frederick for an upcoming H&F trolley exhibit! Exciting that not one but two new H&F exhibits are opening this spring!

The H&FRHS has leaped in to 2023 with several exciting projects taking place for the year!

We have been hard at work planning and developing over a dozen new and enhanced exhibits as part of an extensive overhaul of the Boonsboro Trolley Station displays. This will include more artifacts and trolley photographs than before and help visitors to better understand the impact the H&F Railway had on our area.

That project is made possible by a Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area Mini-Grant acquired for the station by our friends at the National Road Heritage Foundation (NationalRdFoundation.org). Additional projects in discussion with the foundation include the future installation of handicap access to the building.

Our archives continue to grow with acquisitions of several CG&W Railway, Frederick Railroad, Hagerstown Railway and Blue Ridge Lines records, and an abundance of photograph negatives on loan to be scanned.

And not the least, we continue to work with Heritage Frederick toward the development of a new trolley exhibit to be opened on the second floor of the Museum of Frederick County History on Church Street during 2023!

Our efforts are completely volunteer and donor driven. If you don't already support the H&FRHS through our Membership program or through donations, please consider doing so this year. Learn more at https://hfrhs.org/membership/

Reminder: The Society's winter meeting will be held this Saturday December 3 at 11AM in the meeting room of the Myersville Community Library. The public is welcome to come hear what the Society has been up to this year and plans for the next year!

Also this weekend is the last weekend to visit the Boonsboro Trolley Station Museum until the spring.

Friday December 2: 6-8PM in conjunction with the Boonsboro Tree Lighting.

Saturday December 3: 3-6PM as part of the Boonsboro Holiday festival

Sunday December 4: 1-4PM, last scheduled Sunday of the year.

Today was a special day as an original H&F Interurban Combine door, potentially from either #172, 170 or 169, crossed both Catoctin and South Mountains for the first time since 1947 or earlier; the days when it was still installed on an H&F car. Once cleaned it will be temporarily displayed at the Boonsboro Trolley Station Museum until being moved to a more long term exhibit that is still to be announced.

The door, along with other trolley parts, some H&F documents, drawings and photos, and several audio recordings of interviews and history presentations were donated to the Society by Elizabeth Duke from the collection of her late husband Carroll James. The donation was made possible by Second Story Books & Antiques - Rockville . Additional items were acquired and donated to the Society by Sean Guy of Beaver Creek Antique Market and Society founder Alex Postpischil.

Our website finally has a mobile version! No longer will mobile visitors need to struggle to read our web browser based site on their phones!

Pull out your phones and surf over to www.HFRHS.org to check it out.

We are ready for day 2 of Colorfest!

Don't forget to stop by the H&F Railway History Exhibit and surviving Freight Motor #5 during Catoctin Colorfest this weekend! We are along Main Street and the Trolley Trail just at the entrance of the Fire Company Carnival Grounds.

It might be a bit wet out today but the sun should be coming out by 2pm and many Boonsboro Days events and vendors are still in the park today! The Trolley Station will remain open as well.

The event continues until 5pm so be sure to stop by and enjoy the new exhibits!

Reminder to H&FRHS member: Our summer meeting is Friday at 5pm. The meeting will be held at Hobbytown USA on Prospect Blvd. in Frederick.

This is a membership and officers meeting to discuss Society activities however members of the public who are considering joining the Society are welcome to attend and learn more about the Society and our activities.

The sign says it all! Come out to Catoctin Furnace today or tomorrow and visit the H&F Railway Historical Society "Museum" as well as several other museums, exhibits, live music, food and drink and great nature trails!

www.hfrhs.org/oralhistory

Want to learn more about the town that was the (approximate) mid-point on the main line between Hagerstown & Frederick?

Historic Myersville: The Colorful Past of a "Sleepy" Maryland Town Hear about the real Myersville, including tales of attempted murder, Civil War mayhem, revenge, arson, protests, brawls, and even ghosts.

One of the useful upgrades to our archives thanks to the 2020 NRHS Heritage Grant: barcode stickers with images to help better keep track of objects in our collection and make it even easier to look up their information in our system! Don't worry...they don't get placed directly on the artifacts.

If you haven't already visited the H&F exhibit at C Burr Artz Library in Frederick, time is running out! The exhibit containing 150 artifacts amd dozen of photographs will be leaving the library on Tuesday January 18th!

It was short but sweet: did you catch the Society mentioned over the weekend in the FNP?

Don't forget that Society President and Curator Reuben Moss will be at the C. Burr Artz library this coming Saturday December 11 from noon to 4 answering questions about the trolley artifacts exhibited there through January 16.

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/columns/not-all-gifts-fit-in-boxes/article_67def0b0-209e-5d6d-9966-917c0a6a2138.html

Not all gifts fit in boxes When I see the photos of container ships stuck off the West Coast ports and containers piled high on docks because of a trucker shortage, I hope that the bigger-than-big-screen

Starting at Noon on November 16th and running for approximately 2 months you will find C. Burr Artz Library in Frederick filled with trolley artifacts! The H&F Archive has grown since 2019 and so we are exited to build upon the popular exhibit we had been able to provide there that year. The exhibit is hosted by the Maryland Room and presented by the Hagerstown and Frederick Railway Historical Society.

With rail trails on everyone's mind in Frederick County right now...

DID YOU KNOW: If the entire H&F Rwy right-of-way was turned into a trail network it would travel nearly half the length of the C&O Canal NHP towpath?

The Hagerstown and Frederick boasted 87.5 miles of track not including sidings. In comparison the C&O Canal towpath from Georgetown to Cumberland is 184.5 miles.

Things are underway at Catoctin Furnace for the Maryland Iron Festival

Officially opening tomorrow, the H&FRHS has installed a 7-week exhibit at the Myersville Community Library! Visit the library to see a collection of trolley artifacts and photographs and learn why Myersville can be called Trolley Town!

The exhibit will be in place for next month's Myersville Music & Trolley Festival on October 16 and will remain until the first week of November.

While visiting the exhibit, H&F coach #150, one of the four surviving original trolleys, is located within the Library building and is now open to walk through once again.

65 guests visited the H&FRHS exhibit at the Boonsboro Trolley Station today! Were you one of them?

If not, you still have a chance. We will have the museum and exhibit open again TOMORROW September 12 from 9am to 5pm!

Boonesboro Days will also be taking place in the park just behind the station. Enjoy food, demonstrations and a wide variety of artwork and hand crafted items! Metal detecting and astronomy activities for kids are taking place. The event is hosted by and supports the Boonsboro Historical Society MD.

Special thanks to the National Road Heritage Foundation for allowing the H&FRHS to host the Trolley Station Museum for this event!

A Trolley Passes the Doub Residence on Upper Main Street, Circa 1920. This was the home for many years of Grayson Edgar Doub (1901-1984), who was Myersville's mayor from 1952- to 1964.

Are you aware that the H&FRHS is eager to interview anyone with memories or family stories about trolleys in Frederick and Washington Counties? Learn about our Oral History Project with the link below.

If you were interviewing someone with trolley memories, what questions would you want to ask them? Let us know in the comments!
https://hfrhs.org/oralhistory/

H&F Oral History Project The H&F Oral History Project Recording trolley memories for future generations. Thanks to a 2020 NRHS Heritage Grant, the H&FRHS is now equipped to interview and record memories of those wh…

Today is the last day to help us reach our initial goal of $25,000 for the H&F Railway Fund! If we reach our goal this fund will provide some sustaining income for the H&F Railway Historical Society as well as growing into a fund which can be used toward future restoration, conservation and education programs related to the H&F.

To donate, visit the Community Foundation of Frederick County page for the fund. https://www.frederickcountygives.org/Giving-Your-Way/Explore-Funds?fn=The+H%26F+Railway+Fund

If you can't give today but want to contribute, once we hit our $25k initial target ongoing donations can be made to grow the fund at any time.

The Society's archive project has reached 500 images scanned or photographed and added to the record! This of course includes multiple images for some documents and 3D objects so we have a long way to go. Eventually a large portion of these will be provided for public access.

Here is one of our recent scans from 75 years and 6 months ago!