Train enthusiasts have a day just for their passion with events scheduled for both sides of the Savannah River.
National Train Day celebrations will be at both the Augusta Museum of History and the Aiken Visitors Center and Train Museum.
The Aiken events will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 14, at the train museum at 406 Park Ave. S.E. while the Augusta events will be from 1 to 5 p.m. May 15 at the history museum at 560 Reynolds St.
Locomotives are a mainstay at the Augusta Museum of History, which has The Georgia 302 Steam Locomotive and Coal Tender, 1914 on view in the museum’s transportation exhibition area on the first floor, and it will be available to be viewed during the event.
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“It is the only steam engine from Georgia Railroad that is in existence, and we are lucky that it was saved…The museum was built around it in 1995. One whole end of the building was left open (to accommodate it),” said Gayla Keesee, education manager for The Augusta Museum of History. “We built railroad tracks from Telfair Street into the museum to bring the train in. The railroad track comes right by the museum. We put in a spur by the track that comes right by the museum.”
The train once pulled into Augusta’s former Union Station, which was built in 1902. The station was once at the site of the current downtown post office.
“Presidents, baseball players and other notables came through there. Augusta was a railroad hub. We had famous people visiting the Partridge Inn and The Bon Air,” Keesee said.
The last train left Union Station on April 7, 1968, and the station was demolished in 1970. The cupola from Union Station ended up at the old museum but has not been moved to the new museum.
The Augusta Museum of History will celebrate railroad history in general on National Train Day.
“Railroad history is, indeed, very significant in the Augusta region. Other than river transport, railroads have had a major impact on moving both freight and people for well over a hundred years in the region.” Nancy Glaser, The Augusta Museum of History’s executive director said. “Georgia’s first railroad tracks were laid in the mid-1830s on routes leading from Athens, Augusta, Macon and Savannah. Some 25 years later, the state could claim more rail miles than any other in the Deep South.”
Those rails and traveling on them have inspired many songs through the centuries. In fact, Glaser said they will have a unique band and train-themed music during their event.
The Mangelly Accordionaires, Augusta’s unique all accordion band, will be performing train-related songs such as “Take the A Train,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” and “King of the Road.”
“They perform all genres of music from polkas (of course!) to Rachmaninoff and even James Brown,” she said.
The Accordionaires have been bringing music to all ages and venues for all occasions for over 60 years.
Model railroad enthusiasts may enjoy the event as well.
Keesee said the Coastal Rail Buffs from Savannah will be temporarily installing a model railroad layout in the museum for the event and will be able to answer questions.
All ages can enjoy the day, but there will be some aspects that can be especially enjoyed by the younger ages.
Charles Brown, for example, will be reading aloud from “The Little Engine That Could” in the museum’s Southern Railroad car.
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Participants in the event will also be able to make a conductor hat from paper.
The Saturday event in Aiken will have train rides for kids, bounce houses and more.
“We are having this event to reinvigorate the imaginations of children and adults alike,” said Jensen Jennings, tourism coordinator for the Aiken Visitors Center and Train Museum.
There are three antique railroad cars, two passenger cars from the early 20th century, and a caboose from the 1960s on site at the center.
“The Train Museum, located on the second floor, has nine dioramas that depict the towns along the original South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company right of way. This railroad became the first designed steam powered commercial railroad in the United States and the longest railroad in the world at that time,” according to VisitAikenSC.com.
Jennings said, “I hope the event will help a future engineer see trains in a different light. It will give them that a-ha moment when they see how we did it in the past and have them think about how to do rail transportation in the future.”
Guests at the Aiken event are asked to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets to enjoy live music from Depot Jam at the event.
Depot Jam, a bluegrass band, performs often at the visitors’ center – every third Saturday.
Refreshments from The Pot Smoker BBQ and Flanigan’s Ice Cream will be available for purchase.
Admission itself is free. Attractions are $5 per unlimited armband or $3 for each individual ticket.
Jennings said the unlimited armband gives guests unlimited access to the bounce house and train rides, while the $3 individual ticket will get one ride on the train or one entry into the bounce house.
National Train Day, according to the Augusta Museum of History, is an annual event celebrating the anniversary of the driving of the golden spike in Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States in May 1869. The 2,000-mile engineering feat joined a nation and changed the world.
It’s observed annually on the Saturday closest to May 10.
Ron Baxley Jr. is a correspondent for The Augusta Press.
