Pump Car Rides!

Trolleyfest 2011 Saturday June 25, 2011 Trolleys, Trains, Stories & Songs! We are planning an extra special Trolleyfest to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. The public is invited from 11am to 5pm at our regular $3.00 All-Day Pass rate, members as always get to ride free!

Caboose Rides!

• Kids Activities:
  • Make and decorate an Engineer or Conductor Hat,
  • Build Paper model trains and trolleys – including a ‘Take and Make’ Number 10,
  • 1:00 to 4:00 Book signing by the author, "The Little Yellow Trolley Car ~ a true story",
  • 2:00 Reading of the new picture book by Marie Bartlett - "The Little Yellow Trolley Car ~ a true story".
  • 3:00 Watermelon seed-spitting contest - spit the seed as far along the trolley line as you can and win a prize!
  • 11:30 and 4:00 Hands-on Cider-pressing
• Roast Beef Lunch at noon, see below for details.
• Live music with a railroad-related theme will happen all day:
  • 11:00 Railroad & Trolley songs on harp by entrance,
  • 12:00-1:00 Windjammers Sax band plays for luncheon,
  • 12:00-1:00 Strolling musician in other areas,
  • 1:00 First performance of Train of Thought Chorus,
  • 1:30 Railway music on Piano on the porch,
  • 2:00 Strolling musician,
  • 2:30 Train of Thought performs again,
• To recognize the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War we will also have:
  • Special displays about the use of the rails during the war,
  • 1:30 and 3:30 "Incident on a Train", an interactive program in the caboose with a costumed living-history presenter from the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association's Deerfield Teacher Center. Come to learn while having fun exploring the material culture of life "on the home-front" and the stories it tells.
• Displays of local agriculture and industry served by the trolley line, (yes the popular cider pressing will be back!)
• Additional railroad equipment displays,
• 1:00 - 3:00 Book signing "The Coming of the Train, The Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington and Deerfield River Railroads and the Industries They Served", the newly released Volume II, by author Brian Donelson,
• Motorcar ("track speeder") rides,
• Trolleyfest Roast Beef Lunch: Reservations recommended, email membership@sftm.org or mail to PO 272, Shelburne Falls, MA 01370, or call 413-625-9443 and leave a message, include how many lunches you are reserving.
  • Roast Beef
  • Potato salad
  • Three Bean Salad
  • Rolls
  • Cole slaw
  • Coffee or cold beverage.
  • Homemade desserts $1 extra
  • Adults $13, kids 6 to 12 $10, under 5 $5.

"This program is supported in part by grants from the Buckland and Shelburne LCCs, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency."

Here are some activities and views from Trolleyfests of the past.  At Trolleyfest we have activities and demonstrations that relate to the history of the Shelburne Falls and Colrain Street Railway from 1896 to 1926. Note that not all of these activities are available every year.

Cider Pressing (Photo: J Bartlett)
A small-scale version of the W.W. Cary Cider Mill, which produced up to 500,000 gallons of cider vinegar in Foundry Village.  Vinegar, made from local apples, was an important preservative for pickling prior to refrigeration.


Machine Tools (Photo: J. Bartlett)
Our friends from the Museum of our Industrial Heritage set up a screw making exhibit.  Machine tools and industrialization are intimately tied in to the history of Shelburne Falls and the trolley lines.


Butter Making (Photo J. Bartlett)
Dairy production was an important part of life in New England.  A H.P. Hood and Sons creamery was located in the Buckland Freight Yard, which processed milk from local farms for shipment to distant cities.

  
Steam 10 is dressed up for Trolleyfest, with her headlight mounted and lit, number board on the smoke box and a smouldering fire in the smoke box.  On the left (Photo: D. Goff) a 'piggy-back' train passes on the Guilford Rail System tracks.  (Photo right: J. Bartlett)


And lots of rides are usually available at Trolleyfest ...


7-1/4" gauge miniature train with cars large enough to ride on. (Photo J Bartlett)



This CP speeder visited in 2004.  Also called motorcars, these were used for track inspection and maintenance, replacing pump cars. (Photo D. Goff)


And, of course, we always have trolley rides.  Here is Kinsley Goodrich, Marshall and Grace Johnson and Win Peck on the first day of operations.  Goodrich and Peck were the crew for the first run in 73 years.  The Johnsons owned the car from 1927 to 1991. (Photo: W. Brandt)


Trolleyfests always have fabulous BBQ lunches.  In 2004 the weather was fine for an outdoor meal.  In the background is our 1910 Central Vermont caboose, which was providing rides, powered by our trackmobile. (Photo J. Bartlett)


Image Policy: Use of these images is permitted as long as the words "Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum" are in the caption, and the photo is properly credited.