Expanded Railroad Day at Museum

This year the annual Railroad Day at the Three Rivers Museum is on Saturday, May 19th. If you have not visited the museum on Railroad Day before, come out for an interesting time.

Over the years the museum has collected artifacts depicting early Muskogee County life. Because the museum is housed in the old Midland Valley Railroad depot, it is natural that railroading would be a focus. An extensive collection of railroad memorabilia is on exhibition for this special occasion.

The largest artifact is the black and red train engine located on the north side of the depot. It is a switching engine. Such an engine was not designed to pull trains over long distances. Instead its function was to pull box cars into position for coupling in a switchyard. That's where the long-haul trains were assembled. Why not come climb into the switch engine control booth and feel the rush of an engineer as you look down the imaginary track?

The switch engine is only one of many items from the railroading past. Touring the exhibits inside the depot will give visitors a fuller idea of Muskogee's railroad development. Collectors of railroad models will be showing their "O" Gauge layouts. One railroad enthusiast will have almost 100 small engines and box cars on hand.

This year the exhibits for visitors are expanded to include the additional themes of "planes" and "automobiles." New acquisitions of aviation memorabilia include leather flying helmets from the early days. There is a new exhibit on Hatbox Field's history.

In addition to exhibits, a presentation by Carl Gregory will be given. Carl co-authored "The Oklahoma Aviation Story" in 2004. His talk begins at 10:30. He will focus on the flying history of northeastern Oklahoma. Two of stories he tells will be about the arrival in Muskogee of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, famous pilots of the 20th Century.

Going places slows down when you are driving a Ford Model T. Members of the Tulsa Model T Club will have real cars on hand for visitors to examine and admire. The special features of each car will be described by the owners.

Admission to the Three Rivers Museum for this special event will cost $6.00 for adults and half that amount for students. Lunch, sold separately, will be provided by Smokehouse Bob.

The Expanded Railroad Day is the sixth annual event on this theme. All have been different. Don't miss this one!