North Alabama Railroad Museum facts for kids
An ALCO S-2 at the museum.
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| Location | Huntsville, Alabama |
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| Type | tourist railroad and museum |
The North Alabama Railroad Museum, Inc. is a cool place in Huntsville, Alabama, where you can learn all about trains! It started in 1966 and is run completely by volunteers. The museum has a collection of old train cars, a small train station, and even its own short train line called the Mercury and Chase Railroad. This train runs from April to December.
The main goal of the museum is to "preserve railroad history in North Alabama and South Central Tennessee." Over 100 volunteers help keep everything running smoothly. You can visit the museum any day, but volunteers are usually there on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It's free to look around, but you'll need a ticket to ride the trains. You can find the train ride schedule on the museum's website.
Contents
About the Museum
The North Alabama Railroad Museum (NARM) runs a special train line for visitors in Chase, Alabama, which is a community close to Huntsville, Alabama. In 1984, a big railroad company called CSX Transportation was getting rid of an old train line. This line used to belong to the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. The museum bought 5 miles of this old track between Huntsville and Winchester, Tennessee. Today, the museum uses this track for its Mercury and Chase Railroad.
Train Rides and Adventures
The Mercury and Chase Railroad offers fun train rides for everyone. You can join a public trip or even book a private one! All the trains and equipment used for these rides are owned and cared for by the museum. What's really cool is that all the trains used for the excursions were built before 1950! The Mercury and Chase Railroad takes you on a round trip of about 10 miles, starting from Normal and heading east to Mt Carmel.
Becoming a Volunteer
The NARM is entirely run by volunteers. Anyone can become a member! If you're a member, you can volunteer to help out at the museum and with the train rides. It's a great way to learn about trains and history.
Museum Buildings and Tracks
The NARM has several interesting buildings and a train track. At the Chase location, there are two train stations and an office building. This office building also has a history center and a library. At Mercury, there's a special shed where trains are fixed. Plus, there are 5 miles of track where the trains operate!
The Chase Depot
The train station at Chase was once the smallest Union station in the United States. A Union station is a place where different train companies share a station. This depot served the Southern Railway and the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. A big customer for this station was the Chase Nursery, which used both railroads to send plants all over the country. The building you see today at Chase was built in 1937. It's still used as the main station for the Mercury and Chase Railroad. You can pick up your train ride tickets at its ticket window.
The Plevna Depot
The Plevna Depot was a small "whistle stop" station. It was originally located in Plevna, Alabama. Today, you can see this small wooden building next to the loading platform at the museum. It was a simple waiting area for passengers who needed to wave down a train to stop.
The Hugh Dudley Railroad History Center
The NARM is also home to the Hugh Dudley Railroad History Center. This center displays many cool items from the museum's collection. Mr. Dudley, who has been a museum member for a long time, is often there on Saturdays when train rides are happening. He loves to talk about the items on display! The History Center is located in the building that used to be the office for the Chase Nursery.
The Train Shed
The Mercury train shed is where the museum's trains are repaired and brought back to life. You can often see it when you're on a train ride with the Mercury and Chase Railroad.
Train Collection
The NARM and Mercury and Chase Railroad have a great collection of locomotives (the engines that pull the trains) and other train cars. These show the history of railroading in North Alabama and South-Central Tennessee. The locomotives are early diesel-electric locomotives. The other cars include passenger cars and freight cars. Most of this equipment is at the Chase location, and you can see it during daylight hours.
Locomotives (Train Engines)
The Mercury and Chase Railroad owns and runs several Alco locomotives. They have three ALCO S-2 and S-4 units and one ALCO RSD-1. These engines pull the passenger excursion trains. The RSD-1 was built for the US Army and was used during the end of World War II. Many similar engines were sent to the Soviet Union to help with the war effort. One of the S-4 engines used to belong to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and was numbered 1534.
Train Cars (Rolling Stock)
The Mercury and Chase Railroad has several train cars that are ready to go!
- There are two shiny stainless steel coaches, built by Budd Company in 1939 and 1940. These are used on all the train rides.
- There's a dining car that was first built as a hospital car for the US Army in 1943.
- You can also see a heavy passenger coach built in 1927 by Pullman Company.
- A baggage car built in 1924 by American Car and Foundry Company is also part of the collection.
Trains on Display
The NARM also has many train cars that are on display. Some of these are waiting to be fixed up, while others are permanent exhibits.
- The museum has a 1926 ALCO boxcab locomotive. This unique engine was built with parts from GE and an Ingersol-Rand diesel engine.
- There's a Railway post office car that was built in 1928. This car was used to sort mail while the train was moving!
- A Caboose built in 1947 is on display near the museum's entrance. It's open when volunteers are around. You can see how railroad workers used to live and work inside it.
The NARM has many other types of train cars too. These include more baggage cars, passenger coaches, dining cars, box cars, flat cars, cabooses, and even a tank car. Many of these are on display as they are. Feel free to bring a camera and enjoy walking along the line of cars!
Special Programs and Events
The NARM offers special programs throughout the year. You can contact the museum to get more information about these events.
The School Program
Every spring, the NARM has a special field trip program for kindergarten and first-grade classes. This program includes a guided tour of the museum, a video about railroading, a train ride, and a ride in a railroad surrey pulled by a vintage motor car. Since 1971, over 100,000 teachers and students have enjoyed this program!
Boy Scout Railroading Merit Badge
The NARM offers a Saturday session for young men in Boy Scouts of America. They can start working on their Railroading Merit Badge during this session. Much of the work can be completed there. The NARM has helped many scouts earn this merit badge over the years.
Eagle Scout Projects
The NARM has also worked with scouts on Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America) projects. Scouts have helped restore equipment, improve the museum grounds, and even build a special loading platform that is easy for everyone to use.
See also
- List of heritage railroads in the United States
- List of museums in Alabama
- List of transport museums
- List of railway museums
- List of Alabama railroads
