Beginning on May 14, 2023, the Boonsboro Trolley Station Museum will be open from 1pm until 4pm every 2nd and 4th Sunday each month through October. Other special event dates and an official Grand Reopening date are still to be announced.

The H&FRHS has been working with two area history organizations to develop new exhibits for this year!

The ongoing partnership with the National Road Heritage Foundation has resulted in the H&FRHS being provided creative control on a full redevelopment of exhibits at the Boonsboro Trolley Station Museum. These new exhibits are being funded by a mini-grant from the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area and contributions of objects and materials by various individuals. Society artifacts will be displayed in new exhibit cases donated by H&FRHS President Reuben Moss and Sean Guy of Beaver Creek Antique Market.

Over 70 objects from the H&FRHS collection have been placed on loan to Heritage Frederick which operates the Museum of Frederick County History. The new trolley exhibit in that museum will include several objects rarely displayed to the public and several new acquisitions including an original, unrestored door from the company’s official “Last Trolley” car #172. Also incorporated into the exhibit will be a headlight presented by Potomac Edison to Heritage Frederick during the Last Trolley ceremony in 1954.

The Boonsboro Trolley Station Museum is located at the entrance to Shafer Park, 220 N. Main Street in Boonsboro and is slated to open to the public by April 23. 2023, while the Frederick museum is located at 24 E. Church Street in Downtown Frederick and will open to the public Wed-Sat 10-4 beginning on March 1. The Frederick exhibit will be accompanied by a presentation by H&FRHS President Reuben Moss on April 26 beginning at 6pm (Free, RSVP required). Neither exhibit is handicap accessible however plans are being developed to install wheelchair accessibility to the Boonsboro Trolley Station Museum some time during 2023/2024.

Society member Rick Hahn has loaned a significant collection of original and copy negatives to the Society to be scanned into our collection. The initial estimate is that nearly 800 photographs are within this collection and many of these photographs have not been published or widely distributed in the past several decades. We are excited to add these valuable resources to the collection.

Mr. Hahn, a history enthusiast and collector of several local subjects, has also promised to continue loaning groupings of slides and photographs from his collection for the Society to preserve and make available to researchers in digital form after these negatives have been scanned and returned to his archive.

The H&FRHS has agreed to host the Boonsboro Trolley Station Museum on behalf of the National Road Heritage Foundation which operates that museum. Come visit the last surviving trolley station in Washington County, Maryland on the first and third Sunday of each month during the summer from 1-4pm.

Future new exhibits and programs will be announced at a later date.

The National Road Heritage Foundation is currently developing Maryland’s only museum dedicated to America’s first official highway next door to the museum. They hope to open that museum some time in 2023. Donations to that organization will help both museums.

The H&FRHS has been invited back to two Frederick County Library locations as well as community events taking place in the latter part of 2021.

Myersville – Now to October 31…

From now through October 31, you will find an exhibit of artifacts in the Myersville Community Library, located at 8 Harp Place in that town. H&F surviving trolley #150 is once again open for public entry as well! This is a perfect chance to see items from the Society collection which are rarely put on public display and then relax inside an original H&F coach and read a book! Trolley history discussions will be taking place on the hour from 11-4 on October 16 as part of the Myersville Music & Trolley Festival.

Catoctin Colorfest – October 9 & 10…

The Society will be at Catoctin Colorfest in Thurmont with our mobile museum exhibit. Find us on Main Street at the north end of the Trolley Trail! Visit the last surviving H&F freight motor and learn more about the trolley network.

C. Burr Artz Central Library – November 13 – 2022…

Our holiday gift to you: the largest venue exhibit provided by the H&FRHS is returning to the central Library in Frederick in mid November, hosted by the Maryland Room.

Dozens of photographs, documents and artifacts large and small will be on display between the main entrance and Maryland Room entrance in the Library. This is the largest public exhibition of local trolley artifacts offered in Frederick or Washington counties. An open house/meet the curator event will be announced at a later date.

The National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) has awarded a Heritage Grant to the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway Historical Society. The $2300 grant will allow the Society to purchase computer hardware and software for cataloging its collection of documents, photos, and artifacts for preservation. The NRHS Heritage Grant will allow us to digitize our collection and make it accessible online. The grant also allows for purchase of technology for documenting the oral histories of people who rode on or remember the trolleys. The Society’s target date for completion of the project is the end of 2021, with an absolute deadline of June 8, 2022. The oral history gathering will be an ongoing project.

With the ongoing limitations and guidance imposed during the current worldwide crisis, events and talks scheduled for this spring have been cancelled or rescheduled. The H&FRHS has also suspended archives and on-site administrative work and is examining options for holding a remote summer member meeting and election. Members will receive updates regarding the meeting in the next Trolleywire newsletter.

If you have submitted a membership application since March 15, 2020 please use the contact form on this site to ensure you receive the newsletter.

As always, Society and member submitted information and photographs can be found on our Facebook Group.

The Town of Thurmont has replaced the doors on Freight Motor 5 due to unexpected wear to those previously added to the car.  The new ‘barn’ style doors have been painted and will continue to protect the interior of the car.  The original doors seen on Motor 5 in historic photographs were removed and lost long before the car came to Thurmont.  Further work is planned for the car in coming years including eventual public access and interior renovation as well as the replacement of several missing exterior components.

In 2017 the H&FRHS assisted the Town in selecting colors resembling those the car was documented wearing in service.  The car was donated to the Town of Thurmont by the Society after acquiring it from Railways to Yesterday, Inc. over a decade ago.  It was constructed in Frederick in 1920 and served the entire H&F system, being retired from Frederick-Thurmont service in 1955.

Motor 5 can be found beside the Thurmont Fire Company Carnival Grounds on the former site of the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway Passenger Station.  The Thurmont Trolley Trail and Memorial Park are located  immediately across Main Street.