Our archives maintain a collection of documents, artwork, maps, small artifacts, an extensive collection of timetables and hundreds of photographs.  Access to the archives is available upon appointment only.

Our members receive a quarterly newsletter with topical articles and photographs from the archives.  We also offer an extensive equipment and employee roster to our members and research materials from the archives to members through this website.

The H&FRHS maintains our archives at Hobbytown USA on Prospect Street in Frederick where we also provide an exhibit of artifacts.  We also attend events with a portable exhibit and take multimedia presentations to other organizations’ meetings upon request.

We would like to someday have a larger dedicated location which could be turned into a proper research archive center and meeting place for our organization.  If you are the owner of a building in the Hagerstown or Frederick area and would like to provide secure space to a small organization we are a small 501(c)3 educational organization and contributions are tax deductible.

We are a historical society, formed to preserve small documents and objects and educate the public about the local trolleys.  While we would love to see one of the four surviving local trolleys returned to operation we are not a large enough organization to consider the cost involved in such a venture.

If you would like to experience what it was like to ride on a Hagerstown and Frederick Railway trolley, consider visiting one of the following museums which are within day-trip distance of the H&F region and offer rides on trolleys similar to those used in our area.

Baltimore Streetcar Museum
National Capital Trolley Museum
Rockhill Trolley Museum
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

Our activities and efforts are entirely funded by donation and membership dues.  We do not receive any form of government funding or sponsorship at this time.  In addition to monetary donations, we accept donations of photographs, documents and items related to the local trolley system as well as some objects related to pre-1961 Potomac Edison Company.

The H&FRHS is currently raising money for an Endowment Fund through the Community Foundation of Frederick County.

To learn more about donating, visit our Donations page.

We do have contact with other organizations which collect objects related to other local history and railroads and can direct you to those groups for objects not related to our mission.

We are only interested in accepting models of H&F equipment which can be used for display purposes.  Some local railroad museums accept donations of model trains.