Cabin Window: Railroad: Models and memories
That front page news item and photo of the Faulkner County Railroad Exhibit stirred quite a few memories and pledges of "I'm going to get up there and see it" around our area.
The railroad exhibit is a work in progress at the Faulkner County Museum on the courthouse grounds in Conway. Log Cabin Democrat reporter Monica Hooper captured the essence of the exhibit in just a few words it is both fun and educational.
For decades, for well over a century now, our children have operated with two basic interests toy trains for boys, dolls for girls, and there are plenty of girls around who have played with trains, too. We realize that.
Once upon a time, before the onslaught of the electronic age, the yuletide meant train sets under many, many Christmas trees in households where a boy resided. Generations grew up with kids playing with trains. The arrival of aviation scarcely made an impact; planes were just added to the picture.
In some cases, the toy trains advanced a step or two with layouts on boards or permanent structures constructed, usually by father-son teams or grandfather-father-grandson efforts. Along with these, we have had the adult model train brigade, perhaps small in number compared to golfers or deer hunters but still intense and devout in their interests.
.story-ad {
width: 310px;
float: left;
margin: 0 10px 10px 0;
padding: 4px;
}
- Advertisement -
OAS_AD('x22');
This Faulkner County Railroad Exhibit is a product of the adult toy train folks in this area. They have put together a model train layout of some elaborateness but also with historical significance at the museum. It is there for everyone to enjoy.
In part, the exhibit has depictions of early day Mayflower and early day Conway. Forget the nitpicking about "that store really wasn't so close to the tracks." It is the historical significance that is foremost. Younger people need to get a glimpse of what life was like a half-century and more ago around here.
Once upon a time, and it's no fairy story start-up, the railroad was the lifeblood, the artery of our neck of the woods. First the Iron Mountain then the Missouri Pacific moved people and goods in and out of Conway and the surrounding environs.
We had forgotten about the "Doodlebug" train that operated for a while between Little Rock and Conway back before World War II. This was a one-car train, engine and passenger compartment in a single unit along with space for some cargo, and it made use of a turnaround near St. Joseph Church and close to downtown Conway.
Hello, does this give some food for thought as gasoline prices rise to about $3 a gallon?
A similar conveyance, also informally called the Doodlebug, ran between Little Rock and Memphis for some years in the 1920, 1930s and into the 1940s.
The day of train travel as a prominent mode of transportation is gone, we are told. Railroads are for carrying freight now, and even that is dwindling away, we are told. Trucks are the freight haulers, we are told. Besides, the railroads will never allow passenger trains again because they aren't as profitable as freight trains.
Perhaps it is pig-headedness, but we believe a resurrection of mass transportation is in our future.
The museum railroad exhibit is just a miniature, a sophisticated toy constructed by some interested and energetic fellows, but it is a stimulant.
One thing we keep in mind is the basic facilities are still with us - the tracks and their right-of-way. Massive outlays for construction are not required, but considerable planning, negotiation and arrangement for support facilities would be needed.
It is a bit of encouragement for the future as well as some pleasant nostalgia, this railroad exhibit.