Walkersville Southern Railroad Tourist Railroad

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Visit Our Museum

Please stop by and visit our museum when you're here. It is located across the street and on the other side of the tracks from the passenger station, in the large brick building.

Visitors to the museum will be treated to many educational displays and an operating model railroad (HO scale) known as the "Monocacy Valley Railroad." George Wireman, who is the Senior Conductor of the Walkersville Southern Railroad, built the layout.
Visitors will view a "Theme Wall" that features Pennsylvania Railroad magazine ads, timetables and documents relating to holidays such as Memorial, Labor and Veterans Day. Also featured are the great Pennsy "Signature Trains", The Broadway Limited, The Jeffersonian, The Spirit of St. Louis, The Federal & The Congressional.

In another area of the Museum, visitors will be able to view artifacts and documents of the Frederick Secondary on loan from long time Track Foreman Leslie Lind. Also on display are a 1903 locomotive demonstrator & the front of a Baldwin Switcher locomotive from the 1940’s and the very unusual looking Velocipede, which was built in the late 1800’s.

Some historical background is available from Engelbrecht’s Diary, which states, "Thursday 29, 1869. Frederick and Pennsylvania Railroad broke ground for the Frederick and Pennsylvania line near Woodsboro . . ." With the arrival of the Frederick and Pennsylvania Railroad in 1872 new prosperity was brought to the area, hauling farmers' supplies in and farm produce out. With this new prosperity, the town of Walkersville became incorporated in 1892. By the early 20th century the area grew into an industrial center that included a cannery, an ice factory, a bakery and a clothing factory.

The brick building that houses the museum was part of the Glade Valley Milling Co. property. This building was the Ice Plant and had freezer lockers for people to store their food. They also produced ice that was delivered around town. When the Frederick and Pennsylvania Railroad cut back on their freight operations, it brought about the demise of this busy industrial center. The brick building located down the lane from the Museum was the old Cannery.