For Immediate Release:
Contact: Jennifer Elliott Meares
Phone: (706) 846-5341
Email: manchesterga@alltel.net
The ninth annual Manchester Railroad Days will be held on the traditional third weekend in October [ Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st ] and looks to be one of the best ever.
The Friday evening program will be held in the Manchester Community Building as is customary and will begin at 6:00 with refreshments and a reception. David Barfield with the North Georgia Live Steamers, will present a presentation on their unique engines.
Saturday's Railroadiana Show ( begins at 9:00am to the Manchester Mill) promises to be bigger and better than ever. It will be held as it was last year in the exhibition hall of the Manchester Mill.
Outside the mill, will be rides on live steam engines by the North Georgia Live Steamers. These are hand made engines to scale which can pull miniature cars with riders behind them. Jack Butler from Thomaston will be back with his restored pump car for children ride up and the track.
Inside the Mill , Over 80 exhibitor tables have been reserved The Columbus Model club will have their HO scale layout and the Atlantic Coast S gauges model layout will be a new exhibit for model train enthusiast to enjoy. The historical societies for the ACL/SAL, The Central of Georgia, and others will have displays. Many vendors and exhibitors will have lots of interesting railroad memorabilia.
Manchester Railroad Museum collection of artifacts has grown to over 200 items and those will be on display at the show, many for the first time. Many of the objects are one-of-a-kind items.
Tasty Treats will be served during the day. Tha Deli, the local restaurant located adjacent to the exhibition hall will be open and providing great food. In addition, we will have delicious treats inside the Mill from various restaurants.
In addition to the displays at the Manchester Mill, railfans will find a lot of excitement at the Manchester Observation Deck. A map has been installed showing the routes running through Manchester. The dispatch scanner allows railfans to hear the action down the line. New track work in the Manchester yard by CSX creates even more excitement.
Much progress has been made in the past year to restore 1925 historic caboose. The outside is near completion and will be on display. It was originally built as one of three wooden cabooses for the Florida East Cost in 1925. They were later sold to the AB&A (Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic) which eventually became Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast then later, the Atlantic Coast Line and traveled through Manchester as well as many cities in west central Georgia. The caboose was used by the ACL for a number of years. It is also only one of two still in existence today of the original stock used by the AB&C. The other is a steam engine used for excursions in Maryland.
For a vendor registration form click here.
The Manchester web site,
http://www.manchester-ga.com/indexmain.htm,
has info on lodging and attractions.
