A local group of train enthusiasts is working with the cities of Truesdale and Warrenton to host a train-themed community celebration.

The Railroad Days event will take place Oct. 14-15. The celebration is being organized in part by the Central Missouri Railroad Association, a train enthusiast club based in Warrenton.

There will be activities in the Rebecca Boone Elementary School gym in Truesdale and Dyer Park in Warrenton, as well as a property along the railroad tracks through Truesdale.

A model train show and swap meet will be open at the school during the two days, while a petting zoo, children’s area and vendors will be set up at the corner of Depot and Market streets in Truesdale. A scavenger hunt and other activities will be spread throughout all three locations.

Organizers plan to have train cars parked in Truesdale for the weekend.

This is the first Railroad Days event, which organizers hope to make a yearly festival.

“We’re learning as we’re going,” said railroad association member Mike Daly.

Daly said he has modest hopes for Railroad Days to start out small this year, with up to 2,000 attendees. He expects many participants in the train show and swap meet to come from out of town.

“Train people are nuts,” he joked. “They come from miles away for train things . . . If you have something to show them, they’ll come.”

Once the event becomes known, Daly said he wants it to grow as a yearly attraction.

Railroad Days has received support from organizations like the Warrenton Tourism Board and Warren County Fine Arts Council. Organizers also have received contributions from various local businesses.

Vendors, businesses and other groups are invited to set up booths at Railroad Days and can contact the city of Truesdale for more information. City Administrator MaryLou Rainwater said the city will waive its vendor fee for nonprofit organizations that want to participate.

Mayor Chris Watson said he’s been impressed by the support from small businesses and community groups who have offered their services. Of course, he said, more participants are always welcome, right up until the last day.

Dream depot

The idea for Railroad Days was devised as a shared opportunity for the city of Truesdale and the Central Missouri Railroad Association.

The city for years has wanted to rebuild a train depot that once existed on Market Street, and use it as a historical museum, Rainwater said. It was a dream that especially inspired late-Mayor Murray Bruer.

Recently, the city secured a lease for land along the railroad track at Depot and Market streets that will be used as the site of the depot museum.

Truesdale will pay $1,500 per year to Norfolk Southern Railway Company to use the land. A former UPS building at that location will soon be torn down to make way for the museum.

The railroad association, meanwhile, has been looking for a way to reinvigorate interest in new membership, Daly said. The two groups together came to the conclusion that the best way to draw interest and support to both causes is a celebration of the railroad’s history in Truesdale and Warren County, and plans for Railroad Days grew from there.

The railroad that runs east to west through central Warren County is particularly significant to Truesdale. Many residents might not know, but the railroad is a major reason the city was founded.

Truesdale’s founder, William Truesdail, was a contractor for North Missouri Railroad. Anticipating the route of future railroad construction, Truesdail in 1856 purchased the land and laid out plans for what would become Truesdale.

He then made a deal with the railroad to provide land for a depot, making his village a stop along the railroad’s long route west.

It’s that history and other stories that organizers of Railroad Days are hoping to highlight in October, and one day to memorialize in Truesdale’s own historical depot.

The Truesdale railroad depot, seen here in a historical photo, was torn down in 1979. Organizers of a Railroad Days event in Truesdale and Warrenton Oct. 14-15 hope to one day rebuild the structure as a museum at Depot and Market streets in Truesdale. Submitted photo.