We are pleased to announce the continuation of our NARM School Field Trip Program for 2024. This program is established for kindergarten and first grade children only. We appreciate your school’s interest in our program.
The dates for the 2024 season are: Tuesday, April 23rd, Wednesday, April 24th and Thursday April 25th. Programs begin at 9:15 and 10:15AM .
The price is $10 each for children, parents and chaperones. Teachers participate for free based on regular classes or groups of 15 or 20 kids (minimum of 15 students in a single group). If you are a teacher or school administrator, please reply to Chairwoman Kelly Stenson by e-mail at: gkstenson@charter.net or cell phone 256-496-2308. If you are a parent and would like to have your child participate, please inform your teacher or other school administrator. Information packets will be provided to the teachers prior to each school visit in order to prepare the children for their experience. We will be glad to have you and we know the children will thank you for it later !
For a little history on this subject, between 1971 and 1986 the North Alabama Railroad Museum sponsored train rides all over north Alabama for school groups in cooperation with Southern Railway (now Norfolk Southern). During these years, over 100,000 teachers and children participated in the program by riding our train. Now we are providing school excursions with a learning experience on our own railroad at our museum at Chase. It consists of a special program only for kindergarteners and first graders. This program is designed for the younger children featuring fun, excitement, and a wee bit of history. The visit includes a tour of a restored caboose with an expert on the subject ready to tell the kids what life was like for those who worked in the caboose. Also there will be a tour of a real Railway Post Office car to show how the mail was once picked up on the fly and sorted while the train was en route between towns and cities. And, we now have a Model Train layout in the western half of the Post Office car. The children will enjoy a humorous but educational movie on railroad safety. The highlight of the day is a ride on the museum’s real excursion train on the museum’s Mercury & Chase Railroad. Picnic tables are available under our pavilion for a picnic lunch should it be desired (lunch not provided by museum). Restroom facilities are available adjacent to the pavilion. Participants are expected to have their own insurance and agree to hold the North Alabama Railroad Museum harmless in the event of an accident or injury.
Please, when you visit, do not walk on top of the rails and do not climb on the equipment. Rails are very slippery and can cause a very nasty fall. We want your visit to the museum to be safe and enjoyable.
During your visit to the museum, pictures and/or videos might be taken by museum members for promotional purposes and possibly used in our newsletter, on the NARM website or on social media. If you do not wish for images of you or members of your group to be taken, please inform the museum volunteer taking them.
The museum will be closed to the general public during the school field trip programs.