Heart of the Heartlands-Information
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Information About Our club
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Heart of the Heartlands-Information
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Information About Our club
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Formed in 1991, Heartland members are dedicated to providing railroad histories, short excursion rides and motor car trips during the year. We have established a museum in Carona Kansas to preserve railroad memoribilia. The group has restored three depots: a Santa Fe Depot in Cherryvale in 1991, a Missouri Pacific Depot in Carona in 1996 and a second Missouri Pacific Depot (The Boston Depot which is now also located on our grounds in Carona). The Cherryvale depot, built in 1910 is now operated by the SK&O Railroad. The freight room in the north end of the depot is the home of the Cherry Valley Model Railroad Club, which meets every Friday evening. The Carona depot, built in the 1940s, was used as a passenger depot until the early 1960s. At that time the depot was sold and moved 1/4 mile and used as a hay barn. The John Thompson family graciously gave the depot to the Heartlands organization. It has now been moved close to the track and restored with the help of many area volunteers and Heartland members. The Boston Depot was built in 1882 in a then thriving community of Boston Missouri. It was put out of service in 1932. Out group moved it to its current location on October 7, 2005. We are currently in the process of restoring it. With the generous assistance of WATCO and the Dick Webb family, excursion rides and motor car rides are enjoyable activities. Members are able to help with these excursion train rides by selling tickets, helping passengers, conducting the train and other jobs. Excursion Rides are held from the museum complex and at various area festivals during the year. Members coordinate and conduct motor car rides. For a listing of the currently schedule rides go to our Excursion Train Trips page. Motor car trips are also a large part of our activities. The listing for the upcoming rides is on our Motor Car Trips page. The members also enjoy an annual Hobo Day. On this day the members dress in hobo attire, eat hobo stew, name a hobo king and queen and enjoy a relaxing day. In June of 2003 our group received a 40/60 grant from the Kansas department of tourism. Using this grant money plus generous contributions of time and money from our members, we have constructed a museum. The museum building is part of a complex consisting of the Carona depot, a signal light collection, several cabooses, railroad cars and a Plymouth engine. Heartlands is governed by a nine-member board of directors. This organization meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Carona depot. In extreme hot or cold weather we often meet in the Community Room of the Labette County Bank in Cherokee, KS. Members, guests, and rail fans are welcome to attend and offer input about any area of interest. Meetings are on the second Wednesday of each month with meetings held in the Carona Museum building. Carona is located near Scammon Kansas. To find our depot go 7 miles north of Columbus Kansas on highway 7 to highway 102. Turn west on 102 and go 2 miles. Turn left (there is a large blue building on the corner) and go approximately 1/4 mile. Annual memberships are available. Individual membership is $20 per year and family membership is $30. For more information, write to: P.O. Box 211 Scammon, KS 66773 |
