The following lesson suggestions and resources have been compiled here to assist teachers in creating specific activities relating to railroads. While primarily intended for educators in South Carolina, the information provided here is broad enough that any teacher in any part of the world can find some ideas useful in writing his or her lesson plans.

Let's begin with the enjoyment. Museum visitors get to take a short, demonstration train ride. The ride will last forty minutes or longer and it is priced to make it affordable for school field trips. Group rates are available. The Train Rides Page has info on regular fares and charter contacts.

It is the educators' responsibility to make other arrangements for children who are at high risk of disregarding safety rules. Before arrival at the Museum, all children should be familiarized with the following rules:

1. Do not climb on equipment.
2. Keep arms and heads inside the window of the train at all times.
3. Do not run anywhere on the site.
4. Do not walk on rails.
5. Do not enter restricted areas.
6. Obey other safety instructions as indicated.

Preparation Ideas for Educators

For the grades four and up, it is best to give the students a general orientation on the railroad's place in modern society. This might include some pleasurable activities, such as singing some railroad related songs: John Henry, Casey Jones, I've Been Working on the Railroad, and Drill Ye Tarriere Drill. The teacher might point to the electric lights and tell the students that our electricity is made cheaper by the railroads which bring coal from the mines to the electric generating plants. Think of all the trucks that would clog up the highway if things like coal, appliances and new cars only traveled by highway, and not by rail. Railroads help the environment (reducing global warming) by moving goods in the most energy efficient way -- rolling a steel wheel on a steel rail.

Or, have the students look at the clock. The time we use, Eastern Standard Time, was invented by the railroads. Before the railroads, each little town had its own time, sun time. Because railroads ran by time schedules, it was obvious that everyone would be better off if we all used the same time. So on November 18, 1883 the railroads all went to the time zones, which are pretty close to the same ones we use today. So the railroads have influenced how we tell time.

The railroads have influenced how we talk. Phrases like "on the right track," or "blowing off steam," are straight from the railroad industry, as is "Time is money."

Now think of going fast. You probably thought of NASCAR or an airplane or a rocket. One hundred years ago none of these existed. The only way to go fast was by train. Before it had been done, people predicted that trains that went forty or fifty miles an hour would somehow make people sick. When that did not happen, train speeds kept going up, until May 10, 1893 the first humans ever to go faster than 100 miles an hour were on a steam driven train near Batavia, New York. In the United States, the fastest speed ever attained by a steam driven train was 127.06 mph on June 12, 1905 near Ada, Ohio, on a New York to Chicago express train. 

What to look for while you're at the Museum.......

• How did Rockton get its name?
• What is the difference between a short line railroad and a main line railroad?
• What is the Rockton, Rion, and Western Railroad?
• What is an interchange?
• How do trainmen communicate with one another?
• Why was the Rockton & Rion Railway built?

• Describe locomotive #44. What is unusual about its history?
• What is a fire box?
• What is a steam dome?

• What railroad used this car?
• How were the pole and catcher used to "catch" bags of mail?
• Where was the mail sorted?

• When was the first dining car used?
• How did railroad passengers eat before dining cars?
• Where did the cook work?

• What people used the business car?
• Which railroad did it come from?
• Find this car's kitchen and dining room.

• Where did passengers do with luggage that was too big to take with them to their seat?
• Where were bicycles and pets carried on the train?

• What are boxcars used for?
• Why are they called "boxcars"?

• What type of caboose is this one?
• How was it heated?
• Who rode in it?
• Who is in charge of a train?
• What is the cupola?
• What is the purpose of the cupola?
• Why did railroads stop using cabooses?

• What country did these cars come from?
• Which railroad used them and in what city?

Resource Information

The first railroad to regularly employ steam driven locomotives broke ground January 9, 1830 in Charleston. The Best Friend locomotive ran on Christmas Day of that year for its first run.

The first locomotive boiler explosion took place about six months later when the locomotive's fireman tied up the safety valve when he was annoyed by the hissing. Both the locomotive and the firemen "went to glory." For years after this, trains carried bales of cotton on a flat car between the locomotive and the passengers to help the passengers feel better about being near a boiler that might explode.

The first recorded movement of mail by rail took place in Charleston during November 1831, beginning a practice that continues around the world to this day. The U.S. Congress liked the idea so much that in 1838, it passed a law making all railroads postal routes. Look for the U.S. Mail car at the Museum. It's green.

At one time, the world's largest railroad was located in South Carolina - 135 miles. Thism was the South Carolina Railroad. The portion of this railroad between Charleston and Branchville is still very much in use by Norfolk Southern.

The eleven mile long Rockton, Rion, and Western Railroad is the Museum's largest exhibit and is believed to be the largest museum exhibit in the State. The railroad is more than a hundred years old and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This railroad was originally called the Rockton and Rion Railway. Its construction made feasible the development of the quarries at Rion and at Anderson. Stone was delivered by rail from these quarries to the interchange with Southern Railway at Rockton, just east of where you board the train. Granite weighs 180 pounds per cubic foot, so it was much better to move it by rail than by wagon. The Anderson quarry produced the world famous Winnsboro Blue Granite, the official stone of South Carolina. Blue granite was used around the world to construct buildings and monuments.

So much stone was shipped over these rails that three crews of twenty-five men each were needed just to maintain the track. The quarries and the railroad generally employed 200 to 300 men of various ethnic backgrounds: local whites, African-Americans and Scottish stone cutters. The Winnsboro Granite Company was a major force in transforming rural Fairfield County from an all farming community to one with an industrial base as well. A tombstone factory and a "chicken grit" factory developed along the rails as well, adding to the income of the area.

The railroad remained an all-steam railroad until 1967, one of the last railroads in the South to turn to diesel locomotives. Because of its notoriety as an all steam operation, railroad photographers came to the line to photograph the rare sight of steam powered trains in regular service. See the SCRM history page for more information on the Museum's railroad.