This idea is absolutely insane, but...

Has anybody tought about a church train? You could run a train every Sunday morning and have a preacher aboard to conduct church services while the train's rolling down the track.

I seem to recall reading about something like this in the distant past -- I wonder if it might be a way to raise some cash for a museum operation? I thought I'd broach the idea here before suggesting it to the SCRM Board.

This is a weird idea for me. I normally don't do the religion thing.

You could call it the Chapel of Ferroequinology!

mconrad@msmgmt.com

LIFE IS LIKE A MOUNTAIN RAILWAY
M. E. Abbey
1. Life is like a mountain railway,
With an engineer that's brave;
We must make the run successful,
From the cradle to the grave;
Watch the curves, the fills, the tunnels;
Never falter, never quail;
Keep your hands upon the throttle,
And your eyes upon the rail.
Chorus:
Blessed Savior, Thou wilt guide us,
Till we reach that blissful shore,
When the Angels wait to join us
In Thy praise for evermore.

2. You will roll up grades of trial;
You will cross the bridge of strife;
See that Christ is your conductor
On this lightning train of life;
Always mindful of obstruction,
Do your duty, never fail;
Keep your hands upon the throttle,
And your eyes upon the rail.
Chorus:
3. You will often find obstructions,
Look for storms and wind and rain;
On a fill, or curve, or trestle
They will almost ditch your train;
Put your trust alone in Jesus,
Never falter, never fail;
Keep your hands upon the throttle,
And your eyes upon the rail.
Chorus:
4. As you roll across the trestle,
Spanning Jordan's swelling tide,
You behold the Union Depot
Into which your train will glide;
There you'll meet the Superintendent,
God, the Father, God the Son,
With the hearty, joyous plaudit,
"Weary Pilgrim, welcome home."
Chorus:



http://nctans.org
Wrinnbo@aol.com

> This idea is absolutely insane, but...

I think Nelson Blount got there first, didn't he?

On the Niles Canyon Railway we have an open car with old church pews for seats. We nicknamed it "the Chapel Car".

Since we only operate on Sundays I guess all we have to do is get a preacher. The only question is who gets the donations?

http://www.ncry.org
jmann@asyst.com

Or try this one: "Bless be the Tie that Binds" , Don't want the rails spreading!



nwstaybolt@reachone.com

Sounds like an interesting idea, but there are a couple of potential downsides to consider:

1. You don't want to alienate visitors (or members for that matter) of other faiths or denominations, though I suppose in theory you could have different services going on in different cars at the same time and try to please everybody.

2. It may complicate things when going after certain types of government grant money, with all the sensitive church-and-state issues going on these days.

A solution to both of these may be to set up the church aspect as a separate organization and have them lease the train from the museum (or get an existing church group to do so), to avoid the museum being branded a religious organization.

rjenkins@railfan.net

Sorry Matt ...wouldn't touch that one with two 10ft poles!

lamontdc@adelphia.net

In the late 1800s there were indeed Chapel Cars roaming the rails in the west. These cars would go to western boomtowns and stay a short while. American Baptist Convention was part of this movement. Our church has a small chapel car outside built as a child's playhouse.

Tom Parkins

S3261@aol.com

> This idea is absolutely insane, but...

> Has anybody thought about a church train?
> I seem to recall reading about something
> like this in the distant past --

Middleton's book "Some Classic Trains" has a photograph of a 19th-dentury chapel car, complete with stained-glass windows and a pipe organ.

hi_plain@yahoo.com

An old hymn titled "The Son of God Goes Forth to War" by R. Heber and H.S. Cutler contains lyrics that challenge the Christian believer to true discipleship -- and the last two stanzas end with the question:

"...who follows in His train?"

Dan Cupper
Harrisburg, Pa.

cupper@att.net

> Sounds like an interesting idea, but there
> are a couple of potential downsides to
> consider:

The whole idea came from the thought, "If I wanted to get the Museum involved with the local churches, how would I do it?" Remember, SCRM is in the Bible Belt.

What I had in mind was a sort of "rotating preacher" thing. One week you get the guy from the First Baptist church (baptisms in a tank car?), next week it's First Methodist, then it's First Presbyterian, then it's First ARP, then First AME, etc. Each preacher would be a guest preacher for one service. The train would be advertised as a church train with the preacher from whatever church so everybody would know what to expect.

The problem you didn't mention that I thought of is financial. Would it be kosher (!) to charge a fare, and then pass the plate? And if you did pass the plate, who'd get the cash?

mconrad@msmgmt.com

Most museums receive some kind of public monies, directly or indirectly, and also enjoy a non-profit tax-exempt status.

As a former administrator of government grant programs, let me caution you on this one. One of the things my audit team would look for was any intrusion of sectarian activity into a program funded wholly or in part by federal, state, and/or local public funds.

Believe me, it's not worth the hassle. Remember, you're dealing with OPM (other people's money), and not everyone shares the same beliefs.

jftrolley@aol.com

Check this link. Long history of rail ministry, with representations from just about all every flavor of Christianity (don't know about non-Christian ones)

"This Train is Bound for Glory"
superheater@rrmail.com

Matt, I think itÂ’s a great idea - not nutty at all!

As Tom says, the American Baptists had chapel cars that ran from 1891 through 1948 - seven of them. The Episcopal church had three chapel cars too, and the Catholic church had three more. ThereÂ’s a good web site with information on this interesting piece of American history: www.chapelcars.com

The Prairie Village museum near Madison, South Dakota has one of the original Baptist chapel cars, now partially restored, and they do just what youÂ’ve described. They hold services on Sundays with a a rotating schedule of guest clergy conducting them. You might want to contact them to get details on how they do it and how they deal with any objections by the politically-correct police. www.prairievillage.org

Another Baptist car, “Grace” has also been beautifully restored and is now displayed at the Baptist Green Lake conference center in Wisconsin. They also hold services on Sundays in the car, but since it’s a church-owned site they probably don’t have to be concerned with objections.

Since the chapel car era was an important segment of history in our religious heritage, perhaps you could approach your project as an historical portrayal of that period. Those chapel cars did visit a few of the southeastern states (LA, MS, NC, TN, WV).

A beautiful book has been written by Wilma and Norman Taylor about the chapel cars, “This Train Is Bound for Glory,” (1999, Judson Press) and it’s available at amazon.com

As you can tell, the chapel cars have been a fascinating study for me, and IÂ’d enjoy discussion with anyone whoÂ’s also interested in the subject.

Dick

There were 13 Chapel Cars and several still exist. The one on public display in the best condition is "Grace" at the Baptist conference center in Green Lake Wisconsin. Considerable restoration work has been done on Grace by Wilma and Norman Taylor. A Catholic car, "St Paul", is hidden away in private storage on the Upper Peninsula...I think on the Escanaba and Lake Superior. Grace and St Paul are complete with altars, organs, pews, etc. An Epsicopal car is in private storage in Illinois supposedly to be reconstructed (it was last a gift shop). There are others but none have been restored to my knowledge. I produced the video on chapel cars titled "Railway to Heaven". I always thought the Manitou & Pikes Peak would do well with a Sunday morning church train since it is the closest to Heaven of any railway in the U.S. The first revenue trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in 1891 was the Highlands Christian Church choir.

Railway to Heaven video
cwiatrowski@earthlink.net