Dayton History’s Rail Fest returns to Carillon Historical Park June 23, 2018. The two-day event is billed as a “family fun event featuring free miniature train rides, live steam engines, model train displays, historical displays, train merchandise, and rail vendors,” among its attractions.In this WYSO Weekend preview, Rail Fest co-chair Dave Oroszi talks about some of the highlights of the festival, which drew more than two-thousand visitors last year.
Festival co-chair David Oroszia and says railways were important to the development of the Miami Valley and many other cities around the country.
“Passenger service ended, unfortunately, in 1979 but there are still lots of freight trains that run through Dayton. Dayton probably sees 40 trains a day through town,” he says.
Oroszi has been a train enthusiast since he was a kid and says his wife calls it a genetic defect. He is the co-author of Baltimore And Ohio Railroad and currently more than a million photographs of trains dating back to the early 20th century. One-third to half of the photographs, according to the author, were taken within a hundred miles of the Dayton area.
Train enthusiasts like Oroszi will descend on Carillon Historical Park, which is home to the “B&O #1, John Quincy Adams. The 1835 engine “was one of the original items on display when the museum exhibits opened in 1950.” The park also features a Barney & Smith wooden parlor car, an Interurban, a type of electrical railway, a train station, and related artifacts.
Dayton History, along with the Carillon Park Rail & Steam Society says Rail Festival drew more than two thousand attendees last year. You can find more information at Dayton History’s website.
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