Events | Chester Railway Station & Museum

2025
The 34th anniversary of Chester On Track
see poster below.
Crafters and Vendors Take Notice
Crafters/Vendors Form

 

Chester On Track Press Release
April 7, 2025

The 34th anniversary Chester On Track marks the 184th year since the Western Railroad was opened. It was the world’s first mountain and wilderness railroad and includes the first cluster of stone arch railroad bridges built in America, 2 miles outside of Chester and the timber-frame Station at Chester, both National Historic Landmarks. This year’s event will integrate with a community improvement project; the rehabilitation of Emery Park, which has fallen into disrepair and acts of vandalism. Chester Station plans to relocate many of the events and exhibits there for this year’s event following repairs and clean up, making a nice Fairground. Exhibits and events expected to be located there at press time are the craft fair, bounce house, petting zoo, donkey rides, garden tractor pulls, classic cars and tractors on display post-parade. Kids can be entertained by Maggie the Railroad Clown, formerly of Ringling Bros. Circus, Scouting America will host an archery booth, Linda Burns and Just Us, with members of The Pioneer Valley Fiddlers, will perform in a music venue all afternoon, The Chester Scouts food booth will be there, with a Little Engine That Could story walk, and face painting. Also, demos by The Hampden Co. Sheriff’s Dept and State Police including K-9s, mounted units, classic vehicles and marine units. All subject to being called into service in the event of an emergency somewhere. There is plenty of space for visitor parking at the Fairground. Chester has waived fees for Tag Sales on this day, and there will be a number of them around town visitors may want to visit as well. Maps will be posted online. Hamilton Memorial Library will be holding a book and bake sale as well as holding an open house, that includes the Chester Mineral Collection, donated by Dr. Lucas, the discoverer of Emery in Chester. The library will also sponsor Creative Movement Fun with Laurel Lenski at the Fairground. The Chester Historical Commission will be on hand for tours at the Old Jail and Chester History Museum from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM. There will be a massive parade, with Frank Kelly as Marshall and The Berkshire Shriners, beginning at 10 am on Baystate Drive, down Main St., to the Fairground. Along Main St. and on River Front Drive will be Jacob Ladder Business Association’s Home Show, with a number of local services and businesses, and 'one-lung' steam & gas engine demos. Chester Historical will sell calendars and T-shirts. A Reason To Pause art gallery will be open along with other stores, SHAEC will have a sidewalk plant sale, Pease Store will have Chester On Track mugs and hats. Blue Skye Wellness will have natural insect repellants and new class sign-ups. Chester Fire Dept.’s Duck Race will launch at 2 PM on River Front Drive. Chester Railway Station on Prospect St will host a train show, antique woodworking, Revolutionary War re-enactors, Wild & Scenic Westfield River, and a CCC Camp booth. A ham radio base camp will be on hand to contact enthusiasts around the globe and doing Morse code demos. Chester Theatre will have activities for kids, making costumes. The Railroad Station outdoor stage will host a second venue for live music, beginning at 11 AM with Mark Franklin, Peter Curro and Friends, D Rod and the Uprising, and The Pitoniak.Brothers. Musical acts can be accessed remotely on the Chester Station webcam. The Chester Postmaster will cancel commemorative envelopes or your own mail, with a special postal cancellation for one day only. The design, which will also be on T-shirts available at the Station, will celebrate the little-known, first use of helper locomotives to climb the grade over the Berkshires, beginning in 1841. Chester Station’s own Blue Caboose will open at 8 AM for breakfast and have a hearty railroad man’s menu throughout the day, where you can eat ‘hobo style’ in an antique wooden boxcar. Just across from the Station guests can visit the amazing Chester Granite Co. 12 ft. dia. circular saw, where granite was sliced like cheese.
 

Keystone Arches Designated National Historic Landmark

 

Two keystone arch bridges located within Mass Wildlife's Walnut Hill Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Middlefield and Becket were recently designated as National Historic Landmarks by the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI). Soaring above the West Branch of the Westfield River, the bridges are an intact segment of the country’s first railroad built to pass over a mountain. The two bridges are part of a series of area stone railroad bridges built for the Western Railroad that ran from Boston to Albany. Major George Washington Whistler is credited with the design and implementation of an unprecedented plan to extend the rail through the central Berkshires by spanning the West Branch of the Westfield River in multiple locations. With only 2,500 National Historic Landmarks in the entire country, this prestigious designation recognizes the structures' significant place in United States history. The federal designation was the result of a combined effort of cultural and conservation partners. An application for Landmark designation to the DOI was filed in 2013 by the Friends of the Keystone Arches and the Wild and Scenic Westfield River Committee with a unanimous endorsement by Mass Wildlife's Fisheries and Wildlife Board. Anyone willing to do a little hiking can experience some spectacular examples of architecture and railroad history in a beautiful natural setting. In addition to the arches, visitors can enjoy the state's longest free flowing waterway situated in one of the largest blocks of undeveloped landscapes in the region. The West Branch of the Westfield River, a National Wild and Scenic River, is popular among anglers fishing for wild and stocked trout and for experienced kayakers paddling the river rapids. The WMA includes exemplary forested communities of northern woodlands, rich mesic forest, and hickory-hop hornbeam in various stages of growth. Walnut Hill WMA offers excellent opportunities for deer, bear, and turkey hunting. Wildlife viewing prospects include forest dwelling birds such as thrushes, warblers, and woodpeckers. Minks and otters patrol the waterways along with aquatic insects; mayflies, damselflies, and dragonflies. Several state-listed species of rare plants and insects have also been documented on the property. In an era of human and horsepower, construction of the 150-mile railroad was completed by 3,000 laborers in an incredible two and a half years, opening in 1841. The group of arched bridges located near and within the remote 900+ acre Walnut Hill WMA can be accessed via the 2.5 mile one way Keystone Arch Bridge Trail in Chester. The trail is maintained by the Friends of the Keystone Arches with the permission of MassWildlife. The nearby Chester Factory Village Depot in Chester was also granted National Historic Landmark status. Visitors can stop by the Western Railroad museum in Chester to learn more about the national engineering marvel that the bridges represented at the time.
MassWildlife's mission to protect wildlife lands across the state has been remarkably successful. Thanks to an unusual partnership, at Walnut Hill WMA the conserved land and water comes with a spectacular added cultural benefit, sure to be appreciated by all who visit.

MASSWILDLIFE

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We have almost everything a client might need.
Included in rental price can be a 100 cup coffeemaker, 8 chafing dishes, (bring food in aluminum foil pans and just drop them in) two large rolling coolers a wide assortment of pitchers, baskets, bud vases, punch bowls, salt & pepper shakers, 120 place settings, and more!
3 table sizes and shapes available. Set up indoors and/or out.

 

Call or Email for details and suggestions. A $50.00 deposit applies to all event rentals, returned within a week following a brief inspection and inventory.