Organizers are planning the inaugural Tamaqua Railfest, a one-day event to highlight the borough’s rich railroading history.

It will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 26 from the 1847 Tamaqua Train Station and Depot Square Park, and will feature all things railroad and coal mining.

“Tamaqua has been a railroad center since the early days of railroading in 1829 when construction of the Little Schuylkill Railroad got underway. It opened between here and Port Clinton in 1831,” said Dale Freudenberger, president of the Tamaqua Historical Society, one of the groups partnering to organize the event.

Other partners include the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, Tamaqua Area Chamber of Commerce, Tamaqua Arts Center and the Tamaqua Train Station Restaurant.

The day will feature railroad displays and exhibits, railroad-themed vendors, model train layouts, vintage mining displays, tours and a train that will bring visitors from Berks County.

While the area around the historic train passenger station will be the focal point of the event, organizers encourage attendees to check out the borough.

“We are hoping that visitors will also patronize our local restaurants, craft breweries and shops, and go around and see what we have here in town,” Freudenberger said.

To direct folks to businesses, the Tamaqua chamber will be on hand with an information booth. The chamber also has information on https://tamaqua.net/railfest, where a QR code can be scanned for locations of events and businesses. Many restaurants will be offering specials that day.

As for the on-site offerings, Freudenberger said that a Reading Blue Mountain & Northern train from the Reading Outer Station will arrive around 11:30 a.m., and depart at 4 p.m. For more information on tickets visit https://www.rbmnrr-passenger.com/tamaqua-railfest.

Four 90-minute bus trips to Lehigh Anthracite mining operations between Tamaqua and Coaldale will be offered at 9 and 11 a.m., and 1 and 3 p.m. Tickets are available from Tink’s Antiques, 28 S. Railroad St. Remaining tickets will be sold on the bus, which will depart from Tommy’s Italian Restaurant, 41 N. Railroad St.

Vendors will be selling railroad themed merchandise such as woodcrafts, mugs and vintage toy trains, along with Coal Region souvenirs, shirts and hats.

The Railroad and Industrial Archaeology Preservation Society will be on hand, as well as the Reaching Company Technological and Historical Society. Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad will have souvenirs for sale, and the Railway Restoration Project 113 of Minersville will be represented.

A railroad speeder car, vintage pump car, vintage coal truck from Rarick’s Coal, Model T restored L&NE Railroad truck, two cabooses, PPL fireless Locomotive F, PPL Plymouth gasoline engine and Altas Powder locomotive will be on display.

There will be an information table for the Lehigh & New England Engine 611 restoration, and antique train whistles will be displayed.

Railroad and mining photographs will be exhibited and for sale, and artist Shelby Van Cleef will have railroad and mining paintings for sale. Author Vince Hydro will sell his books on area railroads and coal mining, and the Railroad Historians of the Lehigh Valley will be represented.

The Lakeside Winery will sell bottles of wine, and the Revere Brewery of Tamaqua will have a booth. Stoker’s Brewery, Mauch Chunk Street, Tamaqua will have its fifth anniversary celebration from 2-10 p.m. and feature a lobster food truck.

DJ Shawn Frederickson will play railroad and mining music from the park’s gazebo from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As for displays, the Lehigh and New England Railroad exhibit will be at 112 W. Broad St., and the Tamaqua Anthracite Model Railroad Club will operate a H.H. Scale train layout from the second floor of 139 W. Broad St. The Tamaqua Historical Society Museum, 118 W. Broad St., will be open, as will the Tamaqua Station Restaurant and Visitor Center. At the station’s SOS Gift Shop, souvenirs featuring the United States Postal Service station stamp will be sold.

The 1848 Hegarty Blacksmith Shop, Hegarty Avenue and Nescopeck streets, will be open. A blacksmith will be on hand to demonstrate the trade.

Freudenberger will lead guided walking tours of railroad historic sites that will depart from the train station entrance at 12:30 and 3 p.m.

The Tamaqua Arts Center will be open and artist Joe Evanousky will have his railroad and mining artwork exhibit there from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and the South Benders perform at the center from 10 a.m. to noon. Musician John Kanahan will perform from 5 to 7 p.m. at Hope & Coffee.

Although it’s not in Tamaqua, the Lehigh & New England train station, Dock Street, Lansford, will be open from noon to 4 p.m.

Freudenberger said that plans have been in the works for months.

“Tamaqua is a town with a well-known railroad and transportation location in the Coal Region,” Freudenberger said. “Tamaqua was once served by three different railroads - the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Lehigh & New England Railroad.”

As for the earliest railroad in the borough - the Little Schuylkill - it was the first in the nation to use steam power to haul anthracite coal.

“The railroad that still passes through Tamaqua today, owned by the Reading railroad, is the third oldest rail route in America,” Freudenberger added. “It’s also today the oldest railroad carrying anthracite coal in the world.”