Frisco ISD Focus Magazine February 2018 | Page 30

Seventh-Grade History Students Learn About Community’s Roots in Railroad Museum of the American Railroad teaches history of transportation in Texas. The very first St. Louis-San Francisco Railway train came through what is now Frisco on a brisk, windy day in March of 1902 – whistle blowing and steam pour- ing from its engine. This year on a cold and windy winter’s day, the first group of students, some of whom have never traveled on a train in their lives, took the first Frisco ISD sev- enth-grade study-trip tour of the outdoor train cars that make up much of the col- lection of the Museum of the American Railroad (MAR). The students from Vandeventer Middle School were just steps away from the site of the old Frisco train tracks now owned and operated by BNSF Railway. The museum makes its home in Frisco, sharing space with the Frisco Heritage Museum, and maintains its tremendous inventory of trains, engines and cabooses just a few blocks away. While elementa- ry students visit both the Frisco Heritage Museum and the MAR, this year marks the first time seventh-grade students have visited the train yard and learned how sig- nificant trains are to the state’s history. All Aboard! Vandeventer Middle School students climb stairs to board a train car that was used in Chicago in the 1970s. 30 | FOCUS