Clarksville museum holds nostalgic wonders

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

If you’re heading to Clarksville and you make a wrong turn, you might just find Trains on the Farm — a museum run and owned by Francis Edeker, a train enthusiast and former Iowa Northern Railroad worker.

Edeker started at Iowa Northern Railroad in 1985, but his interest in railroads began well before that.

He received his first toy train when he was 2 years old. That same train is with his collection of model and toy trains and is the oldest one he owns.

His farmland has at least four buildings containing train toys, train memorabilia, random toys and a whole slew of information.

“When I grew up north of Clarksville our farm was by the Rock Island Railroad, so I watched that all my life,” Edeker said. “I’ve always been interested in trains and my dad had made a train layout for my brothers in the fifties.”

He enjoyed that layout immensely.

“That kind of got me started, so I started building layouts and collecting stuff,” Edeker said. “It just kind of expanded.”

Speaking with Edeker, you become aware that he has a lot of information and energy. He’s passionate about train safety, so much so that now he is the state coordinator for Project Lifesaver, a program that gives presentations on train safety to driver’s education courses around Iowa.

For 18 straight years Edeker worked as a track inspector for Iowa Northern Railroad.

“From there I went on to be a safety officer,” he said.

His collections also includes Disney and Star Wars toys that he, his children and his grandchildren played with while growing up.

The museum is made up of Edeker’s personal belongings and donations from various families around the state.

In a large barn he keeps much of his Disney and Star Wars memorabilia, along with exhibits about trains.

He has personally researched and recreated the scene of the Flood Creek train disaster, where 17 people died in the early 20th century.

In that same building you can find a history room with records about each railroad and track, going back over a century in some cases.

“I have all types of history that I’ve been working on,” Edeker said.

Wherever you go in the museum, you can see model toy trains on tracks that can run, along with the history of where that track is modeled after.

The whole area is curated and owned by Edeker.

Museum History

The museum was a more of a hobby for Edeker in the beginning, because he enjoyed learning about and collecting items. He opened it up to the public about 10 years ago.

The buildings that hold the exhibits were all once part of Edeker’s farm and housed equipment and in some cases hay.

“I could hold 5,000 bushels of grain out here,” Edeker said. “Well, I wasn’t using it so I just started putting stuff on the walls.”

There are Lego models and other things in the museum that Edeker and his family built and worked on.

The buildings are lined with recycled materials. He’s cleaned up boards and reused them to line the barn that holds memorabilia.

“A lot of my windows are from houses. They replace them with more efficient windows, I get them here,” Edeker said.

The museum is always in the process of being rebuilt and remodeled.

“It’s always being improved and worked on,” Edeker said.

How to visit

The museum is available by appointment only, because Edeker travels often for Project Lifesaver.

Edeker is willing to work with people on setting up visiting times. On average a guided tour through of the museum is two hours long.

“I’m not a true museum, because there’s not a gift shop when you’re done,” Edeker said.

The price of admission is $6 for adults, $3 for school-age children and free for children not in school.

For information or appointments call 319-278-4847 or 319-415-4814, visit www.trainsonthefarm.com or email fcedeker@butler-bremer.com.