Nov. 15 – With six weeks left in the year, the Decatur Historic Depot & Railroad Museum has broken its all-time annual attendance record.
David Breland, historical resources manager for the city, said 7,006 was the number to beat and the museum at 701 Railroad St. NW reached that this week. The depot, founded in 1905, is historically significant because of its association with Alabama’s railroad development, Breland said.
During the holiday season, children can run the model trains along their holiday tracks at the museum, Breland said. This will now continue until the end of the year.
He said this is a chance for kids to get up close and personal with great trains and a great layout built by a group of model train enthusiasts, who built a similar one at Harrison Brothers in Huntsville on behalf of the Decatur Depot.
There is one more major event on the depot’s schedule this year: the annual Historic Decatur Christmas Tour on December 14. The depot is a free place during the tour and refreshments are served.
Each year, people are invited to tour homes in the historic district whose owners volunteer to participate in the tour. The depot is also on tour. There will be free spiced tea and tea biscuits made by Breland’s wife, Drama, from a 100-year-old recipe by Bianca Dykes, Breland’s great-grandmother.
“This is mine and my wife’s gift to the community,” Breland said. “You can come here and play with the trains and enjoy a drink.” – History
Breland highlighted several features of the depot that routinely draw visitors. Among them:
—200 years of railway history
—An original counter
—Hundreds of artifacts
—Multiple model train layouts
— Viewing areas for live trains, both the CSX and Norfolk-Southern mainlines
—It is a Virtual Rail Fan location, meaning people from all over the world can watch livestream trains at the depot via Virtual Rail cameras installed at the location.
—Large railway library and video collection
—Street car exhibition
—Picnic area
—National Model Railroad Association Club chapter, which has about 60 members locally
Breland said local railroad history dates back to the 1830s, when the first railroad west of the Allegheny Mountains — the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur — was built.
According to National Register of Historic Places records, the first Decatur depot was replaced by the current depot in 1904 and 1905. There is evidence that noted Southern architect Frank Milburn designed the current depot built by the Southern Railway, according to the Register.
The Decatur Railroad’s history includes both freight and passenger trains, but Breland said passenger service ended in 1980. Now hundreds of containers pass through Decatur every day.
The city had been trying for years to secure funding to repair the deteriorating depot when it received a $750,000 Alabama Department of Transportation grant in 2009. Even then, demolition seemed likely until the city finalized a financing plan in early 2015. The project ended up costing $2.25 million.
In 2015 and 2016, the depot was Alabama Main Street’s Historic Preservation Project of the Year.
Bud Brueggeman, who has a lifelong love of all things train, is a fan of the local museum.
“It’s done well and they have different locations for the different railway interests out there – everything from small models to outdoor railways,” he said. ‘A space has been reserved where people can have lunch and watch trains. They can have parties there. We’ve had a few birthday parties there and they’re very popular.
“Before Christmas we put up the Christmas layouts so the kids can come and actually run the trains. We set it up so that they can run the transformers that run the trains. It’s open from now until just after New Year’s .
The depot opening hours are 9am to 12pm and 1.30pm to 4pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 12pm on Saturdays the rest of the year.
— jean.cole@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2361
