For many years, the way to move from town to town was by train. Then, over time, better roads and airplanes made passenger trains obsolete. This left many of the small town train depots vacant.
Fast forward a couple of decades, and many small towns had to decide whether they were going to allow their stations to continue to decay. Sometimes, they were purchased to becomes someone's business. Better yet, many cities decided to try and preserve their depots to remember their railroad heritage.
A community preserved passenger depot would open as a museum, often with free admission. Inside, the museum would display whatever railroad memorabilia they could get locals to donate. Outside, they would like to get some trains, and many would acquire a steam locomotive, or more frequently a caboose, which the railroad companies don't really utilize often anymore.
Many of the railroad museums operate on a shoestring budget, relying solely on donations and work from volunteers. One such volunteer is seen here hoping to restore an L&N Caboose to its former glory. This is seen at the depot museum in the small town of Lynnville, TN in Giles County. I last saw this caboose in 2008, and at the time, its faded red surely needed a paint job. I'm glad to see that it was able to happen.
Somedays I wish traveling by train was still common in the US. I felt that whenever I saw this town. From what I remember, that hotel was beautiful and made me a little sad to see it so vacant and unused. Is Soda Pop Junction (the local cafe in Lynnville) still open for business there?
ReplyDeleteThe Soda Pop Junction is still there! I ate there about an hour after taking this picture, and I really enjoyed it.
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