The Galveston Railroad Museum

The Galveston Railroad Museum, located along the Gulf Coast in Galveston, Texas is situated on property once owned by the small railroad, Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, purchased by the very big Santa Fe (the AT&SF) in 1965. After the Moody Foundation spared the small railroad’s buildings and infrastructure from an uncertain fate after the Santa Fe no longer had use for them the museum was set up and created. Below is a brief history of the museum courtesy of the Galveston Railroad Museum:

When the Santa Fe purchased the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad in 1965, it consolidated its regional offices and closed the GCSF offices in the Santa Fe building. The Moody Foundation purchased the Santa Fe building, preventing it from being demolished, and associated properties - the freight offices, railway express office and the arrival and departure tracks. With generous support from The Moody Foundation, the Museum acquired engines and rolling stock from various locations, including a vintage Houston and Texas Central (Southern Pacific) 4-6-0 which may have made runs to and from Galveston Island at one time.

Shearn Moody Plaza was the headquarters of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe until the offices closed in 1964. The majority of the building is office space for various businesses and organizations, but the large, central waiting room is the original waiting room built in 1932. As you walk in the front door from the Strand, to your left you will observe what was the Harvey House restaurant, to your right is the ticket booth, and straight ahead is the news stand and the doors to the concourses. The waiting room is now called the People's Gallery and is populated by Ghosts of Travelers Past. The full-sized figures in the gallery were made with plaster molds of real persons, and depict individuals who might have passed through the waiting room in 1932.

The figures were created in 1981 by Elliot and Ivan Schwarz. Off to the left, where the Harvey House was, are several pieces of railroad china on display. These were donated by Henry Renfert and collectively are known as the Renfert Collection. The Santa Fe Freight Building, the building to the left as one walks out onto the concourse, parallels Santa Fe Place and now houses three theaters depicting stages of Galveston history, and a 700 square foot HO-scale model railroad.

When renovations were complete in 1982, the Galveston Railroad Museum opened its doors to visitors. Since then, well over a million visitors have toured the Museum. With the formal establishment of the Galveston Railroad Museum, donations began to arrive. Among the more notable are the Renfert collection of railroad china, estimated to be the largest collection of its kind in the United States, which was donated by Dr. Henry Renfert of Austin, Texas, in 1991, and the Santa Fe business car and Missouri Pacific caboose donated by Dorothy Hurd in 1990.

The Galveston Railroad Museum has an important story to tell -- the birth of railroading in Texas. And it is a story that the Museum intends to preserve for future generations. The state's first steam locomotive, the "General Sherman," arrived at the Port of Galveston in 1853. Railroads became the lifeblood of Texas commerce, with an ever-expanding network of rail arteries serving to link major areas. As the largest, most cosmopolitan city in the southwest, Galveston in the late 1800s was the center of commerce, pumping cotton, sugar, and other goods onto and off of rail cars at its thriving port. During its railroading history Galveston Island has been headquarters of and/or served by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe, the Galveston, Houston and Henderson, the Gulf and Interstate, the M-K-T, the Texas and Pacific, the Burlington-Rock Island, the Missouri Pacific, and the Southern Pacific.

Even today railroads play a part in Galveston life. The port is served by the Santa Fe and its subsidiary the Southern Pacific, and by the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroads. These lines carry grain, sugar, sulfur and other commodities daily. Visitors can not only see the Museum's historical collection, they can observe the daily activities at the nearby Port of Galveston's grain unloading facility.

Today the museum has a vast collection of railroad equipment ranging from ten-wheeler steam locomotives to “covered wagons” and rare Fairbanks-Morse diesels (the museum is also home to numerous historic passenger and freight cars). Along with its equipment the museum hosts train shows, other events, and is even home to an operating model layout. If you are also interested in helping the museum do volunteer work they always need it and I am sure would gladly accept your help! Whatever you are into and enjoy related to railroading you are certain to find it at the Galveston Railroad Museum.

For more reading about Texas railroading you may want to consider a copy of one (or both) of the books below. Texas Trains by author Richard Troxell, who has a serious interest in Texas railroading, gives an in-depth look at the state's railroading history from its earliest beginnings today's operations and gives lots of interesting facts and details throughout the book. If you have any interest in the Lone Star State's railroads you'll very much enjoy the book.

You might also be interested in Missouri Pacific Lines from Patrick Dorin, which gives a very well done general history of the railroad (up until its merger with UP), which had extensive operations in Texas, with plenty of photographs to boot. Anyone with an interest in the MoPac will almost surely enjoy the book.