Two train cars will begin a slow journey Tuesday from Hammond, La., to McComb, where they will become key parts of the old train display near the downtown depot.
A convoy of trucks transporting the cars will leave Hammond Tuesday morning and travel about 20 mph up Highway 51, McComb Mayor Whitney Rawlings said.
Plans to restore the cars will be scaled back to fit a new budget after the city received just $300,000 of an expected $600,000 Mississippi Department of Transportation grant, Rawlings said. “We are committed on the two cars. We just have to scale back our project.”
The city bought an office car and a postal car — one of only three of its kind in the country — from the Southeast Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in Hammond for $105,000.
Rawlings said the project will cost $425,000, with $300,000 coming from the grant and $125,000 from the city.
Plans call for the construction of a canopy to cover both cars but not a wrecker derrick that has been sitting in the weather for some time.
The cars also will be sandblasted, painted and restored.
Rawlings said the grant process was more competitive than the city anticipated.
With the help of some retired railroad workers, the city already has moved equipment, laid new track and gotten the area ready for the two cars, Rawlings said.
Rawlings said he expects the cars to be in McComb by nightfall Tuesday.
The convoy will leave Hammond in the early morning, and will have to lift power lines and other obstacles along the way to allow the trucks carrying the cars to move freely.
Local phone, cable and electric companies all have been notified and are ready to assist, Rawlings said.
The process of placing the cars on the track will begin Wednesday, he said. The cars will have to be lifted by crane onto the tracks.
The convoy will travel with an escort from the Tangipahoa Sheriff’s Department until it reaches the Pike County line.
From there, the Pike County Sheriff’s Department will escort the cars to McComb.
