Train enthusiasts and museum aficionados have more of a wait ahead of them before the McComb Railroad Depot Museum opens again.
Museum board members Sam and Ganeath Daniel told the McComb Lions Club on Tuesday that reconstruction of the depot and re-establishment of the museum in its historic home will take 18 months to two years.
While there’s a roof and a facade in place, “the inside looks like it did right after the fire,” Ganeath Daniel said.
Getting agreement on rebuilding plans among the city of McComb, the museum’s board, the state Department of Archives and History and Amtrak has been part of a long process, but one that should soon get the plans going.
Getting Amtrak’s approval took the longest time and the most effort, the Daniels said, but now seems to have been accomplished.
The plans call for moving the waiting room for Amtrak passengers from the middle of the depot to the north end, and allowing the museum exhibits to be grouped in the central and southern portions of the building, rather than split between the north and south of the building.
Architect Steve Cox “sent a set of plans to Amtrak, and Amtrak liked them,” Sam Daniel said. “That was the first version. Now we’re on version 14. There was a sticking point about doors.”
Ganeath said one of the museum board members had contacts with officials in Amtrak’s architectural division and arranged for the head of the division to visit McComb.
“They reached agreement on the plans after about two weeks at the Dinner Bell,” she said.
Sam added that there was no real disagreement over the plans, but “there was a disconnect in the (long-distance) negotiations.”
The museum has received a lot of help in rehabilitating exhibits and funding various projects related to rebuilding, both locally and from across the region.
Many local volunteers have worked to restore artifacts and to renovate space in the Klotz building on Front Street near the depot for warehousing special items.
The closure of a train museum in Memphis due to the loss of its building resulted in a donation of artifacts and $5,000 from that museum’s board.
An announced project to restore the 1883 office car that is part of the train exhibit garnered a $15,000 gift from another out-of-towner.
The McComb museum board is planning a celebration in honor of the museum’s 20th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 7, with tours of the train cars, Miss Mattie for children’s entertainment and other attractions during the event.
“The museum is important because this is our history,” said Ganeath, a former history teacher. “If there was no railroad, there would be no McComb.”
Lions Club President Wayne Hutchison presented the couple with a $500 donation from the club to the museum to help with the continuing restoration efforts.
