(rshsdepot) Lynnville, TN

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Link:
http://www.lynnvillerailroad.com/museum.php  (information and photos)

Lynnville takes over railroad museum
 
By: PAUL MANKE, Staff Writer Citizen Press

 
At the request of the Lynnville Railroad Society, the city's board of mayor and aldermen has started the process of taking over the society's railroad museum. 

In a unanimous vote last Thursday, members of the board directed its attorney, Joe Fowlkes, to prepare an ordinance under which the city would take over the approximately $61,000 of debt on the building.
John Tunstall, who represented the railroad society with Jim Tom Englett, asked the board to take over the museum so the society could concentrate onpaying for a locomotive and preparing the Lynn Creek and Dotson Gap Railroad for operation. 
"Other cities have done the same thing," Tunstall said, noting several instances of cities with railroad museums. "We would lease the depot from you (the city,)" he said.
The society needs to raise approximately $40,000 to pay for the locomotive and a shed also needs to be built to house the engine.
"We cannot do both," Tunstall said, referring to paying the note on the museum and the expenditures for the locomotive.
The railroad museum building, which still is in good shape, Tunstall noted, opened approximately five years ago. Interest payments have been made on the money borrowed from First National Bank.
In 2000, the city also started paying the museum's electrical bill and other expenses.
A fund-raising drive organized by the society last year to help pay the money borrowed for the museum failed miserably, Tunstall said.
Two out-of-state organizations are working with the railroad society to help raise money for the locomotive, Tunstall said.
Rumors that the Lynn Creek and Dotson Gap Railroad, which would provide an excursion service into Maury County, is not going forward are untrue, Tunstall said.
He noted that the CSX Railroad has donated some railroad ties and Tennessee Southern, a short-line railroad, which operates the line between Pulaski and Columbia, will provide some equipment for some of the work.
Members of the board spoke in favor of the city's taking over the indebtedness on the museum.
Alderman James Bomar and others noted that the museum and eventually the operation of the Lynn Creek and Dotson Gap Railroad would generate more sales tax revenues for the city through spending from more tourists and visitors that could help pay for the museum.
Mayor Frances Hewitt noted that the city had raised enough money from fund-raisers such as horse shows, to pay off a note on renovating the Reid Theatre a few years ago, and it was suggested that proceeds from fund-raisers could go for paying for the railroad museum.
A grant from the now defunct Tennessee Elk River Valley Association also helped pay for the renovations at the Reid Theater..
James Leazott, a member of the Lynnville station of the Giles Fire and Rescue Squad and other squad members, supported the city's paying for the museum, but said the board should have a more definite plan to pay for the museum instead of relying on fund-raisers.
Bomar and Aldermen Norman Davis, Charles Graves, Monti Claire Carpenter and Debbie Howell and Mayor Hewitt favored the city's move to take over the museum. 

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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