(rshsdepot) Tuscumbia, AL

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Final destination: Boxcar makes its last stop at Tuscumbia's historic depot

By Robert Palmer
Staff Writer
August 27, 2002

TUSCUMBIA -- A rare boxcar took an unfamiliar road to town last week, but
it's found a home in a familiar setting.

The 51-year-old boxcar was hauled by truck from the Tennessee Valley
Authority's Muscle Shoals Reservation to the historic railroad depot at the
corner of Fifth and Water streets, where the city and a group of volunteer
railroad enthusiasts are creating a museum.

TVA sold some of its old railroad cars for scrap when someone noticed a
small metal plaque bolted to the side of the boxcar that revealed its
original owner. The plaque contains a serial number and the words U.S.
Marine Corps.

"That is one of only three I have ever seen in my life," Steve Carpenter
said of the Marine Corps railroad car. "I've seen a lot of Army rail cars
but not many of these."

Carpenter is a member of the committee working to restore the two-story
Victorian depot, built in 1888, and establish a collection of rail cars and
memorabilia there. The first railroad west of the Allegheny Mountains was
started in Tuscumbia in 1832, and the committee is trying to capitalize on
that heritage.

City officials are trying to land a grant to restore the depot, Mayor Wade
Gann said. The exterior is showing signs of decay, he said.

A group of volunteers is working to restore the interior, and is almost
finished with the east room downstairs, Carpenter said.

The boxcar was purchased from a scrap company for $800. The money was
provided by Robbins Property Development.

David Isom of C&I Crane, which moved the boxcar, said his company donated
its time and equipment for the transfer. He also said the arrival of the
boxcar at the depot was joyous moment for the railroad enthusiasts, which
includes a model railroad club creating a diorama of the old Southern
Railroad line inside.

"The club members were just beside the themselves," Isom said. "And they're
making me an honorary member of their club."

Robert Palmer can be reached at 740-5734 or robert.palmer_@_timesdaily.com.


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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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