Plans for old rail cars sidetracked for now
Plans for the future of the former Wichita Falls Railroad Museum haven’t picked up any steam, according to Assistant City Manager Paul Menzies.
During an update of the city’s Strategic Plan Tuesday, Menzies said plans for the historic displays are on hold.
The museum at the tracks in downtown Wichita Falls was abandoned by the nonprofit group that had operated it. The displays were on property the nonprofit leased from the city.
“They just vacated it,” Menzies said, likening the situation to a storage facility where someone stopped paying rent.
“All of a sudden you have a storage facility full of stuff you don’t know what to do with,” Menzies said.
The city worked with the Museum of North Texas history to inventory the artifacts – which numbered more than 100 -- and come up with a plan.
“Shortly after we had this plan, the director of the museum resigned,” Menzies said.
He said the museum is still looking for a new director.
“Once that happens, we will gain some momentum,” he said.
The plan was to sell about two-thirds of the displays and use the money to pay for restoration of the remaining artifacts and display them.
Among the items recommended for keeping were a Fort Worth & Denver 304 engine and its coal tender, a U.S. Postal Service car, a military bunk car used in World War II, a Pullman sleeper, a caboose, a trolley that is probably original to Wichita Falls and a hand car that railroad workers used.
The nonprofit that operated the railroad museum for nearly 40 years had at its core a group of railroad enthusiasts and a history of internal squabbles. The displays were moved to the Depot Square area in 1992. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to its permanent closure and abandonment.
Railroads played a significant role in the early development of Wichita Falls beginning in 1882 when the Fort Worth and Denver City line arrived, allowing the town to expand into a thriving agricultural market.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Plans for old rail cars sidetracked for now
