This museum owes its existence to the New Braunfels
Historic Railroad and Modelers Society, which was formed
in 1984 and formally chartered by the State of Texas in 1985.
The following year, the abandoned former International &
Great Northern, Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific railroad depot in downtown New Braunfels was donated to the city by then owner, the Missouri Pacific. The NBHR&MS was then granted a lease on the property and restoration of the
building to form the New Braunfels Railroad Museum was started.
The museum has one piece of motive power, ex Portland Cement #7, a Porter built 0-6-0T bought by the museum in 1993 and now cosmetically restored. However, the museum also
has a eclectic and quirky set of railroad memorabilia on
display in the wooden baggage room to the east of the depot building.
The museum is open from Noon to 4.00pm Thursday-Monday. There is no admission fee, but donations are welcome.
The International & Great Northern was formed in 1873 by the merger of the International Railroad and the Houston & Great Northern Railroad, and built the first line through New Braunfels, arriving in 1880.
The I&GN established its first depot on San Antonio Street, and a replacement depot was built in the same spot in 1907. The masonry structure, now serving as the museum building, is still in its original location. At this time, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad built its own tracks through New Braunfels.
Above, explanations of hobo vocabulary, signs and symbols on the outside of the wooden baggage room to the east of the depot building,
In 1900, the I&GN was under Jay Gould, control, who also controlled the MK&T, Missouri Pacific and Texas & Pacific railroads. A series of receiverships brought the I&GN into Missouri Pacific ownership in 1925, although it operated as a separate company until 1956. The MP was merged into the Union Pacific in 1997.
This 0-6-0T (Tank) locomotive was built in 1942 by H. K. Porter Incorporated in Pittsburgh, PA, for the Florida Portland
Cement Company in Brooksville, FL, as #7. It was sold to Keith Mackey in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, in the early 1970s, and used at the Gold Coast Museum in Miami, FL, then leased and sold to the Texas Tank Car Works in San Angelo, TX, as their yard switcher. The locomotive was bought by the museum in 1993 from donations from local citizens and has been cosmetically restored.
The engine weighs 138,000 lbs and has 44” drivers and
19” x 24” cylinders. Operating at a boiler pressure of 180 psi, it delivered 30,125 lbs tractive effort.
There are various pieces of maintenance of way equipment in the museum collection including, above, this brightly painted Woodings Railcar.
Woodings Railcar Limited was headquartered and operated out of Lancaster, ON, producing six hundred and three of these railcars. The company produced two models, the CBI with a short cab, and the CBL with a longer, larger cab. The cars
had fiberglass bodies and doors and were used mainly on the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern Railroads. The company ceased operations in 1991.
Left, a Fairmont
MT-14-L speeder apparently owned by the Northern Pacific.
Above, a hand car built by the Sheffield Car Company of Three Rivers, MI, and right, a hand operated velocipede also built by the Sheffield Car Company.
The Baggage Room is home to some quirky memorabilia.
From top left, a dusty telephone exchange, HO model layout (not working), a teletype machine, an Alaska Railroad photo montage, a travel trunk and a diorama set in an old PC monitor.
