Former Houston Railroad Museum agrees to deal to move collection to Tomball under new name

May 22, 2015

News

By TIM BLACKWELL/Cowcatcher Magazine
TOMBALL, TX — The Tomball City Council approved Monday an agreement with the Gulf Coast Chapter/National Railway Historical Society, Inc. to build the “Texas Railroading Heritage Museum at Tomball”.

The new museum, which will succeed the former Houston Railroad Museum, will be developed on city property adjacent to the existing Tomball Railroad Depot Park and the BNSF Railway mainline in Tomball’s historic downtown area. Gulf Coast NRHS will provide up to $400,000 in seed money for the museum’s development.

The museum’s 20-piece collection of artifacts and cars and locomotives has been in storage since moving from its former location as the Houston Railroad Museum in northeast Houston in late 2013. HRM closed in 2011 after losing its long-time lease at Railwood Industrial Park. The land owner needed the site to expand its business.

The agreement is the culmination of a two-year effort to bring Gulf Coast NRHS’s historic railroad equipment collection to Tomball. In 2013, the city and chapter agreed to pursue a deal, which led to Tomball acquiring property adjacent to the depot and tracks.

“We are excited to move forward with development of the Texas Railroading Heritage Museum at Tomball, and thank the mayor, city council and other city officials for their support in providing a perfect location for the museum in Tomball’s historic town center,” Gulf Coast NRHS President Shawn Sanders said. “We appreciate the enthusiastic support we have receive from the citizens of Tomball.”

Tomball Mayor Gretchen Fagan said, “We look forward “to the Texas Railroading Heritage Museum locating at our historic Depot area.”

Tomball, located about 33 miles north of Houston, has had a long relationship with railroading, and even features a steam locomotive on the city seal. City officials say development of the Texas Railroading Heritage Museum will help preserve the city’s ties with the past, supporting community education and other efforts with the new venue.

Museum officials say the Texas Railroading Heritage Museum will be a focal point for the community and a destination spot. The site is near where the city hosts a number of special events each year. Chapter officials have said the location would increase visibility of the museum, unlike in Houston where it was tucked away in an industrial area far from the city center.

At the heart of the museum will be the railroad cars, locomotives and other artifacts collected by the chapter since its inception as the Gulf Coast Railroad Club in the early 1960s.

The car and locomotive collection includes several cabooses, passenger and freight cars and locomotives that once ran in Texas. Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) caboose No. 6 was built in 1949 in Denison, TX, and spent its last in-service years working between Houston and Galveston. The collection also includes Houston Belt & Terminal locomotive No. 14, which worked, among other locations, at Houston Union Station, plus the Bureau of Land Management helium car No. 1237, built in 1955 and used to support NASA’s space program from the 1960s to the 1990s.

No timeline has been given for the museum’s opening.