This is a tribute to the Railroad Museum in Galveston, Texas and the memories we have of it prior to the devastation of Hurricane Ike which blasted through this area in September of the year 2008.

We happen to live in Houston west of town which is about 70 miles from Galveston, so although much damage was done here and elsewhere...it pales in comparison to what the good folks in Galveston and other areas near the Gulf of Mexico felt when Mother Nature unleashed her fury in the form of Hurricane Ike.

Hopefully the Railroad Museum will be restored to its full glory as it was in its heyday prior to the storm.

Oftentimes when people live close-by to an attraction, they do not go out of their way to visit it, but rather cross the country or even the world to see other sites of interest.

I'm happy to report that such was not the case with regard to visiting the Railroad Museum in Galveston. We toured it several times and even took out-of-town visitors since we thought it would be a venue that would be of much interest to others as it was to us.

Yes, the Railroad Museum had a number of railroad cars on display appointed lavishly on the inside of the cars as was the custom years ago when railroad travel was more common in the United States.

We got to tour the insides of the cars and saw the compact kitchens in which meals would be routinely turned out as the trains were traveling through the countryside between destinations.

It was interesting to see the detailing in some of the cars...paneling...upholstery...and so forth.

Railroad buffs would have been interested in those details and much more as the different cars portrayed various stories.

They had on display three steam engines and also three operational diesel engines in addition to a collection of passenger and freight cars.

But what was of prime interest to me and some others was the railroad terminal in which people would have been disembarking from the trains or waiting to board trains to make or continue their journey.

The creators of the Galveston Railroad Museum did an ingenious job of furnishing the 1930's Santa Fe Railway Station terminal waiting area with life sized white figures depicting every description of person waiting for the arrival or departure of the next train.

These included children teasing their siblings...

Soldiers calling home and talking to their parents or loved ones...

Business men planning their next meeting...

Vacationers eager to start their next exploration of sights unknown to them...

Even people catching a catnap...

Just as present day terminals would have every type of passenger this Railroad Museum in Galveston portrayed them with these white figurines to perfection.

But it did not end there!

An eavesdroppers paradise!

Studying history as a child is sometimes not the most interesting of subjects, at least it was not for me. Most adults who have lived a bit longer develop more of an interest in the subject as they have matured and learned a bit more perspective over time. I now love history and learning from it.

But what if history were presented in the form of actually listening to conversations between engaging people right in front of one...even if those "people" are presented in white static human form?

This is what the creators of the Railroad Museum in Galveston, Texas accomplished.

Every visitor was able to pick up a land-line telephone and overhear conversations as if they were just taking place at that exact moment in time.

The time period dated back to earlier days and soldiers were going off to war.

Politics was not immune from being discussed, in fact, interesting conversations could be overheard with one person favoring one political party or the other and what was being accomplished regarding this political action taken by the President or that new law being passed by the Congress.

Conversations also ran the gamut of everyday discussions.

The smallest of trivia to momentous occasions just as people would ordinarily talk to one another was portrayed via audio by picking up a telephone.

I believe when my aunt was visiting from Wisconsin, we lingered long enough to be able to listen to every conversation in the terminal.

When visiting the Railroad Museum with others, depending upon their interest, we sometimes moved a bit faster through the exhibits.

There was something for everyone interested in trains and that mode of travel.

This included looking at dining car menus, published timetables, even the dishes and glassware people would have utilized while on the trains. There was extensive memorabilia from the 1950's and 1960's for people to see.

In addition, a model railroad was also set up for young and old alike to enjoy.

Sadly, when Hurricane Ike came ashore about eight million dollars worth of damages was sustained by the Railroad Museum in Galveston, Texas.

Originally funded by Mary Moody Northen and the Moody Foundation, the location of the Railroad Museum sits at the head of the historic Strand area in Galveston.  Most of the buildings in the Strand had anywhere from 4 to even 10 or 11 feet of water in them following the storm surge from Hurricane Ike.  And, needless-to-say, the power of all that moving water did much destruction.

The Railroad Museum is closed until further notice but they are hoping to reopen in late 2009 or sometime in 2010.  The Center for Transportation and Commerce, a non-profit organization, owns and operates it now.

It is one of many attractions in the City of Galveston that makes visiting there a great experience.

Hopefully in the near future, those of you who missed getting to see the remarkable Railroad Museum in Galveston, Texas, will once again be able to do so and create memories of your own.  We wish them the best of luck in the days ahead!