McComb Railroad Depot Museum

mcrdm_state egyptian ocated trackside in downtown McComb, Mississippi, the McComb City Railroad Depot Museum occupies the former Illinois Central (later Illinois Central Gulf) passenger depot and features a covered outdoor display with an IC steam locomotive and several pieces of related rolling stock. "Train enthusiasts call the McComb Railroad Museum the best rail museum south of Chicago."

When you visit the museum, you will enter through the original Illinois Central passenger terminal now leased to Amtrak. Step through the doors designed to resemble the Panama Limited train that serviced for decades the cities and towns from New Orleans to Chicago. Begin your tour with the display detailing the five decisions that led up to the establishment of McComb. Learn how Colonel Henry S. McComb, then President of the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad, decided for moral reasons, to move the locomotive and car maintenance shops to a location outside of New Orleans. Land was purchased in Pike County and building lots in the city were offered at low prices to employees with families. Not being a drinking man, Colonel McComb wanted to remove his men from the dreadful influences of the New Orleans saloons. It was later stipulated in the McComb City charter that there would be no alcoholic beverages sold within the city limits. News about the brand-new city even reached as far north as New York City when an article was published in the newspapers to advertise for jobs. In the new town, almost every family was involved with the railroad in some way.

McComb Railroad Depot Museum