Fort Payne Depot Museum

he Fort Payne Depot Museum was erected in 1891. It is housed in a unique Richardsonian Romanesque building of locally quarried pink and white sandstone. It served as a depot for the Alabama-Great Southern Railroad for approximately 85 years. Thousands of people passed through the doors during its life as a passenger station.

Fort Payne Depot Museum

"Little Red Caboose Educational Express"

here is a wonderful old relic of a bygone era that you can visit at the Depot Museum in Fort Payne, Alabama. The Caboose was acquired in 1987 from Norfolk Southern Railroad. Cabooses became obsolete when computer systems became capable of absorbing the duties of safe train functions by the addition of electronic trackside detectors. Cabooses used to house break repair parts, and employees to do the work. These people also did flagging work. Now days, signals are automated and dispatcher controlled. Some cabooses also had places for the workers to sleep, but since the Lodging Agreement of 1964, the Railroad companies are now required to provide “sleeping rooms (normally motels) away from noise of train movements.”

The cab was built by Gantt Manufacturing Company in 1971 and set upon secondhand 50 ton solid bearing trucks. It was designed for local and yard service and was therefore not equipped with electricity or radios. Due to the lack of power, that had to be added. Without climate control, the caboose is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. It has a potbelly stove and an ice box. There is still coal in a box for the stove. It has a toilet and a sink and a water tank. There is a small table on which the employees did paperwork and eat their meals. There are storage areas for clothing and equipment.

Fort Payne Depot Museum