Tifton Terminal Railway Museum

Tifton Terminal Railway Museum opens

January 2008

Members of the board of directors of the Tifton Terminal Railway Museum off Tift Avenue on Third Street are encouraging people to utilize the terminal turned museum. They consider the refurbished building a positive addition to the community and were recently able to secure a grant to fund an interpreter three days each week.

“It’s a hobby for us and we just want to share it with others,” said Chris Parrott, president of the board. “It’s a great way to preserve it for people who didn’t know about rail travel in the ’40s and ‘50s.”

Parrott, Bill Wells, Norris Windham, Casey Cater, Jamie Cater, Harold Chambers, Harold Harper, Johnny Johnson and Jack Stone serve on the museum’s board of directors, created in 1999. The museum was established to “foster ongoing preservation of railroad history in Tifton and to provide hands-on educational benefits” to the community. Members of the board restored the Atlantic Coastline freight depot, which houses the museum, and acquired three railcars, two of which are mobile and fully functional.

Parrott said the depot was last used by CSX Railroad, which ceased operations there in 1986. The building became the property of the Tift County Development Authority and was then handed down to the Downtown Development Authority, which leases the building to the Tifton Terminal Railway Museum board.

When work on the museum began, Parrott said, the building had been used as a garden center.

“Jamie (Cater) and I ripped the Astroturf off the floors and walls,” Parrott said. “It was a lot of hands-on work.”

The wood floors, walls and ceiling of the building have been restored to their original state. The museum also has railway and train-themed art displays, a glass display case filled with antique trains and several other displays. Parrott said Johnny Johnson, who has worked at the Georgia Agrirama for years, has provided valuable insight on preserving the history of the depot.

“Our goal is to have a working model layout of trains, and we are talking about a collaboration with the Agrirama to set up a telegraph station,” Parrott said.

Parrott said the museum’s board was recently awarded $105,000 in federal and state grants to staff the museum.

People can tour the museum at no charge and teachers are urged to book student tours. The museum is also equipped to host conferences and has been the site of gatherings related to the recent Governor’s Office on Tourism Conference and the Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad History Society Conference.

“We have the capability to bring large groups of people into Tifton,” Parrott said.

Roy Mattull, who once built super liner Amtrak cars and railroad doors and parts for rail cars, has been hired as the museum’s chief interpreter. The museum will be open for visitors from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

Angie Thompson / The Tifton Gazette