More improvements are coming to the Train Museum in Cornelia.
The Depot Association recently received a donation from Philip and Jane Ballard to help restore the Southern Railway Caboose located behind the Historic Train Museum downtown. The $5,000 donation comes on the heels of the completed restoration of the Tallulah Falls X5 Caboose located in the Train Museum parking lot.
The SR Caboose is more durable than the TF X5 because it is metal, but it has been in disrepair for quite some time, says Cornelia’s Community Development Director Jessie Owensby.
“The restoration of the second caboose can be a big tourism draw to downtown because it is already so popular. The kids love to walk through it. The city is so appreciative of the Ballard family, as well as the Depot Association for seeing the importance of keeping it maintained,” she says.
The caboose was used on the Tallulah Falls Railroad to haul freight from the Cornelia Veneer Plant from 1942 until 1961.
“We have many good memories of the railroad and that caboose, and we (Jane and I) think that it deserves to be restored to help preserve our past,” Philip Ballard says. Ballard has served on the Depot Association Board of Directors for many years and has some of his father’s artifacts on display inside the museum.
“The cost to restore the Tallulah Falls X5 Caboose was approximately $30,000, and this caboose is projected to cost around $25,000,” says Depot Association President Buck Snyder. “The contribution from Philip and Jane will go a long way in helping us get the project underway and see its completion.”
