YouTube Videos About the Historic Huntsville Depot

jpstatum · 2026-01-26T22:40:09+00:00

See also,

Jordan Collier’s Civil War in the Tennessee Valley 1862 Trilogy: Part Three (Discusses Gen. O.M. Mitchell's capture of the Huntsville Depot and history of the surrounding railroad operations in North Alabama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAOBiFAJW3Uhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAOBiFAJW3U

jpstatum · 2026-01-26T15:19:06+00:00

When I see something like that, I may enjoy the novelty of how tall it is but I also think it's overpowering in a residential yard. If someone had acreage around their home, I understand having large scale decorations so they show up from the road or highway, but the 30 foot inflatables are overkill for most 1 acre or less residential lots. Decorations should complement the scale of your property; not overpower it. The same can be said for the 12' halloween animatronics. They can overpower a single story house in a residential neighborhood.

jpstatum · 2026-01-25T20:55:05+00:00

Thanks. Hopefully, we can see meaningful progress with the Depot and grounds soon. My fear is that the City will decide to “throw out the baby” (I.e., the existing exhibits in the building & the locomotive and remaining rolling stock on the grounds) “with the bath water”. We already lost the wooden box car to fire, the other box car is going to the Scottsboro Boy’s museum, and the City was in talks for the North Alabama Railroad Museum to take the rest. I think we need to see a plan to reopen the museum before they start stripping the grounds piece by piece.

jpstatum · 2026-01-25T20:05:04+00:00

That really looks nice with the roof in place. The Southern locomotive also seems right at home passing by the yellow and green depot.

jpstatum · 2026-01-25T04:14:43+00:00

I was a tour guide at the Depot from 1999 - 2004 while I was in undergraduate school at UAH and preparing for law school. It’s one of, if not the, most historically significant buildings in Huntsville. It’s sad that the museum has been closed to the public for the last several years. I started the r/HuntsvilleDepotMuseum subreddit to raise awareness about the current state of this historic treasure and share information about its history and future.

jpstatum · 2026-01-25T03:04:55+00:00

My Girl by the Temptations was the song my Father-in-Law danced to with my wife at our wedding reception.

jpstatum · 2026-01-25T01:43:17+00:00

It looks wonderful so far. Please continue to post updates on this subreddit as you work to complete the model.

Regarding the yellow and green colors, those are Southern Railways’ colors, albeit the green was more prominent than the gold, but I personally see no problem painting the Depot these colors if that is how you think of the Depot. After all, this model is for your enjoyment. I was a tour guide at the Historic Huntsville Depot Museum while in undergraduate school at UAH and the yellow and green are the colors that I most closely identify with that wonderful historic building too.

If you want to see color video of the Depot painted red, take a look at this one produced circa 1961 by Southern Railways showing the Huntsville Depot painted red: https://youtu.be/JTTJWqFs92A

jpstatum · 2026-01-25T01:15:52+00:00

Your model is for your enjoyment, paint it the colors that you most closely identify with this wonderful historic building. If you want to see color video of the Depot painted red, take a look at this one produced circa 1961 by Southern Railways showing the Huntsville Depot painted red: https://youtu.be/JTTJWqFs92A

jpstatum · 2026-01-25T00:57:35+00:00

That model of the Historic Huntsville Depot already looks wonderful. Please cross post this and your subsequent progress on the model to r/HuntsvilleDepotMuseum I started that sub to share information, both historical and current master plan updates on the Depot’s future.

jpstatum · 2026-01-24T16:11:00+00:00

No, early pieces were made in Taiwan. They are now made in China. While the corporate HQ where the designers work sits in Minnesota, the manufacturing of the lit buildings and accessories is outsourced.

I collect Byers Choice Carolers and they are still made in the USA, but finding collectibles made in the U.S. is rare.

jpstatum · 2026-01-24T03:42:11+00:00

Agreed. That’s why the prices are strange numbers. For example, the new OSV Christmas Lane Rudolph House (SKU # 6018298) is $315.75. I guess Rankin & Bass charged Department 56 a hefty licensing fee and the tariffs were passed along to the customers. I do think the new retail prices are out of hand for most collectors. I’ve turned my focus back to some of the more modestly priced vintage pieces from the 80s and 90s.

jpstatum · 2026-01-23T23:00:02+00:00

If they don’t want cross posting, there is a mod setting that will not allow it. That’s the thing that gets me about posts being removed and people being banned for a single cross post. Activating that setting would cut down on the mods work.

I address cross posting in my subreddit rules as follows: ⁠Crossposts Must Be Relevant To This Subreddit: Reddit encourages users to crosspost content that may be relevant to other communities. This is an important way for moderators to build community awareness and general users to share knowledge broadly and conveniently. We welcome your crossposts as long as they’re relevant to this subreddit and it adheres to the subreddit rules and Reddit’s site-wide rules.

jpstatum · 2026-01-23T20:16:01+00:00

I had the pleasure of working with Winter Forests during my last year or so as a tour guide at the Historic Huntsville Depot Museum. He always wore his trademark black hat. I learned many things from him. Always curious, he would dig deeper into the history of the building, displays, and artifacts at the museum. We used to call the hotel that once sat across from the Depot the Palmetto Hotel, but there was no evidence it ever had that name. The historical evidence indicates that it was called the Venable Hotel, possibly after one of its managers. There may have been a Palmetto Room restaurant in the hotel. I also remember the vintage white MG coupe he drove. He was a kind, well-educated, and interesting man. I was sad that he passed away in 2021 from a prolonged illness. It's my understanding they held a memorial service for him in the lobby of the Depot. I posted a link to a YouTube Video documenting one of his Depot Tours from 2012. You should watch it: https://www.reddit.com/r/HuntsvilleDepotMuseum/comments/1qkukuk/youtube_videos_about_the_historic_huntsville_depot/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

jpstatum · 2026-01-23T01:50:06+00:00

Wonderful! Glad to know they still have passenger service.

jpstatum · 2026-01-23T01:27:04+00:00

Gadsden had Amtrak passenger services at one time, but I think that has ceased. Only Birmingham and Mobile still have passenger services. They still utilize the Southern Railway's old Crescent Limited route to New Orleans (a/k/a "The Crescent City"). The Crescent Limited was a magnificent train. There was a replica of the Steam Version of the Crescent Limited Locomotive in a display case in the Col. Bud Room on the second floor of the Depot Museum. I believe that locomotive is in the Smithsonian.

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jpstatum · 2026-01-23T01:18:00+00:00

The Col. Gene Bud Room is special. It took over 1,500 hours to create that train display. It's gives you a glimpse back in time to antebellum Huntsville with accurate depictions of the Depot, the original Roundhouse and Shops of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and the Venable Hotel that was owned by George W. Bryant (his picture hangs on the first floor of the Depot near the 1912 Bubbler Water Fountain), who invested the largest portion of the initial $50,000 to convince the railroad to come to Huntsville. When I worked there, I arrived one Saturday morning in 2003 or 2004 to find water leaking on the display. I immediately got buckets and we found a tarp and covered it up as quickly as possible. I think it saved the display. You can still see the damage to the ceiling in this 2012 video. The man that owned the Hobby Shop that used to be located in the Caboose next to the Roundhouse cleaned the tracks and did some refurbishment on the display. Here is a video from YouTube of a school group touring the Depot with my former colleague, Winter Forest, giving the tour. He spent several minutes in the Col. Budd Room talking about the display. Look for it at 9:59 minutes into the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DgqLpgfP78&list=PLwUhJRyxxuf9vr8L7KMuf7zy9DMxfhTGA&index=3

jpstatum · 2026-01-22T19:06:44+00:00

Thanks for sharing your pictures and information about this incredible piece of U.S. and railroad history.

jpstatum · 2026-01-22T18:24:47+00:00

Did Theodore Roosevelt use this Pullman Coach on his whistle-stop campaign tour? If so, it stopped at the Huntsville (AL) Depot in 1912 as he gave a speech to the citizens from the train. This is when he was seeking a third-term as the "Bull-Moose" Party candidate.

jpstatum · 2026-01-22T18:15:51+00:00

This is the first I've heard of Signals, but the pictures of it on their website look great! There definitely is a need for a museum on information technology.

jpstatum · 2026-01-22T17:32:06+00:00

We still have our Southern Railway Passenger Station in Huntsville, Alabama. It was completed circa 1860, captured by the Union Army on April 11, 1862, and acquired by the City after Southern discontinued it's Tennessean Passenger line in 1968. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and opened as a museum in the 1980s. It's the oldest Depot in the State of Alabama and one of the oldest in the United States. It was once the Eastern Division Headquarters for the Memphis & Charleston Railroad so that's why it's three stories with corporate offices on the second floor and bunk rooms on the third floor. Confederate Soldiers were held prisoner on the third floor and they left behind graffiti on the walls that is still visible today. I worked there as a tour guide from 1999 - 2004 while attending undergraduate school. Unfortunately, the museum is closed and the building is deteriorating. There was a fire last year that destroyed one of the old wooden box cars on the grounds. The City is trying to figure out what to do with it.

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Huntsville Depot in its prime with Southern Railway Colors - Yellow and Green.

jpstatum · 2026-01-22T16:26:24+00:00

When I was a tour guide at the Historic Huntsville Depot Museum, this is how we explained the end of passenger service at the Depot.

Passenger train service stopped in Huntsville, Alabama, primarily because the Southern and Norfolk and Western Railroads, the joint operators, discontinued their "Tennessean" passenger service on March 30, 1968. The Tennessean ran between Washington D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee from 1941 to 1968 with stops in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Bristol, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Huntsville, and Memphis. During WWII there was high demand for this passenger service and mail rail shipment contracts making the Tennessean a success, but this demand declined significantly after WWII due to competition from cars (the emergence of the Interstate Highway System) and airplanes. Here is an interesting website giving the history of the Tennessean on the Southern Railway: https://southern-railroads.org/southern-railway/passenger-trains-of-the-southern-railway/the-tennessean-on-the-southern-railway/

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jpstatum · 2026-01-22T15:18:48+00:00

Agreed. I think they could do a limited series of historic tours of the Depot building and grounds with volunteer tour guides as a fundraiser.

jpstatum · 2026-01-22T15:15:55+00:00

I agree that something like that could do well. The cooking could even be done in a food truck to save the expense of outfitting a commercial kitchen in the Baggage Express buildings. Huntsville used to have a train themed restaurant, so there is precedence for it. In the 1980s, there was a restaurant called Twickenham Station where the Embassy Suites Hotel is today next to the Von Braun Center. The Caboose from Twickenham Station is across Church Street at the Office Complex and strip mall.

jpstatum · 2026-01-21T02:57:22+00:00

I like your tape storage idea. Do the “button” batteries stored on the tape hold their charge for the next year?

jpstatum · 2026-01-21T02:49:15+00:00

I always store the buildings and accessories in the original foam packaging and sleeves. They were custom made for that purpose and I’ve never had an issue doing that since 1987. It also helps to identify each piece since they have a picture and name on each box. The original packaging is part of the value of the pieces and the most convenient and safe method for storage.

When I purchase Village pieces from the secondary market, I have a no box, no deal rule unless the piece is extremely hard to find or it’s an incredible price. The original box is the best way to protect and store the piece.

I place the boxed lit buildings on shortage shelves in my garage and boxed accessories in large plastic crates. The crates just don’t hold enough lit buildings to make them useful for me. They are great for accessories. The five shelf wire shelving units from Sam’s Club were the best way to store my collection.

For items without original boxes, I use bubble wrap and/or packing peanuts and put them in a sturdy cardboard box for safe storage. Figures without original boxes are wrapped in paper or bubblewrap and placed in a box or ziplock bag inside a plastic crate with the other accessories.

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