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The life size ghost white sculptures, Ghosts of Travelers Past, on display in the Train Depot, were commissioned by museum founder, philanthropist and preservationist, Mary Moody Northen, in 1981, in anticipation of the 1983 grand opening of the Galveston Railroad Museum. The prominent, photogenic, and highly popular sculptures were created by Elliot and Ivan Schwartz, StudioEIS.

Serving as story tellers, the statues depict travelers from all walks of life, bound for their own destinations, are congregated here to board their respective trains in an ever- bustling 1932 train depot.

If some appear familiar, it may be so, as live models were used by the artists to depict the travelers. Visitors will see in the faces of the full- sized sculptures the the artists, their family, and acquaintances who posed for up to 5 hours each to become the body of this extraordinary collection.

Elliot and Ivan Schwartz, of Studio EIS based in Brooklyn, New York, are sculptors, object makers, and designers whose creations are displayed in museums and institutions internationally.

The Galveston Railroad Museum is proud to host the collection of the Ghosts of Travelers Past. The Travelers are currently in restoration. If you would like to ‘Adopt a Traveler’ and assist with the restoration, please click below.

Adopt A Traveler HERE

The Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad built its first passenger depot in Galveston in 1876. This depot was located on Avenue A and 23rd Street. The Museum’s West Ticket Office is framed by a green metal outline of this depot.

After the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe acquired the GC&SF in 1887, the company decided to build a new Depot in Galveston. This was done to comply with a law that required railroads in Texas to have a headquarters in the state. In 1896, Santa Fe built the 4-story red brick Union Station and General Office building at the museum’s current location on 25th and Strand, replacing the 1876 Depot.

As Santa Fe grew, the Depot went through three expansions. The first was an 8-story addition on the south side of the 1896 Depot. Next, the two buildings were connected with an annex in 1919. Finally, in 1931 the 1896 building was demolished and replaced with the 8 story, Art Deco building seen today. Santa Fe moved into this new building by May of 1932.

The Art Deco Depot served as both the General Office of Santa Fe’s Eastern Division and Galveston’s passenger depot. In 1948, Santa Fe’s named passenger train, Texas Chief began operating between Galveston and Chicago. It was the first of the Chief trains to have a destination other than Los Angeles. The Texas Chief was the last regular passenger train to operate out of Galveston, departing for the last time in April 1967.

The Museum’s railyard was the hub of Galveston’s rail travel between 1896 and 1967. In addition to Santa Fe’s named passenger trains Texas Chief and Ranger¸ the yard also hosted trains from Southern Pacific, Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific, and Missouri, Kansas, and Texas.

The facility is 5 acres total, and includes 5 tracks of rolling stock, the museum’s Theater Building, and the West Ticket Office. At one time, there were as many as 12 tracks on the property. The Theater Building was once the Railway Express Agency warehouse and office, and housed passenger baggage. The West Ticket Office was a warehouse and carpenter’s shop.

Built in 1953 for the Southern Pacific Railroad as #644 and Texas and New Orleans Railroad as #365. The Warbonnets came to the museum in 2012 to replace the museum’s Texas Limited engines #100 and #200, which were destroyed in Hurricane Ike.

Although they never served on the Santa Fe, the Museum received permission from Burlington Northern Santa Fe to paint them in the iconic Warbonnet paint scheme to honor the Texas Chief, which operated out of this Depot between 1948 and 1967. They are Amtrak certified, and are used for passenger excursions.

The Texas Chief was the only streamlined train that connected Chicago to the Gulf Coast. The total route was 1,410 miles, which it typically crossed in 26.5 hours. Although it stopped operating out of Galveston in 1967, it ran between Houston and Chicago until Amtrak took it over in 1971. Amtrak shut down the line in 1974, but still operates the Lone Star over some of the Texas Chief’s old track.

#314 was built by the Cooke Locomotive Works in Patterson, New Jersey in April, 1892. It was intended for the Houston and Texas Central Railroad’s passenger service, and operated out of Houston. The H&TC leased the locomotive to the Texas and New Orleans railroad, a subsidiary of Southern Pacific. SP sold #314 to the Vermilion Sugar Company in Erath, Louisiana in 1940, and they operated the engine until selling it to a private collector in 1957. The museum received the locomotive from Steamtown USA in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

4-6-0 locomotives like #314 are called “Ten-Wheelers,” and were a popular design intended for high-speed passenger service. They were one of the common classes of locomotive that carried passengers to and from Galveston in the early 20th century. #314 is the oldest Ten-Wheeler in Texas and is one of only a dozen remaining Cooke Locomotives.

These coaches were built by the Budd Company for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1952. They were part of an order of 64 cars for the PRR’s Senator and Congressional trains. These trains operated between Washington DC and Boston or New York, respectively. The Museum acquired them in 2012 and keeps them Amtrak certified for excursions

The Budd Company pioneered the use of lightweight passenger cars made from stainless steel in the 1930s. Other railcar builders, such as Pullman, were skeptical that stainless steel could be used in railcars. While stainless weighed less and was more corrosion resistant than other kinds of steel, it also had a lower melting point and was impossible to weld without weakening it.

JW Ragsdale, a mechanical engineer who worked for Budd, developed a method for spot welding stainless steel that used an electric current to fuse the metal together at a lower temperature than other methods of welding. The light, streamlined Budd cars became a mainstay on America's streamlined passenger trains through the 1970s.

The City of Galveston was built by the Budd Company for the Santa Fe railroad in 1948 for its new streamliner Texas Chief. It is the only car in the Museum’s collection that operated out of Galveston’s Depot. Originally, it was numbered 1560 as Santa Fe did not name its dining cars.

It was originally a 14-seat lunch counter and 20 seat diner that could be run as a lounge, lunch counter, or dining car. This made it a versatile car, but it was taken out of service on the Texas Chief to make way for purpose-built diner cars with higher seating capacity. It made its way to Amtrak service before being bought by the Montana Rockies excursion line, where it was converted into its current 48-seat dining car arrangement. The Museum acquired the car in 2012, named it The City of Galveston, and uses the car in its excursion runs.

The Bonnie Brook was built by the Budd Company in 1949. It was part of a four car lot of observation cars for the New York Central Railroad, and primarily served on the New England States passenger train between Boston and Chicago. The New England States’ route featured many sharp turns, so the train’s speed rarely exceeded 50 miles per hour. To compensate for this, the New York Central focused on making the train as comfortable as possible, calling it a “Dreamliner” in its advertising material. The “Dreamliners” had private rooms for all passengers, and of course featured an observation car.

Observation cars were positioned at the end of a passenger train. It features 5 salon style bedrooms, a kitchen, and a large observation area at the round end of the car. By the time the Bonnie Brook entered service, many railroads had already reduced their observation car fleets to save costs. Bonnie Brook entered private hands in 1964, and it famously carried Jackie Gleason between New York and Miami to film The Jackie Gleason Show.

The Budd Company built #3305 for the Southern Railroad in September of 1949. It served on a number of Southern’s passenger trains, including the Royal Palm, Southerner,and Crescent. It stayed in service until 1975, when an on-board fire forced it into retirement. The Museum acquired it shortly after, and briefly used it as a restaurant.

Many passenger trains traveled through multiple states and had to follow whatever states’ law they were in. To comply with local laws, #3305 contains a lockable liquor cabinet for use in dry counties.

Built in 1914 for the Louisville and Nashville railroad, this is a 4 door baggage and mail car. Baggage cars typically ran right behind the locomotive so they could be switched out quickly. Besides passenger baggage they often carried mail, the most profitable service that passenger trains carried.

Baggage cars were common on passenger trains until the 1950s, when the Budd Company’s Hi Level passenger cars provided a lower floor for baggage. This saved a lot of weight on passenger trains and allowed them to carry more people. When Santa Fe outfitted the El Capitan with Hi Level cars, it increased the passenger space from 350 to 500 seats.

This car is one in a series of 250 that the American Car and Foundry built for D&RGW. In February of 1931, it carried a block of marble used as an addition to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The block weighed 124 tons when it was first quarried in Marble, Colorado, making it the largest block of marble ever quarried at that time. 75 workers cut the marble down to 56 tons, and it was loaded on to this car and shipped to a sculptor in Vermont. The block still stands on top of the tomb.

In 2017, the Museum restored the car to its 1931 appearance. Using photos taken after the marble was loaded onto the car, the Museum had a wood and marble panel facade built on the car's deck.

The first tank cars were built in the early 1860s. They were usually flat cars modified to carry wooden tanks. By 1865, manufacturers began making purpose built tank cars. As wood tanks tended to leak, the Empire Transportation Company began building metal tanks in 1869. John Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, now Exxon, made great use of tank cars in transporting oil from fields to refineries. Rockefeller's use of tank cars as mobile pipelines was a major contribution to Standard Oil's success.

Modern tank cars have between one and three compartments, indicated by the number of domes on top of the car. While most tank cars carry oil products, they can carry any liquid from milk to sulfur. Because they are specialized equipment, tank cars are privately owned, indicated by an "X" at the end of their reporting code.

This gondola car was built by the United States Railroad Administration, which briefly controlled American railroads during World War I. The Kansas City Southern Railroad operated the gondola. It originally had a wooden floor, but was later modified with a metal floor with "self clearing" hatches. Self clearing hatches allow the gondola’s cargo to be dumped below the car. The Kansas City Southern operated around 200 gondolas of this type, 151 of which were converted to steel floors. Of these, seven were given self clearing hatches.

Gondola cars are used for hauling scrap metal, coal, or any equipment that does not need to be protected by the weather. There are many variants of gondolas, they come in a variety of lengths and often have features such as side doors and ends that drop using hinges. Two drop end gondolas can be coupled together to form one long car.

Built in 1927 by the American Car and Foundry Company, #1642 was one of Santa Fe’s first steel cabooses. It was rebuilt by the Santa Fe in 1976 and donated to the Museum shortly after. It was restored in 2012 by a group of Boy Scouts for an Eagle Scout project.

Cabooses had three main functions on a train. The first was to simply mark the end of the train clearly for safety reasons. Second, the cupolas gave brakemen a place to look for hot journal boxes or unwelcome riders. Finally, they acted as the end point for a train’s brake system. As railroads reduced the size of train crews, and new technology such as End of Train Devices and Flashing Rear End Devices became common, railroads stopped using cabooses. Most cabooses were off of the rails by the 1980s.

The oldest car in the Museum’s collection, #14118 is an NE-1 caboose built in 1880 for the Burlington and Missouri Railroad, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The NE-1 was a “catch all” designation class, meaning there was some variety in length, window arrangement, and other features. The caboose served on the Burlington for nearly a century, finally being sold to the Oregon, Pacific, and Eastern Railroad in 1975. The Museum acquired it in 1978 and began restoring the car in 2016. The exterior was completed in 2018, but the interior is still underway.

The Museum’s Maintenance of Way consist is made up of three cars: a tender, a boom car, steam crane, and tender. The boom car was used to carry tools and materials to and from wreck sites, and was likely built in 1905. Along with the Museum’s other Maintenance of Way equipment, it was purchased from the Reader Railroad in Reader, Arkansas.

The tender was built in 1942 to US War Department standards for use behind the Army’s 2-8-0 steam locomotives. These Army locomotives were used extensively for Allied supply chains in American and Europe during World War II. After the War, examples of these locomotives saw use in England, Japan, and both North and South Korea. In this case, it would carry fuel and water for the steam crane's boiler.

The steam crane was built in 1904 by Industrial Works in Bay City, Michigan. It has a lifting capacity of 60 tons, and would have been used to clear track of damaged or derailed equipment. It was a very common piece of railroad equipment, and similar examples were still in service into the 1980s.

This is a rare example of a 36-foot boxcar. It was built in September of 1909 by the American Car and Foundry Company. After retiring from service, #62746 fell into disrepair and was going to be converted into a shed. Most of the metal had been removed, but it came to the Museum and was restored in 1983. It was restored again in 2017.

Shippers used 36-foot boxcars until larger boxcars started to be built in the early 20th century. They were becoming rare by the 1930s, and were practically all out of service by the 1950s. Few boxcars of this length exist today.

Built in October of 1917 for Southern Pacific, this car was built as a "Steel Saver" for World War I. Because of the War's demands on shipping, many railroads needed to built more freight cars. Because of this demand and steel rationing, cars built during this period used as much wood and as little steel as possible. This particular car even uses worn out pieces of rail on its end frames.

This refrigerator car was built in 1928 and served the Western Fruit Express Company. It kept fruit cool through an insulated interior and roughly 10,000 pounds of ice. This type of refrigerator car was patented by John Sutherland, and the basic design was common on railroads until the 1950s, when mechanical refrigeration cars became common. Like tank cars, many railroad companies believed that refrigerator cars were too specialized, so they leased them from companies like Western Fruit Express instead of owning them directly.

Built in February, 1948 by the Pressed Steel Company for the Santa Fe. This is an Fe-27 class boxcar, meaning it was designed to carry automobile parts. #205512MW carried car parts between their assembly and manufacture points, until it was modified to carry car bodies in the 1950s. Eventually, Santa Fe painted it silver and designated it a Maintenance of Way car to carry track parts and equipment.

BNSF 2127 is a GP-38AC road switcher. It was originally built for the St. Louis San Francisco Railroad in 1971 as #650. Burlington Northern bought the SLSF in 1980, and the BN renumbered the locomotive #2127. When BN merged with Santa Fe in 1995, it kept the number and the green Burlington paint scheme.

The GP-38AC is a somewhat rare variant of the iconic GP-38 series. They are similar to the original GP-38, but feature an AC alternator. EMD produced the ACs between 1970 and 1971, when the more prolific GP-38-2 began production. Over 3000 GP-38s of all variants have been produced, but surprisingly few have made their way to museums. BNSF kindly donated 2127 to the Museum in 2020, making 2127 the only GP-38AC in a museum's collection.

Built in 1922 by the American Locomotive Company (Alco) in Dunkirk New York, the CTCR #555 is an oil-fired Consolidation. Weighing in at 96 tons, she has a 54.5 Square foot fire grate and operates at 190 pounds of steam pressure. The combined engine and tender are 66' 4" long, 11 feet across the cab, and stands at a height of 14' 8" from the top of the cab to the top of the rail.

This powerful girl has two pilot wheels in front, 8 driving wheels and no trailing wheels. A freight dragging engine, she has lots of power but not much speed. Slow and powerful, her boiler is mounted very high relative to the frame, and wheels showing daylight between the frame and boiler to allow for the very large firebox, making her one hot mama!.

The face of the #555 has the headlight mounted on the front of the smokebox and on top are the smokestack, sand dome, bell, steam dome, and generator which is right in front of the cab. Mounted on the right side of the boiler is the power reverse which is steam operated. The compressor is on the left side of the boiler.

The tender behind 555 has a cylindrical water tank that holds 7,000 gallons of water and 3,500 gallons of fuel. Designed by Cornelius Vanderbilt, the shape of the tender sets her apart from the common boxy cars. The lady carries panache.

For most of her life, the 555 operated for the Magma Arizona Railroad in Magma, Arizona, as engine #5. She pulled ore cars from the copper mines at Superior, Arizona, to Magma Junction, where they interchanged with Southern Pacific, and carried mine supplies back to Superior. She was one of the last steam locomotives in revenue service in the United States, and was not replaced by diesels until September 3, 1968, when she made the last steam run for Magma.

After starring in several television commercials and movies, our little celebrity was purchased from the Oregon, Pacific and Easter Railway in 1978 by the Galveston Railroad Museum. Now retired on Galveston Island, she stands proud and beautiful greeting visitors daily from her premier position on the railyard.

Built in 1926 for general Pullman service, the Glen Fee is one of the last remaining cars from the American Freedom Train in 1947. The Freedom Train traveled to the then-48 states carrying documents important to the United States. These included the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, and an early copy of the Magna Carta. At one point, the train visited Galveston’s Depot. The Glen Fee’s role on the train was to carry the honor guard of Marines that protected the documents.

Built by Pullman in 1924 as the Mount Darwin, this car was part of a 10 car order of sleeper and lounge cars intended for general Pullman service. Pullman added a mechanical air conditioning system to the car in 1935. It was never attached to a specific railroad, but it did run on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy’s Exposition Flier in the 1940s.

Pullman sold the car to a private collector in 1964, who in turn sold it to the Bear Creek Mountain Junction in North Carolina. Bear Creek originally painted the car in its current scheme, and named it the Robert E. Lee. The Oregon, Pacific, and Eastern bought the car, repainted it, and sold it to the Museum in 1978.

Built in 1954 for the Canadian National Railroad, who named it Edwardsville, the Donald H. Harper is the most modern sleeper car in the Museum’s collection. Inside, the car has both the open births common on pre-World War II sleepers as well as the more modern salons and roomettes seen on Amtrak sleepers today. The Harper has four salons, which can be combined into two larger sitting rooms using moving walls.

This car was built by Pullman in 1914 as part of a series of purpose-built mail cars. It remained in service until December, 1968, shortly before railroads stopped carrying mail for the Postal Service. Carrying mail was one of the last profitable ventures for passenger trains, and its removal from railroads prompted Amtrak to take control of most passenger service in the country.

Working on a Rail Post Office car was very demanding and could be very dangerous. Workers had to memorize all of the zip codes on their train’s route, and know exactly which one they were in at all times. They were also common targets for robberies, and RPO workers were issued .38 caliber revolvers for protection.

Built in 1958 by General Electric, #1983 is an 80-ton diesel switch engine. It originally ran for the Potomac Electrical Company as Engine #10, and was overhauled by Motive Power & Equipment Solutions in Greenville, South Carolina. They installed two 400 horsepower Cummins diesel engines in it, and painted it in its current blue and yellow scheme.

Switch engines are designed to move cars and equipment around railyard. #1983 is the Museum’s workhorse for switching its cars, putting passenger trains together, and pulling the Harborside Express on Saturdays.

#13895 is an example of a Short Bay Window caboose, and was built in 1978 by Missouri Pacific. They were designed as state of the art cabooses to address modern railroads needs compared to older designs. The result was a much smaller cabin and no cupola, reflecting the decrease in train crew required to operate a single train. It also meant that the caboose had a large, patio like deck on either side of the cabin. Because of its small cabin and large deck, crew often called them “Cracker Boxes” and “Party Barges.” #13895 is used on the Museum’s Harborside Express train ride on Saturdays.

Built in 1911 by Case in Racine, Wisconsin, this tractor was used in a farm near Kerrville, Texas. In addition to pulling farm equipment, it could also use the large flywheel on the right-hand side of the cab to power belt driven machinery. It generated 60 horsepower.

The Mary and Elizabeth Too was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in June of 1920 for the H.G. Bohlssen Manufacturing Company, which operated a lumber mill in Ewing County, Texas. It continued operating for lumber mills in Texas until 1949, when the Waco, Beaumont, Trinity, and Sabine shortline railroad purchased it. The WBT&S operated the locomotive until around 1960, when the railroad closed. The engine sat in a field in Trinity, Texas, until 1981 when it was cosmetically restored at the Museum. It was named Mary and Elizabeth Too, after Mary Moody Northen, who funded the Museum and the engine’s restoration.

Engine #1 is a 2-6-2 Prairie Class locomotive. Prairie classes were early 20th century locomotives designed to carry passengers and freight across the plains of the Midwest. Due to balance issues and relatively low speed, they never achieved the success of their competitor classes, such as the 2-6-0 Mogul and 2-8-0 Consolidation classes. Many Prairies ended up working for shortline and lumber railroads around the country.

Built in 1940 by the Budd Company, the Silver Hours was one of the last cars built for the CB&Q before World War II production requirements restricted newly built railcars. The front half of the car contains the galley and dining area, while the back half contains the rounded observation room. These areas are divided by a center vestibule. Silver Hours ran on the Kansas City Zephyr, Silver Streak Zephyr¸ as well as the Sam Houston Zephyr until it was retired in 1968. It was donated to the Museum by the South Texas Railroad Historical Society