Hi Doyle:

Here is the bio info on the Pittsburg depot. It was built in 1902 on the same site as an earlier all-frame depot. The brick portion of the depot housed the office and two waiting rooms. The agent's job was abolished in 1968. The building was used for about a year by Cotton Belt's trucking affiliate Southwestern Transportation Co.

The railroad exhibit at the depot, among other things, contains the most realistic telegraph display in the State, and one of the top four or five in the country. The telegraph display has been reconstructed on the same telegraph table and includes peg board, phone selector and test board, mainline and local sounders and relay, key, scissors phone, foot pedal, dual blade train order semaphore, and is complete with 1950-era train order pads, carbons, and tins. Plus, a Western Union "red front" all-capital typewriter.

Across the office is the re-created Commerce, TX, telegraph table also complete with mainline sounders, etc., and two Model 15 tele- types. A self-winding standard clock and phone selector/test board round out the display--also complete with order pads, carbons, and stylus. The teletypes are in working order, and include a tape per- forator and transmitter.

There are static displays of telegraph equipment in a glass case that includes pegboard, zinc gravity battery, line charts, WU manuals, and "bugs." Another display honors a Cotton Belt roadmaster. And, for Morse Day, a special photographic display will portray passenger train service from the earliest days to present-day Amtrak.

The Museum hosts the annual Samuel Morse Day telegraphers reunion on the last Saturday in April each year. Pittsburg is home for the Texas Eastern Chapter. The reunion will be held on April 28th this year. The public is invited.

The Museum consists of two complexes; the depot and annex, including former L&A caboose 380, and (at another site) the farmstead. Museum hours are 10 AM to 4 PM Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Admission is $3.00/2.00/and 1.00. The Museum can accomodate groups up to 100 in number, and frequently sees this number of school children and church groups. Museum phone number is 903.856.1200. For more info contact Chuck Harris at 903.236.7337.

Regards,
Chuck Harris