Hearne Train Depot

After some recent remodeling, Hearne's historic century-old train depot has its grand re-opening on Saturday April 9 2011

Among the displays are model trains, Robertson County historical exhibits, period furnishings, and old telegraph poles.

The historic Hearne Railroad Depot was constructed in 1901 as a joint venture by the north-south Houston & Texas Central (H&TC) Railroad and east-west International & Great Northern (I&GN) Railroad. The lines of these two railroads crossed in Hearne. In later years, the H&TC became part of the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) and the I&GN was merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad (MoPac). For many years, the Hearne Depot served as the passenger terminal and connection point for people traveling on these two railroads. In recent years, both the SP and MoPac have been integrated into the Union Pacific Railroad (UP). Since passenger trains no longer operate on the east-west or north-south UP routes through Hearne, this historic depot no longer hosts passengers.

The Hearne Depot building is a single-story frame structure on a concrete base. Shaped like an arrow, the two decorative towers, the "stick-style" design, size and interior details all reflect the importance of this junction and of passenger traffic at this period. The building was designed with its two long walls parallel to the tracks, and an interlock signaling room facing north at the apex of the plan. There was a baggage room and a ticket office that served separate waiting rooms for black and white passengers. Also at the location was a Harvey House Restaurant and a Wells Fargo Railway Express building.

On January 18, 2001, the Hearne Depot was moved 660 feet across Texas Highway 6 from where it had been for the past 100 years (see Hearne Democrat article below). With ownership of the depot having passed from UP to the City of Hearne, efforts are underway to transform this depot into a visitors center and museum that will feature exhibits about Hearne and the local area circa World War II as well as railroad and train memorabilia. Restoration work began in 1999 with the hiring of an architect to coordinate the rehabilitation of the century-old structure. A Texas Department Of Transportation Enhancement Grant is being used in conjunction with significant local matching funding to finance the initial stages of this project.