Western Railroad Discussion > Depots of Texas State Railroad

Following up on my post from last night regarding the Texas State Railroad, the images in this post represent the two depots that bookend the tourist operation at Palestine and Rusk.  Nothing fancy here, just a look at two nicely designed depots with actual water towers for watering their steam operations.  Oh, and alligators.

1)  Palestine looking east along the platform.  The front side (westward facing) was nothing to write home about, but if anyone wants to see it, I do have an image of it.
2)  The working watertower, used to water their steam ops (more a little later).
3)  The wine train we were riding, now positioned in front of the depot prior to departure.

The Palestine depot is located between the wye tracks that TSR uses to turn power and to build their scenic trains.  I read in the search area that this depot was rebuilt here some time ago - if anyone knows more details, jump right in!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/26 18:50 by HomerBedloe.

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Over to Rusk - I think it is the far more attractive depot, and it looks like an original with all the stone work.  Again, any additional info is welcome.

1)  A view of the rock work and arches facing the track.
2)  Had to move east a bit to capture the station sign.
3)  Front of the depot, with the westbound train in the background.

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And finally, a little on the steam history of the TSR.  This portrait is hanging in both the Palestine and Rusk stations, showing the historical steam locos of TSR.  Unfortunately, none of them were running on the day we rode, so this was the best I could do.  There was also a board that had stories about each of the locos, which I also photographed, however, with a 1000 px limit, it is almost impossible to read; so I left it out. I suspect there are a number of folks here who can do justice to those stories without the board!

Oh, and I promised alligators.  Lake Rusk, on the edge of the picnic grounds where dinner was served.  To humans, not to the gators.  You've been warned; what you do with that warning is up to you.

Thanks for following along, and staying out of the water.

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With one small exception, none of the buildings on the Texas State Railroad are original, historic structures.  Everything on the property has been created by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.  Texas P&W invested millions of dollars in development of the Texas State Railroad State Park as well as accompanying parks and campgrounds in Palestine and Rusk.

I find the alligator warning interesting.  When I was GM of the TSR during Iowa Pacific's tenure I lived in the park superintendent's house overlooking the lake.  The most vicious creature I ever came across was a snapping turtle.

I've had two tours at TSRR and never saw an alligator, nor heard of anyone seeing one. The water towers have been out of service for awhile. If memory served me the liners need replacing. We never used the standpipe at the Rusk shop either...reasons I have heard have varied over time.

A charming operation nonethelesss, worth a look if you are in East Texas