remembering riding the rails

Gulfport museum saves history for railroaders.

- BUSTER WOLFE

As far as Katherine Sutton knows, everyone has a train story. Sutton has had to hear many of them as the marketing director of the Mississippi Gulf Model Railroad Museum. “It is a big part of people’s lives,” she says. “One thing I want to do is to get some video of each of the members sharing their history of railroads and modeling.”

Mississippi has a rich history in railroads, going back to the early 1800s. Trains and tracks are remembered in the state’s songs, stories, and family histories.

In Gulfport, the different types of railroad engines, tracks, and cabooses are on display in many sizes—mostly small—at the Model Railroad Museum.

“This is the type of museum, like anything historical, that is always expanding,” Sutton says. “You hear that museums like this one have things in storage. Especially in this area of the state, the railroad would be one of those things that doesn’t stop growing.”