MUSEUM FOR ALL AGES

Railroad enthusiasts will appreciate the efforts made by the Rosenberg community to commemorate the railroad history of Fort Bend County. Although none of Rosenberg’s original railroad structures survived into the 21st century except for Tower 17, the switching and signals control tower still in service at the time, citizens were undaunted. In 2002, Rosenberg celebrated the grand opening of the Rosenberg Railroad Museum, housed in a reproduction Santa Fe Railroad depot. The museum features Tower 17, decommissioned in 2004 then reassembled and restored on museum grounds, model trains complete with reproductions of area buildings and landscapes, an 1879 rail car known as the “Quebec”, and a Missouri Pacific caboose. One of the more unique museum exhibits highlights the modern method of train control in an interactive display utilizing an Advanced Train Control System (ATCS). The ATCS, comprised of computers and software, is designed to ensure rail safety by monitoring, analyzing, and reporting the locations of trains in real time. The museum’s ATCS provides graphic representation of up-to-the-minute movements of trains in the Union Pacific Glidden Railway (including the train traffic adjacent to the museum). Visitors can see signal indications, switch alignments, and track section occupation on a large monitor, and view trains on the system as they pass by the museum.