The Depot Museum, Hamlet, North Carolina

The town of Hamlet in the south central region of the U.S. state of North Carolina was once the hub of the Seaboard Airline Railroad. Today, CSX has a small yard in the town, and you can see the trains pass through town. The old train station, built in a Victorian Queen Anne style, is still an active train station, but it sees fewer passenger trains at only two Amtrak train pass through here each day. The old train station is now the home of the Hamlet Depot Museum.

The Hamlet Depot sits at the crossing of two tracks, one running north and south and the other running east and west. A railroad hotel once stood across the tracks north of the depot, but it was destroyed by a fire. The waiting area in the depot remains a waiting area for Amtrak passengers today, but the rest of the depot houses artifacts from the heydays of the railroad in Hamlet.

Some of you are saying, “This is nice, but many town depot museums do this.”

This is true, but the Depot Museum in Hamlet, North Carolina is much more.

As you walk around inside the old depot, you will walk through the old ticket office and baggage room, but then you go downstairs. Here, you will see a model train display set up in the way that the town looked in the heyday of the Seaboard Airline Railroad. You see where the many tracks once were that are no longer there.

Now you are saying, “And that is the end of the visit. You have seen everything.”

Not exactly.

As mentioned, the Depot Museum in Hamlet, North Carolina is not just inside the old depot. The visit also includes a visit to the Hamlet Visitors Center. This is not your ordinary visitors center, but it is a museum telling the story of the town of Hamlet and how the railroad was a major factor to the town’s growth.

If you think that this is all, there is more.

You then have the Tornado Building. No. There is not an actual tornado inside. It is an old railroad warehouse that houses a replica of a steam locomotive called the ‘Tornado’. It also has a model train displays, old cars, and an old fire engine.

If that is not enough, you have the Main Street Park. The first thing you notice in the park is the Seaboard Airline Railroad Number 1114 of which the locomotive and Seaboard Airline Railroad Caboose Number 5241 are the centerpieces of the part. The park was built where railroad lines once were. There is also an old railroad crossing light and an old railroad bridge over a creek.

The Hamlet Depot Museum is located at 2 Main Street in Hamlet, North Carolina. Admission is free, and the buildings are wheelchair accessible. Parking is on site. You can learn more about the history of Hamlet, North Carolina at https://hamlethistoricdepot.org/.