Plans to resurrect the Santa Fe Railroad Depot into an attraction for local residents and visitors are running full steam ahead.
Andy Fish, owner of the Keystone Star Hotel, is one of those involved with the nonprofit organization Lampasas Depot Foundation, which is tasked with transforming the property.
“The overall plan is to create something that no railroad museum is doing in Texas that I am aware of,” Fish said. “What that is, is a multipurpose, multiuse attraction. In other words, there is not just one reason you want to come to the property.”
Last summer, several local investors purchased the Santa Fe Depot property from Austin businessman Rick Hardin. At a Lampasas Economic Development Corp. board meeting in July, Fish unveiled plans for the property that included a locomotive on site, dining cars, a restaurant, bar area and more.
Already, the Lampasas Depot Foundation has identified a 1940s dieselpowered EMD F7 locomotive located in Massachusetts that it is interested in. Fish said the foundation is working through the logistics of transporting the locomotive to the depot property. More than likely, it will be transported via rail to Lometa before it is moved by truck to Lampasas.
“This particular locomotive, you won’t see it unless you go to Galveston or Frisco,” Fish said. “There is nothing in Central Texas that gives that opportunity.”
Also, the foundation has located two stainless steel Budd cars that can serve as an upscale dining experience. Fish hopes to see the locomotive and both dining cars on the Santa Fe property within the next 90 days.
Inside the depot building itself, the foundation has acquired 320 model rail cars. A majority of the models were gifted by Georgetown resident Beverly Jones, whose late brother was an avid collector. Insight into the model train cars on display will be provided.
“We have a section that is educational to explain to people what trains are used for,” Fish said. “We see them, but what are they hauling? It is everything from car movers to coal, sand and box cars that are hauling everything imaginable.”
Another new feature to the freight section of the depot building is a 1,000-pound, granite-topped bar. Saloon 37 will operate the bar for the foundation’s upcoming event during Spring Ho, although the foundation is still figuring out a long-term solution for the space.
Before the depot property was purchased by local investors, Hardin constructed a 6,000-square-foot building to accommodate a potential restaurant. Fish said the foundation has met with several potential suitors, but nothing is set in stone yet.
“We actually have a meeting this Friday where we are going to hear a presentation from a chef who is considering operating it,” Fish said. “Obviously, there is logistics and money involved in all of this. The question is who is bringing the money, or is our group supposed to provide the money and build out the restaurant and turn it over to you, or are you bringing something to the table.”
When the property was purchased last year, the goal was to complete the full-scale attraction within two years. So far, progress appears to be tracking that timeline.
“We are still in that phase of locating stuff, but the potential to convert that in reality can happen before the two years,” Fish said. “Once that locomotive is sitting there next to that depot, everything gets real.”
When completed, the depot property has the potential not only to be an attraction for local residents but also potential tourists – leading to increased sales tax revenue for the city, Fish said.
“I’ve always been a believer in what I call ‘foreign money,’ and foreign money doesn’t mean overseas. It means let somebody else pay for the things you want done in Lampasas,” Fish said. “The way you do that is to create a reason for them to come and spend their money and leave. This is another approach to doing that, and it’s using the assets of Lampasas.”
The Lampasas Depot Foundation will unveil its progress on the property during an event July 12 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will include live music, food, activities for children, adult beverages and tours of the historic depot building.
