Danny Wright, employee of the Evan Johnson & Son Co., works on the restoration of one of the columns next to the just-uncovered Levee Street Depot sign.(Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[4/16/04]The first step in bringing a railroad museum to Vicksburg is to start a National Railway Historical Society, and that’s what organizers are continuing to try to do.

“We’re trying to reactivate the chapter,” said Genie Nussbaum, who is trying to gather enough members to reinstate the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

Nussbaum said nine members from Jackson, Brookhaven, Utica and Madison have paid dues of $25.

The goal is to enlist 10 members by the national society’s June meeting.

With recent renovations to the 99-year-old Levee Street Depot, hopes are up to resurrect the chapter and establish a museum inside.

Nussbaum said she would like to see artifacts from all railroads that ran in Vicksburg on display in the museum, and that the third floor could be used as an office and research library.

“We would use members to work because they wouldn’t be members without an interest in railroads,” Nussbaum said.

Nussbaum and her late husband, Matt Nussbaum, founded a local society in 1976, but it disbanded after 10 years. Matt Nussbaum worked for railroads in Vicksburg for 38 years.

The city bought the depot in 2002 for $215,000 as part of the Urban Renewal Project.

Using $150,000 from a Community Heritage Preservation Grant by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the City of Vicksburg is repairing the exterior of the building, with work expected to be complete next month.

During the repair, the building’s original sign was uncovered last week, and remains hanging on the depot.

“We are basically securing the building and making sure it is waterproof,” said Mayor Laurence Leyens.

Leyens said the city wants to lease the building to a nonprofit group.

“We’ve talked to a number of reputable people, but we have no firm commitments yet,” he said. “We’re still looking.”

He said before interior work is done, city officials want to know how the depot will be used.

“Then we can build around the nonprofit’s collection and build it the way the nonprofit needs it to be built,” he said.