Corbin Railroad Museum planners hope to have facility open in May 2015

EKU senior Jeff Cawood, CARES Project Director Karrie Adkins and Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission Director Maggie Kriebel will be the team working to develop a railroad museum in the old Depot building in downtown Corbin.

A recently announced partnership between the Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission and Eastern Kentucky University has put on the fast track development of a railroad museum in downtown Corbin that “will illuminate the region’s ties to the railroad industry.”

A $10,000 grant from EKU’s Center for Appalachian Regional Engagement Stewardship (CARES), one of five distributed in the University’s service region, will enable an EKU intern, senior sociology major Jeff Cawood, to work closely with the CTCC toward a goal of opening the museum on a daily basis by the summer of 2015.

“The Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission (CTCC) envisions the museum to be a premier, state-of-the-art facility containing highly specialized visual and audio components that promote interactivity while preserving and interpreting the history and heritage of the Kentucky railroad legacy,” said Maggy Kriebel, associate director of the CTCC. “We want the museum to be a total package experience, something that will be enjoyed by young and old worldwide and that will showcase Kentucky’s railroads and the people who built them.”

Kriebel said Monday that the goal for a grand opening of the museum is set for May 2015.

Karrie Adkins, a Project Director for CARES, said the grant was given as part of a process where communities were contacted and asked about their needs — a reverse from past years where faculty and staff at the university identified needs and proposed projects.

“It really gave us a good idea of how needs have changed since we last did a needs assessment five years ago,” Adkins said.

Cawood, a 2001 graduate of North Laurel High School, is a senior in EKU’s Sociology program, and will work side-by-side with Kriebel to develop the museum. A detailed plan and timeline was already submitted as part of the grant process. Now, the two plan to hit the road to study other railroad museums to put together ideas for Corbin’s own museum, which will be located in the old Depot building next to the Chamber of Commerce offices.

“We are evaluating the technology of a number of facilities and trying to mesh the technology that is available, and evaluate technologies that aren’t available, so that we can make this museum a premier destination for people to see,” Cawood said.

Kriebel said she very much wants to ensure that Corbin’s Railroad Museum is more than simple “pictures on a wall” or boring, static exhibits that don’t inspire visitors. Instead, she wants high-tech “interactive” exhibits that are worth seeing.

“Our intent with this is to create a state-of-the-art facility for rail enthusiasts to preserve Kentucky’s railroad history,” she said. “I know there are people all over the world that will travel to see something like this. I think it most definitely will be something tourists will be interested in seeing.”

Coupled with some of the other projects slated by the CTCC and the City of Corbin around the same time, Kriebel anticipates a significant increase in tourism traffic in Corbin. “The museum will aid Corbin in becoming a viable destination and a hub that will allow for motorcoach visits and multi-day stays where tourists visit additional regional attractions by day, and sleep, eat and shop in Corbin by night,” she said.

Over the next year, Cawood, under Kriebel’s supervision, will:

• Archive and catalogue railroad artifacts that are currently warehoused at the depot and in other municipal buildings.

• Establish partnerships with CSX Transportation and other groups, such as Norfolk Southern, the R.J. Corman Group, the Kentucky Railway Museum, the Bluegrass Railroad Museum, the Historic Rail Park and Museum, the Big South Fork Scenic Railway, the National Park Service and L & N Historical Society, among others.

• Record and transcribe oral history that documents Corbin as a railroad boomtown. The recordings will be preserved to educate museum visitors on Corbin’s railroad history and its place in the economic development of the region and nation.

• Identify possible grants and write proposals to acquire external support.

• Work to develop a series of potential tourism rail packages with other “rail towns” and other recreational and tourism opportunities throughout the region.

• Assist with the development of five- and 10-year plans.

“We’re reaching for the stars and pulling out all the bells and whistles,” Cawood said. “We hope to create a one-of-a-kind experience.”

Kriebel said the CTCC is “elated” with the partnership with EKU and views the project as “the start of many wonderful things to come.”

Dr. Stephanie McSpirit, professor of sociology at EKU, called Corbin “a vibrant community that is in transition” and added that the transition will provide additional opportunities for EKU students to intern with city planners and others involved with commercial, agricultural, recreational and tourism development.

“This is a win-win situation for all involved,” McSpirit said. “Future EKU students will benefit from these internship opportunities by gaining practical and applied experiences within their own fields of study, and the City of Corbin will have a stock of talent, expertise and enthusiasm from which to draw further inspiration.” 

Anyone interested in donating money or items for the museum should contact the CTCC at 606-528-8860.