History on rails

The little blue building sticks out like a sore thumb.

Anchored among rows of palm trees, it’s one of the last artifacts of a booming transportation era.

The little blue building is actually a train scale that city officials plan to preserve in the Southern Pacific Linear Park and Hike and Bike Trail.

“In 1927, the Southern Pacific Railroad built a switchyard between Sixth and Seventh (streets) all the way from Madison (Street) to where the expressway is,” said Larry Brown, aviation director for the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport, who oversees the linear park project.

Brown said the train scale functioned like a bathroom scale but on a bigger level.

“That is how they determined how much the train car had been filled with materials,” he said.

A piece of railroad track next to the train scale will also be preserved.

After South Pacific relocated its rails to the Port of Brownsville in 1993, the switchyard stopped functioning between Sixth and Seventh streets Brown said.

The city of Brownsville purchased the land in 1998.

“Over a period of time the city of Brownsville acquired the Southern Pacific depot and converted it into a the (Historic Brownsville) Museum. Then the city acquired property where the police station is and then the city began working with the federal courthouse and bought another block and that became the (Cameron County) Courthouse,” Brown said.

Brown said the eventually hopes to renovate the scale.

“Assuming we can raise the money, the concept would be to get a caboose, fix the caboose up, put it on the set of tracks where scale is and restore scale to its original historic character,” he said.

Brown said the city is considering converting the caboose into an office, visitor’s center, or bathroom for park patrons.

The park has been under construction since late 2005, Brown said, and the city is keeping the train scale for historical purposes.

The park is scheduled for completion in October.

Brown said the city would accept donations for the renovation of the train scale and purchase of a caboose.

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