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Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum President Jim Garnett brings passion to his job Story by GRACE THORNTON Photographs by JON GOERING t one point, Jim Garnett’s job was putting people deep in space. “When I was working in the aerospace business, I worked on the rocket that went to the moon, then on the space shuttle,” he said. Then he found himself deep in the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina. “We were wiped out,” Garnett said of his family’s home in Louisiana. “We had to do something because our house was destroyed.” So he set his sights on his home state — Alabama — where he and his wife, Linda, would be near his daughters and son. And that’s when everything changed gears. He bought a house in Helena. And he became a train conductor. “I went from high tech to obsolete tech,” Garnett said with a laugh.
It started one day when he and Linda went for a drive looking for something to do. “Before I retired, I became interested in steam locomotives,” he said. “So one day I said, ‘Let’s look around and see what we can find.’” They ended up at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera. “They weren’t too busy that particular day, but the gift shop was open, and there was a really nice lady there,” Garnett said. “I introduced myself, and we started talking.” They talked for an hour about trains, and the next thing he knew, Garnett had become a member of the museum, then a member of the board — then president. “I’ve been here seven or eight years — I forget how long it’s been now,” he said with a laugh. “I have enjoyed every day of it very, very much. I intend to do it until they get tired of me.” His role brings something different March 2014 | 23