Harrington’s railroad museum starts with a tower, the kind of building that could control a surprisingly large amount of movement from a small room. The Harrington Historical Society’s railway complex on Hanley Street also includes a caboose and a watchman’s hut. The three structures offer a compact account of the work required to keep trains, railway workers and people crossing the tracks moving through a busy town.
The tower draws attention to the railway’s need to coordinate routes. At a junction, tracks converge and diverge, so a movement in one direction can affect other trains nearby. Interlocking equipment helped prevent incompatible routes from being set. The tower gave workers a place to oversee those movements and communicate the decisions that let the railway make safe use of its tracks. Imagine the equipment and responsibilities concentrated within that one building as you look at its position beside the line.
The caboose and watchman’s hut bring the scale of the individual worker into the story. Cabooses were working spaces for freight crews. A crossing watchman worked from a fixed location and dealt with the point at which railway traffic met everyday street movement. Together, the exhibits illustrate different sides of the same system and make it easier to identify what people did outside the familiar roles of engineer and conductor.
Delaware’s historical research materials connect the railway with Harrington’s industrial growth. The town handled shipments related to local agriculture and manufacturing, including textiles and finished clothing. Such businesses depended on connections well beyond the town itself. The museum preserves the operations side of a network that mattered to farmers, factory owners, employees and customers who might rarely have set foot inside a railroad building.
The tower was established as a museum in 1985. The historical society maintains a separate local history museum, so confirm the location and arrangements for the railway complex if you plan to see both.
Visitor information
Researched November 2026.
Sources
More railroad museums in Delaware
- Newark History Museum at the Pennsylvania Railroad Depot — Newark: Depot and local history museum
- Selbyville Railroad Museum — Selbyville: Depot and local history museum
- Wilmington and Western Railroad Education Center — Wilmington: Operating preservation collection and education center
- All 4 railroad museums and sites in Delaware
Keep exploring
- All heritage sites — museums, stations and landmarks
- Northeast — the trains you can ride in the region