A depot in Fargo, N.Dak., is now a senior citizens center and public offices. The city of Savannah, Ga., turned its depot into a tourist information center and Chamber of Commerce headquarters. Livingston, Mont., redeveloped its 1902 Northern Pacific Railroad depot into a museum. Along with local and regional exhibits, the museum features traveling shows from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo. The location and interior spaces of old depots make them ideal candidates for transportation centers.
Passengers also provide a customer base for new commercial uses in the area.
The Michigan Department of Transportation has been consolidating bus and train service in small rural Michigan communities over the past 12 years. Similar programs have been initiated by transportation departments in California and New Mexico. Railroad Depots and the Railroad Company When a railroad company has no further need for a depot, its concerns about disposition are complex. Although the land under the depot still has value, buildings that have been on the books for a long time and are fully depreciated have little actual value to the company and yet are expensive to maintain. Maintenance costs are difficult to justify for a building providing limited economic return.