Clock Club donates clocks and time to Kelso Depot Visitor Center

Date: October 23, 2007
Contact: Linda Slater, [phone]

Clock Club donates clocks…and time…to Kelso Depot Visitor Center

The pendulum will once again swing on a 1920s-era self-winding clock to be displayed at the Kelso Depot Visitor Center. Chapter 133 of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) will install two historic clocks at Kelso on November 1^st. The club is donating one of clocks and cleaned and repaired the second, which was donated by the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Built and used by Union Pacific from 1924 until 1985, the Kelso Depot was reopened as Mojave National Preserve’s visitor center in 2005. The building was renovated to look as it did in the early years, with original paint colors and a huge U-shaped lunch counter inside. The two historic clocks will add to the ambiance of an early 20^th century train station.

The project began when Ray Brown, Vice President of NAWCC Chapter 133 which specializes in “Western Electrics,” visited Kelso Depot and noticed that there was no clock in the historically furnished ticket & telegraph office. He soon learned that park staff needed some expert advice in using and maintaining the clock they had procured from the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, and that they were also searching for a second clock to display in the lobby. The NAWCC was able to assist on both counts.

Union Pacific Railroad Museum donated a1920s era Standard Clock made by the Self-Winding Clock Company of New York. NAWCC Club member Alan Blore donated and restored the second clock, a World War II era Western Union model. Chapter 133 of NAWCC is based in southern California.