Established | 1982 |
---|---|
Location | Spencer Shops |
Type | Transport museum |
Collection size | Railroad artifacts and equipment, road vehicles, airplanes. |
Website | http://www.nctrans.org |
The North Carolina Transportation Museum is a museum in Spencer, North Carolina. It is a collection of automobiles, aircraft, and railway vehicles. The museum is located at the former Southern Railway's 1896-era Spencer Shops and devotes much of its space to the state's railroad history. The museum has the largest collection of rail relics in the Carolinas. Its Back Shop building of nearly three stories high is notable for its size, two football fields long.
The museum was founded in 1977, when the Southern Railway deeded 4 acres (16,000 m2) of land to North Carolina for a transportation museum. Two years later, another 53 acres (210,000 m2) was added to the original donation; the entirety of the railway's largest former steam locomotive repair shops. The museum's first exhibit called People, Places and Time opened in 1983. The museum grew over the years, most notably in 1996, with the opening of Barber Junction, a relocated railroad depot from some 30 miles away, and the newly renovated Bob Julian Roundhouse. Barber Junction serves as the museum's Visitor Center and departure point for the on-site train ride. The Bob Julian Roundhouse serves as the hub for most of the museum's railroad exhibits, but also includes aviation exhibits and site history. [1] [2]
Several bays of the Spencer Shops roundhouse, built in 1924, are devoted to locomotives and rolling stock in the museum collection restored by volunteers. It was here that steam locomotives from 1924 to 1953 were repaired. [3] In the first 16 stalls, visitors can walk among the massive locomotives and rail cars on display in an open-air setting. Moving into the enclosed Elmer Lam gallery in stalls 17 through 20, aviation exhibits dominate, with a full size replica Wright Flyer, Piedmont Airlines exhibits, and more. Moving into the restoration shop occupying stalls 21 through 32, visitors may also see volunteers working on various railroad pieces, and even manufacturing parts. The remaining five stalls are dedicated to additional enclosed exhibits. [2] [4]
The museum is the largest repository of rail relics in North and South Carolina and averages 80,000 visitors annually. About three-thousand people were employed to repair the trains at the Spencer Shops in the first half of the twentieth century. [5] The Flue Shop, where all the flues for steam engines were formerly produced, has become the Bumper To Bumper exhibit, featuring vintage and antique cars. These include: several Model Ts, a Model A, and even a Ford Model R (the 1907 predecessor to the Model T). A Highway Patrol car from 1935, a Divco Milk Truck, a Lincoln Continental and others are also part of the museum's collection. [4]
In 2005, the museum's Back Shop underwent a massive renovation, which included repairs to the roof, re-pointing of the brick, and a stabilization of the building's floor. This building, where the full overhaul of steam locomotives once took place, is notable for its size. It is two football fields long and nearly three stories tall. [6] However, it may be more notable for the words "Be Careful," standing some three feet tall, visible from nearly anywhere on the north end of the site. In 2009, the museum opened the Back Shop to the public for the first time, with an access ramp on the south end. In 2017 the back shop was opened completely, allowing more exhibits.
The museum has a heritage railroad, which operates passenger excursion trains on a seasonal schedule. Trains are usually powered by either Norfolk and Western GP9 No. 620 or Southern GP30 No. 2601 diesel locomotives. Sometimes the Southern FP7 No. 6133, Southern E8A No. 6900, and Atlantic Coast Line E3 No. 501 streamlined diesel locomotives are used. The museum has no operating steam locomotives of its own, but occasionally has visiting steam locomotives such as Lehigh Valley Coal 0-6-0T No. 126, Flag Coal Company 0-4-0T No. 75, and Jeddo Coal Company 0-4-0T No. 85, all owned by the Gramling Locomotive Works of Ashley, Indiana.
In 2012 and 2013, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's Southern 2-8-0 No. 630 visited the museum offering employee and public excursions to Barber Junction and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. From 2014 to 2015, the Norfolk and Western 611 (owned by the nearby Virginia Museum of Transportation) was restored to operating condition at the museum and ran public excursions departing from Spencer to destinations in Lynchburg, Virginia; Asheville, Charlotte, and Greensboro, North Carolina in 2016 and 2017. The No. 611 locomotive has also been used on site for "At The Throttle" and "Be The Fireman" sessions, cab rides, caboose rides, and pulled passenger train rides around the museum.
Also in 2015, the American 4-4-0 "Leviathan" locomotive visited the museum for the Lincoln Funeral Train event, commemorating 150 years since that event took place. Tickets can purchased to ride the roundhouse turntable. [7]
The museum hosts a number of annual events and some one-time railroading events that bring rail fans from across the country. In 2012, the Bob Julian Roundhouse was the stage for all 20 of Norfolk Southern's Heritage locomotives during a two-day photographic event. In 2014, the museum hosted Streamliners at Spencer, with notable 1930s - 1950s era locomotives gathered around the Bob Julian Roundhouse turntable for a four-day event. Streamliners at Spencer included the No. 611 steam locomotive, visiting from the Virginia Museum of Transportation. This notable locomotive remained in Spencer for repair and restoration work to allow it to once again pull passenger excursions across the southeast. [7]
Annual events include Day Out With Thomas, the Polar Express, Fire Truck Show, Automobile shows, A Tractor Show, the Harvest Festival, the Easter Bunny Express, Valentine Wine and Dine trains, and the new Brew and Choo Beer Train. The NCTM is also host to Boy Scout Rail Camp, which allows for Boy Scouts and Leaders to camp out on the historic facility and earn the railroading merit badge. It is the largest railroad related scouting event in the nation. [7]
The museum contains steam and diesel locomotives.
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The company operates 19,420 route miles (31,250 km) in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and has rights in Canada over the Albany to Montreal route of the Canadian Pacific Kansas City. Norfolk Southern Railway is the leading subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation.
The California State Railroad Museum is a museum in the California State Parks system that interprets the role of railroads in the Western U.S.. It is located in Old Sacramento State Historic Park at 111 I Street, Sacramento, California.
A railway roundhouse is a building with a circular or semicircular shape used by railways for servicing and storing locomotives. Traditionally, though not always the case today, these buildings contained or were adjacent to a turntable.
The Norfolk and Western Railway, commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precision Transportation"; it had a variety of nicknames, including "King Coal" and "British Railway of America". In 1986, N&W merged with Southern Railway to form today's Norfolk Southern Railway.
The Southern Railway was a class 1 railroad based in the Southern United States between 1894 and 1982, when it merged with the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) to form the Norfolk Southern Railway. The railroad was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894.
In rail terminology, a railway turntable or wheelhouse is a device for turning round railway rolling stock, usually locomotives, so that they face the direction they came from. It is especially used in areas where economic considerations or a lack of sufficient space have served to weigh against the construction of a turnaround wye. Railways needed a way to turn steam locomotives around for return journeys, as their controls were often not configured for extended periods of running in reverse; also many locomotives had a lower top speed in reverse. Most diesel locomotives, however, can be operated in either direction, and are considered to have "front ends" and "rear ends". When a diesel locomotive is operated as a single unit, the railway company often prefers, or requires, that it be run "front end" first. When operated as part of a multiple unit locomotive consist, the locomotives can be arranged so that the consist can be operated "front end first" no matter which direction the consist is pointed. Turntables were also used to turn observation cars so that their windowed lounge ends faced toward the rear of the train.
The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville on December 11, 1845, built to 5 ft gauge and was the first railway to operate in the state of Tennessee. By the turn of the twentieth century, the NC&StL grew into one of the most important railway systems in the southern United States.
The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a railroad museum and heritage railroad in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The New Hope Valley Railway is a heritage railroad in Bonsal, North Carolina operated by the North Carolina Railway Museum, Inc., an all-volunteer, nonprofit, and tax exempt educational and historical organization.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT) is a museum in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, that is devoted to the topic of transportation.
The Indiana Transportation Museum was a railroad museum that was formerly located in the Forest Park neighborhood of Noblesville, Indiana, United States. It owned a variety of preserved railroad equipment, some of which still operate today. ITM ceased operations in 2023 and the line is now owned and operated by the Nickel Plate Express.
The East Carolina Railway was a short-line railroad that ran from 1898 to 1965. Originating in Tarboro, North Carolina the East Carolina Railway interchanged at Farmville, North Carolina with the original Norfolk Southern Railway.
Norfolk and Western 1218 is a preserved four-cylinder simple articulated 2-6-6-4 steam locomotive, built in June 1943 by the Norfolk and Western's (N&W) Roanoke Shops in Roanoke, Virginia as part of the N&W's class "A" fleet of fast freight locomotives. It was retired from regular revenue service in July 1959, and was later restored by Norfolk Southern for excursion service for their steam program, pulling excursions throughout the eastern United States from 1987 to 1991. It is currently on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia.
The Southern Railway Spencer Shops are a former locomotive repair facility in Spencer, North Carolina. The shops were one of the Southern Railway's primary maintenance facilities. The shops were built in the 1890s and named after Southern Railway president Samuel Spencer. Following dieselization, the need for the Spencer Shops diminished, and the facilities were decommissioned in the 1970s. The Spencer Shops and associated land were donated by the Southern Railway to the state of North Carolina, which established the North Carolina Transportation Museum on the site.
The Southeastern Railway Museum is a railroad museum located in Duluth, Georgia, in suburban Atlanta.
Southern Railway 630 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive built in February 1904 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Richmond, Virginia for the Southern Railway (SOU) as a member of the Ks-1 class. It was primarily assigned to haul freight trains on the Murphy Branch between Asheville and Murphy, North Carolina until its retirement in the 1950s. No. 630, along with sister locomotive No. 722, were sold to the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) to be served as switchers.
Norfolk and Western 611, also known as the "Spirit of Roanoke" and the "Queen of Steam", is the only surviving example of Norfolk and Western's (N&W) class J 4-8-4 type "Northern" streamlined steam locomotives. Built in May 1950 at N&W's Roanoke Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, it was one of the last mainline passenger steam locomotives built in the United States and represents a pinnacle of American steam locomotive technology.
The 21st Century Steam program was conducted by the Norfolk Southern Railway from 2011 to 2015, featuring four classic steam locomotives pulling passenger excursions along Norfolk Southern rails in the eastern United States. The last train was to be Southern 4501's Piedmont Limited excursion trip from Atlanta, Georgia, to Toccoa, Georgia, but cancelled on October 1 due to Hurricane Joaquin.
Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad No. 4 is a preserved 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive. It was constructed by Baldwin in 1926 as the only locomotive to be bought-new by the Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad. It served the railroad by pulling coal and lumber trains throughout Clay County, West Virginia until it was retired in 1965. No. 4 was restored to operating condition by the Quakertown and Eastern Railroad for excursion service in Pennsylvania, and it made its way to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in 1978. No. 4 was subsequently used to pull tourist trains across the museum's property in Spencer, North Carolina from when its multi-year overhaul was completed in 1986 to when its flue time expired in 2001. The locomotive spent fourteen years in storage, waiting for a rebuild that never came to fruition. In 2015, No. 4 was purchased by the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad, who moved it to their shops with the hopes of restoring it to run it on their trackage between Durbin and Cass, West Virginia.
The Back Shop. This mammoth structure – two football fields long and two and a half stories high – was once used for steam engine overhauls...
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