North Carolina Transportation Museum Spencer Shops 8/16/2007

by Chris Guenzler

As we drove into Salisbury, Chris Parker and I had our first look at the former Southern Railway Spencer Shops complex. I was amazed at the size of it as we drove into the parking lot.

History of the North Carolina Transportation Museum

The museum was founded in 1977, when the Southern Railway deeded 4 acres of land to the state of North Carolina for a transportation museum. Two years later, another 53 acres was added to the original donation; the entirety of the railway's largest former steam locomotive repair shops. The museum's first exhibit opened in 1983, called People, Places and Time. 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 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.

Several bays of the Spencer Shops roundhouse are devoted to volunteered restorations of locomotives and rolling stock in the museum collection. It was here that the 542 was worked on and steam locomotives from 1896-1953 were repaired. In the first 16 stalls, visitors can walk among the massive locomotives and rail cars on display. Moving into the Elmer Lam gallery, aviation exhibits dominate, with a full size replica Wright Flyer, Piedmont Airlines exhibits, and more. Moving into the restoration bays, visitors may also see volunteers working on various railroad pieces, and even manufacturing their own parts, as steam engines have been out of date so long it is impossible to obtain replacement parts from any manufacturer.

The Flue Shop, where all of the flues for steam engines were formerly produced, as 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.

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 most notable for its size and scope. Nearly three stories tall and two football fields long, it was once the largest industrial building in the state. It may be most notable, however, 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. "Behind the Scenes" tours and special events often featuring a full Back Shop tour.

The museum has a heritage railroad, which operates passenger excursion trains several times per day, year round, but on a seasonal schedule. Trains are usually powered by the Norfolk and Western 620, however, at times it is substituted by the Southern 6133 or Southern 2601. The Southern 6133 and Southern 2601 also assist in special events where two or more trains are operating. Though the museum has no operating steam locomotives of its own, it has used the Lehigh Valley Coal 0-6-0 126 for trips, along with Flag Coal Co. 0-4-0 75, the American 4-4-0 "Leviathan" locomotive, as well as the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's Southern 2-8-0 630. For Caboose trips and at-the-throttle trips, the museum has leased engines from the Grambling Locomotive Works; the Virginia Museum of Transportation and Norfolk Southern previously allowed the museum to use their Norfolk and Western #611 during its two stays. Cab rides to the normal excursion can be purchased at Barber Junction.

Visitors may also purchase tickets to ride the roundhouse turntable every day.

Our Visit

The Barber Depot from Barber, North Carolina built in 1898 and donated to this museum by Hall Steel in 1980. Inside we met Natalie Alford, Information & Communication Specialist who was waiting for us and she handed me a media kit then led us down the long path to the Spencer Roundhouse. We chatted all the way there and once inside, she turned us loose to explore this museum I wanted to see for years.

In the Roundhouse to the left is a Railway Express truck.

Southern Railway E8A 6900, nee Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific 2923 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1951. Until Amtrak took over passenger services in 1971, the seven E8s in Southern's fleet hauled their passenger trains including the Royal Palm, the Southern Crescent, Southerner and Tennesseean. They were initially painted green with aluminium striping but changed to black in the late 1950s. In 1972, Southern President W. Graham Claytor had all the E8s returned to green and aluminium to reflect pride in the railroad's history. At the same time, 2923 was re-numbered 6900. It ended its career hauling the Southern Crescent in 1979 and was donated to the museum in 1980.

Seaboard Air Line 2-10-0 544 1935, ex. Gainesville Midland 206, exx. Detroit, Toledo and Ironton 311 1926, exxx. Wheeling and Lake Erie 1088, nee Russian Railways E1198, built by Alco-Brooks in 1918. Twelve hundred of this type were ordered from Baldwin and Alco for export to Russia. Eight hundred and fifty-seven were delivered but, when the Russian government was overthrown by the 1917 Revolution, about two hundred were diverted to US railroads by the United States Railroad Administration. Built for Russia's five foot gauge, they were not re-gauged for the American standard gauge. Although the front pilot was replaced, the drivers were simply fitted with wider tyres.

544 went on display in Atlanta in 1965 and was sold to the North Carolina Railroad Company in 1980, which then donated it to the State of North Carolina.

Piedmont & Northern Railway box cab 5103 built by General Electric in 1913. The Piedmont & Northern was created in 1914 to consolidate the electrified Greenville, Spartanburg & Anderson Railroad in South Carolina and the Piedmont Traction Company in North Carolina, both owned by James B. Duke of Duke Power. The Piedmont & Northern was the only mainline Class I railroad in the south to use electric locomotives, and was the first electric railroad in the US to operate both passenger and heavy freight electric services.

The railroad also had a divided right-of-way, with part operating Charlotte to Belmont, North Carolina and the other Spartanburg to Greenwood, South Carolina. The company sought to link the two disconnected segments and expand to Durham a number of times, but the efforts never paid off because of stiff resistance from the Southern Railway, which had parallel track in both states. The Seaboard Coast Line bought the Piedmont & Northern in 1969.

5103 started work on the Spartanburg-Greenwood division of the Piedmont & Northern, but moved to the Charlotte-Belmont division in 1950 when the South Carolina division converted to diesel. Electric power ended on the North Carolina section in 1954. Some of the railroad's electric locomotives were then shipped to South America and, except for 5103, the rest were scrapped. 5103 ended its life operating on old trolley tracks on Mint Street in downtown Charlotte in 1958. It was donated to the Atlanta Chapter of the NRHS in 1963.Piedmont and Northern Boxcab 5103.

A view looking back from whence we came.

Atlantic Coast Line E3A 501 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1939 for the Atlantic Coast Line Champion train from New York to Miami. It was retired in 1972 and subsequently owned by Glenn Monhart who restored to its 1939 paint scheme then purchased by the museum in 1998.

Graham County Railroad Company 3 truck shay 1925 built by Lima in 1925. It hauled lumber out of the Snowbird Mountains to the Bemis Lumber Company mill in Robbinsville, North Carolina. The logging portion of the railroad closed in 1948, but the remainder carried general freight between Robbinsville and Topton to an interchange with the Southern Railway. Because of falling demand and deteriorating track conditions, however, the Graham County ceased operations in 1970. Until then, it had been the last commercially-operating steam freight line in the county. In 1974, a tourist operation, the Bear Creek Scenic Railroad, tried to re-open the line to Robbinsville, but this also ceased operation within a few years. 1925 was donated to the museum in 1988 and restored to operation in 1998 to pull on-site train rides. It has also hauled excursions on the Smoky Mountain Railroad out of Bryson City, North Carolina.

Norfolk and Western caboose 555012 built by International Car Company in 1976.

Duke Power 0-4-0 111 built by American Locomotive Company in 1922 in 1922 and sold it to the Stewart-Jones Company of Great Falls, South Carolina in February 1922. In July 1924, it was sold to the Wateree Power Company, which later became part of the Duke Power Company. They used 111 at their Mt. Holly and Cliffside plants in North Carolina, as well as at the Buck Steam Plant on the Yadkin River north of Spencer. It was donated to the museum in 1978.

Atlantic Coast Line 4-6-0 1031 built by Baldwin in 1913. The locomotives quickly earned the nickname "Copperheads", because they originally had polished copper rims around the tops of their smokestacks. Primarily used to haul both freight and passenger services in the Fayetteville, Rocky Mount and Wilmington district they nevertheless worked as far afield as Richmond, Virginia, and Jacksonville, Florida. As dieselisation gathered pace on the ACL, many were transferred to serve on smaller subsidiary lines. For most of its life, 1031 operated mainly out of Florence, South Carolina, hauling freight and passenger trains. It was taken out of service in 1952, but was then lent to the Atlantic Coast Line subsidiary, the Virginia & Carolina Southern. Later it was transferred to the East Carolina Railway. In 1959, it was placed on open air display behind the Florence passenger station but after continuing deterioration in its condition, the City of Florence donated it to the museum in 1994. Two years later, it was cosmetically restored to its 1940s appearance.

Southern 2-8-0 542, built by Baldwin in 1903. It served mainly in freight service around Statesville and Winston-Salem, North Carolina and was operated by Southern's subsidary the Atlantic and Yadkin Railway from 1946 to 1950. It was donated to Tanglewood Park in Forsyth County in 1954. In 1992, the Winston-Salem Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society helped to fund the exchange of the museum's 0-6-0 1894 for the 542.

The original Norfolk Southern AS-416 1616 built by Baldwin in 1955 to replace the railroad's last steam locomotives. It pulled freight trains until the railroad was bought by Southern Railway in 1974, at which time it went to the Peabody Coal Company in Lentzburg, Ilinois, who donated it to the State of North Carolina in 1981.

Replica of Raleigh and Gaston Railway 0-4-0 "Raleigh", the first steam locomotive to operate in North Carolina. It was built by the Seaboard Air Line shops in 1927. The original "Raleigh" was built by C. Tayleur & Company, an affiliate of Robert Stephenson & Company in England in 1836. It was one of two 0-4-0 locomotives built for the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad and shipped to the United States. Along with the second locomotive, the "Gaston", it was used to begin construction of the first sections of the Raleigh & Gaston. Construction of the Raleigh & Gaston was completed in April 1840 at a total cost of $1,343,380 including locomotives and cars. Laying of the eighty-six miles of wood and iron strap track was largely the work of leased slaves. It was North Carolina's second railroad, the Wilmington & Raleigh Railroad having beaten it to the title by just one month. In 1900, the Raleigh & Gaston merged with the Seaboard Air Line and the tracks eventually became part of the CSX System.

Southern Railway 150 ton crane 903006, nee Southern D99, built by Bucyrus in 1919. Originally steam-driven, it was converted to diesel after 1966. Next we entered the Elmer Lam Gallery.

A prime mover.

The Brosnon collection.

Two more interesting railroad displays in this hall. I next entered the Restoration Hall.

Steam locomotive tender from Southern 542.

Duke Power 44 ton switcher 04491 built by General Electric.

State of North Carolina 45 ton switcher L-3 built by General Electric in 1943. It was used by the North Carolina Ports Authority in Wilmington its entire life. Donated in 1980, it is one of the oldest diesel locomotives in the museum's collection. With the help of a $2,000 heritage grant from the National Railroad Historical Society, it was recently restored by the museum to its late 1970's condition.

Seaboard Air Line caboose 5458 built by the railroad in 1926.

Norfolk and Western GP9 620 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1958. It was donated in 1985.

Southern FP7 6133, nee Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas and Pacific 6133, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1950.

Southern Railway GP30 2601 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1963.

What a fantastic view in August 2007. I next walked into the shop part of the Spencer Roundhouse.

Southern Railway observation car 449 "Doris", ex. Western Pacific 101, exx. Western Pacific 106, exxx. Western Pacific "Doris", exxxx. Pullman "Davie Crocket" nee Pullman "Pioneer" built by Pullman in 1917. At one time it was owned by James B. Duke (of Duke Power and Duke University fame) and named after his daughter.

Private car "Loretto" built by Pullman in 1902. Charles Schwab's father, so the story goes, owned a livery stable at Cresson Springs, Pennsylvania and sometimes rented horses to Andrew Carnegie, the founder of the Carnegie Company. During one of these visits, Carnegie heard Charles Schwab, who was then a young boy, singing. "When that boy of yours is ready to look for a job, you bring him to me." Carnegie supposedly told Schwab's father....Schwab's star rose quickly after his initial entry into the Carnegie Company. Within six months of being hired at the Edgar Thompson Steel Works--which was then the largest steel mill in America-- Schwab became its acting chief engineer. And within twenty years of his hiring, Schwab would be president of the Carnegie Company.

Charles Schwab, who first publicly proposed the concept of creating a new company by merger of two existing industry leaders suggested that the public interest would be served by a strategic alliance between the Morgan and Carnegie interests. J.P. Morgan, who was in attendance, apparently saw the consummation of such a deal as an easy way to save face and acted upon the suggestion. The new company, United States Steel Corporation, would actually be a holding company which controlled 213 steel mills and transportation companies. The (original) "Loretto" was ordered just a few short months after Schwab was named-- at the youthful age of 35-- as the first president of the newly-created corporation....Schwab took delivery of the (original) "Loretto" on March 15, 1902. He named the car after a town in Pennsylvania; though Loretto was not his birthplace, he had lived there since the age of five, and apparently considered it his home town. The car, built to Pullman 1735, Revision E, and designated lot number 2773, carried a price tag of about $40,000. In 1917, Schwab purchased a new car. Upon its arrival, the name "Loretto" was transferred to the new car; the 1902 car was renamed the "Bethlehem" to honor the headquarters town of Bethlehem Steel. The original "Loretto" is currently at the North Carolina Transportation Museum.

Roundhouse scene.

United States Army Hospital Car 89480 built by American Car and Foundry in 1945. This car was used as an exhibit car at the golden anniversary of the driving of the golden spike at Promontory, Utah.

Hampton and Branchville Edwards motorcar M-200 built by Edwards Railway Motorcar Company in 1926. This railroad connected with both the Charleston & West Carolina and Atlantic Coast Line. M-200 was a segregated 42-passenger vehicle which operated between 1926 and 1951. After a "catastrophic" entine failture in 1951, the Hampton and Branchville pushed the car into a shed where it remained undisturbed for 47 years. It was acquired by the museum in 1998.

United States Army 45 ton switcher 7497 built by General Electric in 1943.

Station mail cubby holes.

A locomotive control stand.

Dispatching board.

Norfolk & Western Railway 58-seat coach 539 built by Pullman-Standard in 1949 for the Powhatan Arrow and Pocahontas. It was built with smooth sides and painted in N&W's tuscan red and black. 539 operated between Cincinnati, Ohio and Norfolk, Virginia. After the N&W passenger service was discontinued in 1971, the car was put into commuter service in Chicago for several years and then retired for storage until 1982 when it was selected for operation in the Norfolk Southern Steam Program. In 1992, the Watauga Valley Chapter NRHS received the coach from Norfolk Southern and completely restored this beautiful example of the glory days of rail passenger service. It was named the Powhatan Arrow and received AAR reporting mark WATX 539 in honor of its service on the N&W.

Atlantic and East Carolina outside braced boxcar 606, originally built in 1930 as a Seaboard wood-sheathed box car and owned by the Atlantic and East Carolina Railway and was rebuilt in 1953 to a steel car. Donated by Norfolk Southern in 1981, it was restored in 1996.

Roundhouse scene.

Carolina Power and Light 0-4-0F 3 built by H.K. Porter in 1937 and was delivered to the Carolina Power & Light's Lumberton Plant in 1949. It continued in service at the Lumberton plant until 1980, when it was donated to the State of North Carolina and moved for display at the museum.

I looked at my watch and time passes quickly when you are having fun, so much so we had less than ten minutes to get back to the front of the museum for the 11:00 AM train ride. Chris and I walked very quickly through the heat and humidity and made that train by three minutes. I picked up the tickets, we boarded and since I wanted to be able to take pictures, I sat at an open window in the former Reading Railroad car and was then invited by the crew to ride out on the open platform on the rear of the train. It would be good to ride out in the fresh air on a day like this.

Our Train Ride

This consisted of Beaufort and Morehead H-12-44 1860, Norfolk and Western RNRH 1827 "The Pocahontas", Norfolk and Western RNRH 512 "Powhatan Arrow" and Reading coach 1298 and observation car 1297.

Our trip started by reversing out of the Barber Depot.

A look back from whence we came.

Reversing to clear the switch near the former Southern Railway mainline.

The former Southern ,ainline to the left. The train then started forward.

Looking back towards the Barber Depot and the Southern box car one sees as you enter the parking lot.

Next we passed beneath a footbridge from the overflow parking lot to the Barber Depot.

Curving to travel along Salisbury Avenue.

The large water tanks with "Southern Serves the South" on them.

The restroom building.

The Master Mechanic's Office built in 1911.

The Back Shop built in 1905.

Storehouse 3 built in 1896.

Curving by the 1924-built Flue Shop.

Nearing the Spencer Roundhouse.

Leaving the Back Shop behind.

Passing through the old fuelling racks.

The Spencer Roundhouse loomed behind our train.

Another view back.

Remains of the sand house built 1913.

We passed through a gate out of the shop property.

Another look back.

Our southbound journey ended next to the Salisbury Yard. Soon the engine would push our train north back to the Barber Depot, but over a slightly different route.