I aroseat the Best Western Lexington Inn and after breakfast, worked on the stories for a little while before checking out. I drove Interstate 81 south to the exit for Roanoke, where I made my way into town, finding myself across the tracks from the museum, but luck was on my side.
The tower for the Roanoke Yard east end.
Norfolk Southern SD40-2 6106 was switching the east end of the Roanoke Yard.
Norfolk Southern ES40DC 7600 pulled a train into Roanoke. I then drove over and parked in front of the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
Virginia Museum of Transportation
The main entrance. The signal in front was an Eagle Scout project. I checked in before being sent to the office of Beverly T. Fitzpatrick, Jr., Executive Director, who would be giving me a tour of this fine and unique transportation museum, housed in the former Norfolk & Western Railway freight house.
A Brief HistoryThe Virginia Museum of Transportation began its life in 1963 as the Roanoke Transportation Museum located in Wasena Park in Roanoke, Virginia. The museum at that time was housed in an old Norfolk & Western Railway freight depot on the banks of the Roanoke River. The earliest components of the museum's collection included a United States Army Jupiter rocket and the famous N&W J Class Locomotive 611, donated by Norfolk & Western Railway to the city of Roanoke, where many of its engines were constructed. The museum expanded its collection to include other pieces of rail equipment and a number of horse-drawn vehicles including a hearse, a covered wagon and a Studebaker wagon. In November 1985, a flood nearly destroyed the museum and much of its collection. It forced the shutdown of the facility and the refurbishment of 611.
In April 1986, the museum re-opened in Norfolk & Western's freight stations in downtown Roanoke as the Virginia Museum of Transportation. The museum has earned that title, being recognized by the General Assembly of Virginia as the Commonwealth's official transportation museum.
The Tour of the Museum's CollectionBev started the tour with a behind-the-scenes tour of the old offices in the old freight house.
The old Shenandoah Division office.
The CTC dispatching boards that were once used in this building, which the museum hopes to make a public display.
The meeting room which is in used today.
This room, which was closed, houses the air museum section of the Virginia Transportation Museum.
Here is a wooden carving of a Norfolk & Western steam locomotive.
An unused locomotive cab from a Norfolk & Western Class J steam locomotive.
A nose from Norfolk Southern SD40-2 1594.
A velocipede.
The Big Lick station. In 1881, the town formerly known as Big Lick, wanted a more prestigious name and Roanoke, which was derived from the Native American word "Rawenoke" (thought to mean shell money), was chosen over other options.
The History of Railroad display.
Information board on Norfolk & Western Class J Locomotive 611.
As one walks out to the railyard, you immediately notices what is under the Robert B. Claytor & W. Graham Claytor Jr. Pavilion.
Illinois Terminal business car 1 "President One" which once belonged to the President of the Illinois Terminal Railroad Company. Full history currently unknown.
A track shanty.
Washington, DC Transit Company PCC car 1470 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1944.
Norfolk & Western Class J Locomotive 4-8-4 611 built by the railroad in 1950.
I finally was able to see and touch this famous steam engine.
Norfolk & Western 2-6-6-4 1218 built by the railroad in 1936. The A Class was designed to haul fast freight at sustained speeds on all parts of the N&W system and effectively pushed to the limit of the railroad's operating envelope. It was almost at the maximum for track and curvature clearances, with a wheel base that was as long as feasible but still able to use existing turntables. All the As were retired by the N&W between 1958 and 1959. Except for 1218, all the engines were later scrapped.
After retirement in 1959, 1218 was used by Union Carbide as a backup boiler in one of its industrial plants. In 1965, F. Nelson Blount bought it for his Steamtown collection but then sent it to Roanoke, where it went on display and eventually became the property of the city. In 1985, Robert B. Claytor, then president of the Norfolk Southern, arranged for 1218 to be restored for the company's steam programme and on 16th January 1987, it was fired up for the first time in nearly thirty years. It then hauled many excursions until the end of the 1991, after which it went for overhaul, which was still in progress when Norfolk Southern cancelled its steam programme in late 1994. As as a consequence, the engine went into storage. 1218 reappeared for a feature in Vanity Fair Magazine with the renowned photographer O. Winston Link in 2001 and was then returned to the Virginia Museum of Transportation on 14th June 2003.
Norfolk & Western 2-8-0 6 built by Baldwin in 1897 as helpers on the railroad's Flat Top Mountain to Elkhorn Tunnel grade in Virginia. Originally, this locomotive was numbered 352 but in May 1917, it was one of two sold to the Virginia Carolina Railroad (two had already been sold in 1914) and renumbered 6. When the N&W later acquired the Virginia Carolina in January 1920, it remained 6 and operated on the Clinch Valley line out of Bluefield, West Virginia with its twin 7. 6 retired from active service in January 1955 and was subsequently donated to the museum. 7 was donated to the City of Bluefield in 1955 and is on display in Bluefield City Park.
Norfolk and Western Research Car NS 31, ex. Southern 21, exx. Southern R-1, nee Pullman sleeping car 2483 "McCown" built by the company in 1925. It was converted to a track geometry car in the mid 1960's to research and monitor track integrity and had onboard computers which measured track width, rail wear, banking and other track measurements. Half of the car was used for research and the other half contained living quarters for the crew, including a kitchen, dining area and pull down sleeping berths. It was later donated to the Museum by the Norfolk Southern Corporation then in 2007, it was loaned by the Museum back to Norfolk Southern, updated with new technological equipment and returned to service for two years and went to Norfolk Southern.
Norfolk & Western Class A 2-6-6-4 1218 auxiliary tender 25001.
Virginian Railroad EL-C E33 135 built by General Electric in 1956. The VGN merged with the Norfolk & Western in 1959. The N&W saw diesels as the future of motive power and electrification was discontinued in 1962. The EL-Cs were then sold to the New York, New Haven & Hartford in 1963. Reclassified as EF-4s 300-310 (one unit was used for spare parts for the other eleven) on the New Haven, ten of the remaining EL-Cs survived on the Penn Central as well as its successor, Conrail, where they were reclassified E-33 4601-4610. They were finally retired in 1981 when Conrail ended its electrified operations.
Norfolk and Western dynamometer car 4900 built by the railroad in 1919, lettered as 514780.
Virginian Railroad 0-8-0 4 built by Baldwin in 1910. It is the only Virginian steam locomotive to have survived. After retiring from service in 1957, 4 was gifted to the City of Princeton, West Virginia, where it went on static display in front of the Mercer County Court House. Unfortunately, exposure to the weather and vandalism led to quite rapid deterioration in its condition. Following a disputed trade of a caboose by the Norfolk & Western in 1960 and a bout of litigation, 4 was refurbished in the N&W shops and donated to the museum in 1963. It finally joined the collection in 1967, just in time for the museum's dedication on 17th June that year.
Virginian Railroad caboose 321 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1949.
Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 4919, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 4917, built by the railroad in 1943. It operated under Pennsy, Penn Central, Conrail and Amtrak until retiring in 1970. Until recently, 4919 had the original Brunswick Green coloured body, with the PRR standard Clarendon lettering. Prior to 1942, the lettering was Futura style. GG1s were geared to operate at 110 mph hauling PRR's main line passenger trains between New York, NY, Washington, DC and Harrisburg, PA, over the six hundred and fifty-six miles of the system that had been electrified by 1938. They were also geared for lower speeds to haul freight. The GG1 was the longest serving class of locomotive in the world, including steam and diesel: eight still hauled daily New Jersey Transit runs in 1983. They were also the fastest US catenary-supplied electric locomotives until Amtrak's Metroliner arrived in 1969.
A comparison of time in railroading in this picture.
Wheeling and Lake Erie NW2 D-3 built by General Motors in 1941. It was then leased to the Nickel Plate in 1950 as 97 and went to the Wabash in 1961. When the Wabash was acquired in 1964, 97 joined the Norfolk & Western roster, but was sold to the Celanese Corporation in 1966 and worked as "NW2" at the Celco Plant in Pearsburg, Virginia until retired in 1987. It was donated to the museum in 1988.
Chesapeake Western T6 10 built by American Locomotive Company in 1955. Fifty-seven T-6s were built by Alco from 1958 to 1969, forty for the Norfolk & Western in 1959. The "T" stood for Transfer, meaning it was capable of faster transition and higher sustained speeds than Alco's regular "S" series switchers. Construction began on the Chesapeake Western in 1895 at Harrisonburg, Virginia. The line was bought by the General Manager, Don Thomas, in 1938 with the N&W's help and the N&W took control in 1954. 40 was transferred to the Chesapeake Western Railway by the N&W, along with two other T-6s in 1964. 40 was renumbered CHW 10. Retired in 1985, it was donated to the museum by Norfolk Southern that year.
Norfolk & Western Redbird GP9 521 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1955. It was one of only twenty-one that the railway equipped with steam generators so they could haul passenger services. The N&W GP9s were nicknamed "Redbirds" for their distinctive livery.
Norfolk and Western C-630 1135 built by American Locomotive Company in 1967, one of ten which were designed with the high short hoods that were mandated by N&W operating policy. Seventy-seven C-630s were built by Alco from 1965 to 1967. In addition to the N&W units, three were built for the Atlantic Coast Line, four for the Chesapeake and Ohio, eight for the Louisville & Nashville, fifteen for PRR, twelve for the Reading, fifteen for Southern Pacific and ten for the Union Pacific. Fifty-four C-630M units were also built by Montreal Locomotive Works.
Norfolk & Western SD45 1776 in bicentennial livery built by Electro-Motive Division in 1970. Repainted red, white and blue in May 1974 in celebration of the US Bi-Centennial, it went on a tour of the fourteen states in which the N&W operated with a coal hopper and piggyback trailer in similar colours. In November 1978, it was returned to a standard N&W black livery but, before donating it to the museum in 1990, Norfolk Southern repainted the locomotive in its bicentennial scheme.
The Red and the Blue locomotives.
Ridge Stone Company 30DM31 un-numbered built by Whitcomb Locomotive Works in 1941 for Houston Shipbuilding. At some point, it was purchased by Blue Ridge Stone and worked as a switcher at the company's complex in Roanoke. Blue Ridge Stone was part of the Boxley company founded by William Wise Boxley. Boxley partnered with J. C. Carpenter to build railroads, working on the New York Central, C&O, B&O and N&W. In 1908, the pair opened their first quarry. Boxley eventually ceased railroad construction, although production of ballast and crushed stone continued, and the company has continued to diversify into the 21st Century.
Pullman 10-1-2 sleeper "Lake Pearl" built by Pullman Company in 1923. It later became Southern Railway 2422 "Lake Pearl".
Norfolk and Western 1776 with a older pickup truck.
Virginia Central 50 ton diesel-electric switcher 3 built by H.K. Porter built in 1926 for the Virginia Central, the ex-narrow gauge Potomac, Fredericksburg & Piedmont Railroad. It originally operated thirty-eight miles of track between Fredericksburg and Orange, Virginia. In 1926, the Potomac, Fredericksburg & Piedmont was converted to standard gauge and its name was changed to the Virginia Central Railway. In 1938, the entire line was abandoned except for a one mile segment in Fredericksburg which survived until 1983. The 3 appears to have been donated to the museum some time after the main segment of the VC ceased operations.
Mead Corporation 36 inch gauge switcher 200 built by Plymouth in 1935. It worked at Mead Paper Mills in Lynchburg, Virginia until retired in 1981. It was then donated to the museum by Mead Corporation. Since it had undergone some changes in its forty-six years with the company, Carter Machinery of Salem, Virginia, later restored it to its original condition. Mead Paper Mills started out as Heald's Bark Mills in 1846 with a large paper manufacturing factory on the Lynchburg River and adopted the name Mead in 1882. It has survived a number of acquisitions and mergers and is today part of the Rock-Tenn Company.
Seaboard System SW7 2289, nee Louisville and Nashville 2289 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1951.
Norfolk and Western trailer NWZ 1776 painted in a special red, white and blue scheme to tour the Norfolk and Western's system as a tribute to the United States' 200th birthday.
Panama Canal Company mule 686 built by General Electric in 1914. It ran along rails parallel to the canal, pulling ships through the Gatun, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks at the west end. These so called "mules" were actually used for side-to-side and braking control in the narrow locks, with forward motion provided by the ships' engines. Each mule had a winch operated by the driver, which was played in or out to keep the ship centred in the lock while moving from chamber to chamber. The mules run on rack tracks, to which they were geared. Only three or four "mules" have survived.
Nickel Plate Road GP9 532 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1959.
Electro-Motive Division FTB 103 built by the company in 1939 to promote the locomotive as a freight-hauling diesel-electric. It was the first in EMD's highly successful F series. The "F" stood for freight and "T" for 2,700 hp. Later F units were simply numbered sequentially from F2 to F9. 103 toured thirty-five states and twenty Class 1 railroads in 1939 and showed itself superior in operation and with lower running costs than steam freight locomotives, convincing many railroads to make the switch to diesel-electric. 103 was sold to Southern Railway and came to the museum in 1985. 103's A unit is on the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri.
Southern Railway coach 1070 "W. Graham Claytor, Jr.", nee Southern Railway 1070 "Point Allerton" built by Pullman in 1926, rebuilt into a open-air coach and outfitted with bench seating and low windows for excursion service and pulled behind Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western Railway steam locomotives. It had been damaged in the Big Dismal Swamp accident.
Norfolk and Western baggage car 1418 built by Bethlehem Steel in 1928.
Old trucks.
A white bus.
The oldest metal hoppers in the United States.
Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 1151 built by Norfolk and Western in 1911. It is one of five surviving Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 locomotives. Retired and sold to Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal in 1950, along with M2 1118, M2c 1134 and 2-8-0 917, the so called "Lost Engines of Roanoke" languished in the company's Roanoke yard in South Jefferson Street for nearly fifty years, later joined by Baldwin built Chesapeake Western DS-4-4-600 switchers 662 and 663, along with other rolling stock and tenders.
Norfolk & Western Safety Instruction Car 418, ex. Wabash cafe/lounge 1750, nee Boston and Maine diner-bar-lounge 70 "Bald Eagle" built by Pullman-Standard in 1947. It was rebuilt by Norfolk and Western as a safety instruction car, a mobile classroom.
Norfolk & Western baggage car 1418 built by Bethlehem Steel in 1928.
Norfolk Southern dining car 999000, nee Pullman parlour-double bedroom "Zana" built by the company in 1916. It was sold to Norfolk and Western, converted to a coach then later converted to a maintenance-of-way car.
Norfolk & Western tool car 964, ex. Canadian National 624273, exx. Canadian National 9647, nee Canadian National 9267 built by National Steel Car in 1957. It was used for Norfolk & Western 611 excursions.
Norfolk and Western RS-3 300 built by American Locomotive Company in 1955 and is one of four RS-3s delivered to railway that year which were the first diesel-electric locomotives owned by the railroad. 300 operated on the N&W's Lynchburg, Virginia to Durham, North Carolina branch. The railroad bought another four of the units the following year.
