Virginia's gold.
The Crewe Railroad Museum 8/1/2018
The Crewe Railroad Museum is
located on Highway 460 in the heart of town, four miles from
the junction of 360/460. In the yard climb on a diesel engine,
a caboose, and our steam engine 606 that has recently arrived.
View a baggage cart and other railroad articles that were
used. In the station, enjoy a room full of pictures and
artifacts with their history. We have a display of the Crewe
Roundhouse and trains of the steam era by Al Gerard of
Washington, N.C. and a model train layout by Ron Timma of
Jetersville, VA to delight the young and old railroad buffs
alike! During the month of December every year we have a
Holiday and Christmas Layout Tour planned to include our
trains and a 50 ft layout that is fantastic.
Chris had contacted the
museum that we were coming this morning at 10:00 AM but no one
from their group showed up. This is only the third time in all
his trips that there were no shows! So Chris said we would
just take pictures through the fence. While we would not get
to see what was in the station building, this was our only
option here today.
Crewe Museum visit.
Across the driveway from the museum we found out about
Robert E. Lee's retreat. Lots of Civil War memorabilia in this
state.
Norfolk Western 2-8-0 606.
United States Army 2-8-0 5846 later 606, painted as Norfolk
and Western 606, built by Lima in 1945.
Norfolk and Western coach 1723 Powhatan Arrow built by
Pullman-Standard in 1941.
After shooting through and around the fence, I walked across the
highway for some more photos.
N & W box car 604143 painted as this number but is really
Norfolk and Western 600651 and N & W caboose 518501 built by
International Car in 1969 as 518510.
Santa Fe GP7 2739 built by EMD in 1952. At some stage, it was
rebuilt as a GP7u. The locomotive went to the Georgia
Southwestern, where it was renumbered 2185 and then to the
Virginia Southern. After being acquired by the Crewe Railroad
Museum, it was repainted in the Norfolk & Western livery.
Norfolk and Western triple bay hopper 26004 built by Norfolk
and Western as 41812.
Norfolk and Western box car 518704 originally 515028 built by
Ralston Car in 1937.
I then returned to the museum grounds.
The Powhatan Arrow coach car.
N & W hand car.
We left Crewe and headed westerly on US 460.
US 460.
As we were traveling on US
460 with Chris driving and me looking at the map to orientate
myself as to my location as this was all new terrain to
me, I saw that we were going to be going right past historic
Appomattox Court House. I asked him if he had been to see it
before. As he hadn't seen it and I have always wanted to and
this was as close as we have ever been to it, so we decided to
stop at a place that was a very big part of our not so far
past.
Appomattox Court House
With our map we began our tour of the grounds.
Isbell House.
McLean House (surrender site).
Appomattox County Jail.
Completed by 1867 this "new" county jail replaced the first jail
which burned in December 1864.
Appomattox County Courthouse.
The original county courthouse, built in 1846, burned in 1892.
None of the events of the surrender took place here.
Side view of courthouse.
Clover Hill Tavern.
Built in 1819 and the oldest village structure, this is where
the Federals printed the parole passes for Confederate soldiers.
The tavern with the painted blue ceiling.
Tavern Guesthouse on left, Tavern Kitchen in center and Slave
Quarters on right.
Tavern Kitchen (bookstore).
Slave Quarters (restrooms).
Display in tavern for the printing of the parole passes for
Confederate soldiers.
Before I left, I asked the soldiers of the Blue and the Gray for
their photo and they gave me this pose. From here I walked over
to McLean House.
Meeks Store.
Constructed in 1852; at the time of surrender Francis Meeks
operated a general store and post office here.
The McLean House.
After entering the parlor is on the left.
Just like in the picture. I remember first seeing this picture
in a grade school history class. Never dreamed I would be
standing in that very room. So glad we were able to make this
stop.
From the parlor I walked around the house and the upstairs
rooms.
McLean House kitchen.
McLean House slave quarters.
View of rear of McLean House.
Front of McLean House
Woodson Law Office.
John Woodson bought this office in 1856 and practiced law here
until he joined the Confederate Army and died of disease in
1864.
Meeks' outbuildings.
I met up with Chris in the parking lot and we headed out for our
final miles back to Roanoke.
View on US 460.
Going through the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Virginian Railway Passenger Station
After arriving in Roanoke
and then going south in the city we arrived at the last
official stop on this southern leg of our Appalachia
Adventure.
The Virginian Railway
Passenger Station, also known as the Virginian Station is a
former rail station listed on the National Register of
Historic Places in the South Jefferson neighborhood of the
independent city of Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A. Located at the
intersection of Jefferson Street SE and Williamson Road, the
Virginian Station served as a passenger station for the
Virginian Railway between 1910 and 1956. The station was the
only station constructed with brick along the entire length of
the Virginian's 608 miles network. Severely damaged by fire on
January 29, 2001, current plans for its restoration are
underway.
History
Standing at the division
point between the New River Division and the Norfolk Division
of the Virginian Railway, construction commenced on the
Virginian Station in September 1909 and was complete by early
1910. Measuring 162 feet long by 32 feet wide, the station
consists of a pair of one-story buildings, connected by a
covered overhang and features a tile roof, a blond brick
facade and terrazzo floors.
Overshadowed by the larger
Norfolk & Western Railway, this would serve passengers
traveling between West Virginia and Norfolk through 1956 when
passenger service was discontinued. By 1959, Virginian would
merge with Norfolk & Western, and the former station would
be leased out and subsequently operated as a feed and seed
store.
By the late 1990s, the
station was threatened with demolition to make way for an
expansion of the Carilion bio-tech campus resulting in its
placement on the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation's 2000
list of Most Endangered Sites. Operating as the Depot Country
Store, on January 29, 2001, the former station suffered severe
damage as a result of a fire. Despite the extensive damage,
the station was cited for both its unique design and
contribution to the railroad industry in Roanoke, and has been
listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register since April 2003 and
the National Register of Historic Places since June 2003.
A grass-roots effort to
rehabilitate the former station into office space for the
Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in
addition to additional leaseable office space is underway.
Norfolk Southern DPU's on coal trains in the old Virginian
Railway yard with trolley on bridge above.
From here we drove over to
the Virginia Transportation Museum so I could buy a N & W
611 red hat. I have become a big fan of 611since seeing it in
person in Spencer, NC. We cleaned out the rental car and
then drove to the Hotel Roanoke where we checked in and took
our bags to the room. Then we returned our good performing
rental car at Enterprise and they gave us a ride back to the
Hotel Roanoke.
Arriving at the Hotel
Roanoke we went up to the room to pick up our cameras and we
exited the hotel, crossing on the bridge and went to the
Roanoke Amtrak station to hopefully catch some Norfolk
Southern train action in Roanoke. And it didn't take long for
some action.
N & W headquarters building on right and Amtrak platform on
left on tracks.
Building on left is O. Winston Link Museum in former N & W
passenger station, Roanoke Shops center background.
N & W Headquarters with a peek of our hotel roof on right.
Martin Luther King walkway in background over the tracks.
Norfolk Southern 1004 west. This train had NS SD70ACe 1004 and
NS ES44AC 8019.
Norfolk Southern 7529 east. This train had NS 7529, NS 8348 and
NS 8106.
As this train was passing by, I walked up on the MLK walkway to
get a different view.
Care to guess as to what the cargo is?
Spires of St. Andrews Catholic Church keeping watch.
Interesting architecture; purpose or style?
This restored 1914
warehouse is adjacent to Roanoke's historic farmers market,
first opened in 1862. The atrium features a 6,000 gallon
living coral reef aquarium, two jellyfish aquaria joined by a
seahorse estuary and a butterfly garden on the fifth floor.
Several independent cultural organizations are housed here and
include the Mill Mountain Theatre, Harrison Museum of African
American Culture, History Museum of Western Virginia and
Science Museum of Western Virginia. Located at the foot of the
pedestrian bridge.
As we approached the pedestrian bridge, the rain was sprinkling
and we rode the escalator to the bridge level. Looking up we saw
this roundhouse turntable artwork
Threatening rain clouds.
Some old photos of the Hotel Roanoke
Just as we returned to our
room, the sky opened up and we had a good downpour. As dinner
time approach, our choices were severely limited. We had no
car to drive somewhere and we've not seen any eating places
within walking distance from the hotel so lets explore what is
available on site. Option one: the Regency Room, the AAA
Four Diamond Rated Regency Room features seasonal, French
inspired Southern Cuisine. As much as we wanted to taste their
haut cuisine, alas, we had left our dinner coats back home so
it was on to option two: The Pine Room Lounge with a pub food
menu. Chris ordered the chicken wings and I enjoyed their
Turkey Pubhouse Sandwich with bacon and a ice tea drink. After
he finished his meal, Chris returned to the room to work on
his reports. Meanwhile I ordered bread pudding with rum sauce
for dessert. I sat for a while enjoying my dessert and
watching the folks come and go. There was a pool table in the
next door room creating traffic to the bar and back. My hunger
pains satisfied I wanted to check out the rest of the
property. The outside swimming pool is tops. Can't wait to
return and spend time here at the pool and water jets spa. The
fitness center here was in keeping with the rest of the hotel,
all top drawer. Then I walked over to the Conference Center
comprising various ballrooms. All done in a modern style.
People would enjoy meeting here and I can see why the hotel is
the center for Roanoke social life.
I returned to the room, a very nice room,
just a tad smaller to the one on our last stay. One of the
niceties of the rooms was the bathroom mirror that didn't get
steamed up when the shower was in use. Now it was time to pack
for our early morning departure and our train ride north.
Tomorrow night will find us in Dayton, NJ.
