North Carolina Transportation Museum

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 most notable for its size of two football fields long.

North Carolina Transportation Museum
Antique automobiles.
Established1982
LocationSpencer Shops
TypeTransport museum
Collection sizeRailroad artifacts and equipment, road vehicles, airplanes.
Websitehttp://www.nctrans.org

History
NCTM Back Shop

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's 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 1924-1953 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 most notable for its size. It is two football fields long and nearly three stories tall.[6] However, it may be most 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 backshop was opened completely, allowing more exhibits.

Heritage railroad
The Southern Railway #6133 FP7 Diesel Locomotive

The museum has a heritage railroad, which operates passenger excursion trains on a seasonal schedule. Trains are usually powered by the Norfolk and Western #620, however, at times the Southern #6133 or Southern #2601 is used. These two engines also assist in special events where two or more trains are operating. Though the museum has no operating steam locomotives of its own, but occasionally has visiting steam locomotives such as Lehigh Valley Coal 0-6-0T #126, Flag Coal Company 0-4-0T #75, and Jeddo Coal Company 0-4-0T #85, all owned by the Gramling Locomotive Works of Ashley, IN.

In 2012 and 2013, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's Southern 2-8-0 #630 visited the museum offering employee and public excursions to Barber, NC and Winston-Salem, NC. 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 in 2016 and 2017. Destinations included Lynchburg, VA, Asheville, NC, Charlotte, NC, and Greensboro, NC. The #611 has also been used on site for "At The Throttle" and "Be The Fireman" sessions, Cab Rides, Caboose Rides, and it has pulled the Museum's Passenger Train.

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]

Events
Bob Julian Roundhouse

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 Class J 611 Steam Passenger 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]

Collection
Seaboard Air Line #544, one of over 200 undelivered Russian Decapods.
Southern E-Unit # 6900.

The museum contains steam and diesel locomotives.

Steam

Diesel

Electric
  • Piedmont & Northern GE 63 tonBoxcab-#5103 [8]

Notable exhibits

See also

References
  1. The N.C. Transportation Museum Roundhouse and Turntable, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2011, retrieved January 31, 2017
  2. Galloway & Wrinn 1998, pp. 31-33, 102-104.
  3. "Great Ghosts at Spencer Shops". Tyrone Daily Herald. Tyrone, Pennsylvania. July 19, 1986 – via Newspapers.com .
  4. North Carolina Department of Transportation - Awards: Railroad Depot and Roundhouse Renovations
  5. Herget, J. Barlow (January 1, 1988). "Industrial America revived at N.C. museum". The Paris News. Paris, Texas – via Newspapers.com .
  6. "Museum Information". N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resource. State of North Carolina. Retrieved February 2, 2017. The Back Shop. This mammoth structure – two football fields long and two and a half stories high – was once used for steam engine overhauls...
  7. "N.C. Transportation Museum, The museum that moves you". North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  8. http://www.bera.org/cgi-bin/pnaerc-query.pl?detail=750
  9. "Big weekend coming up at NC Transportation Museum". WBTV. August 13, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2016.

Sources

Further reading
  • Coleman, Alan (2018) North Carolina Transportation Museum; Arcadia Publishing; ISBN 978-1467127752

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