2011.04.19
Roanoke museums on board for National Train Day
From my Inbox to you:
Rail Museums celebrate Virginia’s Rail Heritage with exciting special events on May 14, 2011
Roanoke’s rail museums are teaming up for Roanoke Rail Day on May 14, 2011 and offering a supersized day of fun for train fans of all ages. Visit the O. Winston Link Museum and the Virginia Museum of Transportation to enjoy special Norfolk Southern rail equipment and historic engines, model trains, rides, photography, kids’ activities and more. A discounted joint ticket is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $8 for children. Visitors can also purchase admission to each museum separately. The Archives of the Norfolk & Western Historical Society will be open free of charge.
As part of the collaboration, the Virginia Museum of Transportation is loaning the unusual Virginian EL-C 135 electric locomotive to the O. Winston Link Museum to serve as the centerpiece of the Link Museum’s celebration. The historic 135, better known as the Rectifier, was one of 12 electric engines built by General Electric in 1956, and is the only one that still exists. The Rectifier will be moved by Norfolk Southern along its mainline tracks to the O. Winston Link Museum on Friday May 13, and back to the Virginia Museum of Transportation on Sunday May 15.
At the O. Winston Link Museum
Festival Hours: 10am-2pm; Museum Galleries Open: 10am-5pm
101 Shenandoah Ave, Roanoke, VA 24016. www.linkmuseum.org
This year’s event will feature the Virginian Railway EL-C 135, 1/8 scale train rides, telegraphy demonstrations, antique model trains, railroad photography, slideshows, children’s activities, face painting, food and beverages, a photobooth and more. On the evening of May 14, the Link Museum will hold a night photo shoot featuring the Virginian engine. Admission to the photo shoot is $50 per person and is not included in the joint ticket. Reservations are required: call 540-982-5465 for more information.
Between 1955 and 1960, photographer O. Winston Link created unforgettable black and white images that documented the last days of Norfolk & Western’s steam giants and the people and places along its lines. The Museum’s collection features more than 300 stunning photographs, audio listening stations, a documentary film, artifacts and recreations of Link’s photographic settings. The Link Museum is owned and operated by the Historical Society of Western Virginia.
At the Virginia Museum of Transportation
Festival and Gallery Hours: 10am-5pm
303 Norfolk Avenue SW, Roanoke, VA 24016. www.vmt.org
Special daylong activities include rides by the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society with two of the chapter’s restored, historic diesel locomotives on display. Meet the Museum’s rail artist in residence, Andy Fletcher, who will sign prints. From 10-2, there will be blacksmithing demonstrations in the Rail Yard and the Roanoke Valley Model Engineers will open their N, HO, and ON3 layouts for visitors.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is home to two of the most powerful steam locomotives in existence today—the Norfolk & Western Class A 1218 and the Class J 611. Through exhibits, artifacts, and an outstanding collection, the Museum tells the rich story of Virginia’s transportation heritage. The Virginia Museum of Transportation is the Official Transportation Museum of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The James N. Gillum Archives of the Norfolk & Western Historical Society
Archives Open: 8am to 4pm
2101 Salem Ave SW, Roanoke, VA 24016. www.nwhs.org
The Archives is a repository of documents covering over a century and a half of railroad history. These documents primarily include mechanical and engineering drawings and photographic images in many formats. The collection also includes books, magazines, newspaper articles, maps, reports, rulebooks, timetables, menus, annual reports, promotional and publicity material, forms, ledgers, contracts, correspondence, specifications, bills-of-materials, operating manuals, test results, engineering sketches, and dispatcher’s logs. There is no admission charge to visit the Archives.
Also enjoy:
The David R. and Susan S. Goode Railwalk
Stretching approximately 1/3 of a mile along active Norfolk Southern mainline tracks in the heart of downtown Roanoke, the Railwalk connects the O. Winston Link Museum and the Virginia Museum of Transportation. The Railwalk is part museum, with numerous rail artifacts, interactive exhibits, and story boards, and part linear park with great vantage points for watching modern operating trains, and for watching the Virginian Rectifier moved to the O. Winston Link Museum on May 13, and returned to the Virginia Museum of Transportation on May 15. Always open, always free.
Roanoke Rail Day is made possible by Norfolk Southern Corporation, Amsted, Kroger, Timken, Loram, Harsco, David and Susan Goode, xpedx, Star Headlight and Lantern, and Roanoke Gas; volunteers from the Norfolk & Western Historical Society and the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society; and media sponsors Wheeler Broadcasting and WDBJ-7.
Roanoke used to be headquarters for the N&W RR in it’s heyday of steam engines. Only a few examples of these old steam engines exist and the Transportation Museum has several. One,the 611 passenger engine, also called the class J, was operational about 20 plus years ago and drew quite a crowd to see it in downtown Roanoke, I think about 1988.
My father worked for RR and when I was young I got to get on a class J in 1958 in roundhouse in Crewe Va and operate the throttle to pull it out of the roundhouse. Very memorable experience. I guess we’ll never see the likes of them again, but they are good for nostalgia. The N&W was the last RR to convert from to diesel about 1960 so there are a number of people around today who remember them.
Comment by Terry Lyon — April 20, 2011 @ 3:47 pm
The NS Steam Program ended December 7, 1995 when 611 was returned home to Roanoke.
http://www.retroweb.com/611lastrun.html
Comment by Howard Adkins — April 20, 2011 @ 4:16 pm
Thank you, Howard and Terry, for sharing these things. I hope more people post.
Comment by Mike Allen — April 20, 2011 @ 4:22 pm
The NS steam program did end in 1995, but only for restored steam engines, the 1218 and 611. For all practical use steam engines where changed over to diesel for general hauling use about 1960. By the way N@W built these engines in East End shops in Roanoke.
Comment by Terry Lyon — April 20, 2011 @ 5:04 pm
I am retired from NS after having worked during the “second heyday” of steam (1980′s and 90′s). I was a clerk/operator and worked with all of the steam engines during that time. It was an intimidating experience to ‘hand up’ orders out on the ballast, and there’s this huffin’ and puffin’ thing coming at you. I wanted to RUN AWAY (at first)! I even rode on the engines at times, including NW 611 as well as some of the beautiful E8 diesels of the Southern Crescent. It was an unusual career, a tough career, but one of which I am proud!
Comment by Jerry Walker — April 25, 2011 @ 11:50 am