Virginia Museum of Transportation

The Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT) is a museum in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, that is devoted to the topic of transportation.

Virginia Museum of Transportation
The entrance of the Virginia Museum of Transportation
Virginia Museum of Transportation is located in the United States
Virginia Museum of Transportation
Location within the United States
EstablishedApril 1986 (1986-04)
LocationRoanoke, Virginia
Coordinates37.272943°N 79.947231°W / 37.272943; -79.947231
TypeTransport museum
WebsiteOfficial website
Norfolk and Western Railway Freight Station
Virginia Museum of Transportation is located in Virginia
Virginia Museum of Transportation
Virginia Museum of Transportation is located in the United States
Virginia Museum of Transportation
Location303 Norfolk Ave, Roanoke, Virginia
Coordinates37°16′23″N 79°56′46″W
Area57.7 acres (23.4 ha)
Builtc. 1918 (1918)
Built byNorfolk and Western Railway
NRHP reference No.12000969[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 21, 2012
Designated VLRSeptember 20, 2012[2]

History

The Virginia Museum of Transportation began in 1963 as the Roanoke Transportation Museum in Wasena Park in Roanoke, Virginia. The museum was initially 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 J class steam locomotive No. 611, donated by Norfolk & Western to the city of Roanoke, where many of its engines were built. The museum added other pieces of rail equipment, including a DC Transit PCC streetcar; and a number of horse-drawn vehicles, including a hearse, a covered wagon, and a Studebaker wagon.

In November 1985, a flood damaged the museum and much of its collection.[3] In April 1986, the museum was re-opened at the former Norfolk & Western Railway Freight Station in downtown Roanoke as the Virginia Museum of Transportation, recognized by the General Assembly of Virginia as the Commonwealth's official transportation museum.

Under the museum's original charter, Norfolk & Western steam locomotives No. 611 and No. 1218 were property of the city of Roanoke. On April 2, 2012, during VMT's 50 Birthday, the city transferred ownership of the locomotives to the museum.[4]

The Norfolk & Western Railway Freight Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.[1] The station consists of two clearly identifiable sections, both of which were completed in 1918. They are the two-story, 50-bay freight station which was built parallel to the railroad tracks and now is oriented south, and the one-story-with-basement brick annex that formerly housed the offices of the Shenandoah and Radford divisions of the Norfolk & Western. The building closed for railroad freight business in 1964.[5]

Galleries and exhibits
  • Auto Gallery. Automobiles from the early part of the 20th century to today. An oral history display, "Driving Lessons," features stories from people associated with car culture.

Many of the museum's antique automobiles are on display here. The museum also features occasional special exhibits such as the Hollywood Star Cars exhibit of cars from television and movies.[6]

Railroad exhibits

Ongoing exhibits cover sundry aspects of railroad life in America, especially Virginia:

  • The Claytor Brothers - Virginians Building America's Railroad. This exhibit about Graham and Robert Claytor explores their past and their relationship that led to the merger of the Norfolk & Western and Southern Railways.
  • From Cotton to Silk: African American Railroad Workers on the Norfolk & Western and Norfolk Southern Railways. This exhibit is the result of an oral history project sponsored in part by Roanoke-area businesses and people to document the often-ignored roles played by African-Americans on the rails. The exhibit includes pictures, artifacts, and recorded interviews with African-Americans who worked for the railroad.
  • Big Lick. This exhibit reproduces a 1930s rural train depot, featuring freight scales, a telegrapher's office, timetables, and a velocipede hand car used for servicing track. A brief history of the N&W Freight Station, the home of the VMT, is also included in this space.

The museum maintains an O scale train layout modeled after Roanoke, Salem, and Lynchburg, Virginia.

  • Wings Over Virginia. This exhibit about the history of aviation, particularly in Virginia. The oral history exhibit "Flight Talk" features stories from aviation figures from the early days of aviation into modern aviation and space exploration.

Collection

From January 20 to May 3, 2011, the museum was home to Chesapeake and Ohio 614 as part of the museum's Thoroughbreds of Steam exhibit.

Other pieces include automobiles such as a 1913 Metz, a 1920 Buick touring car, a Highway Post Office Bus, and an armored car used to showcase the United States Bill of Rights in 1991.

Rolling stock

The collection includes more than 50 pieces of rolling stock. Some may be closed to the public for restoration, and some in need of heavy restoration are stored offsite in yards managed by Norfolk Southern.

Steam

Electric

Diesel-electric
  • Wheeling & Lake Erie Switcher EMD NW2 #D3. Donated by Celanese Corporation.
  • Mead Paper Industrial switcher #200
  • Southern GM EMD FTB Unit
  • Virginia Central Porter Rod Driven #3
  • Chesapeake Western Baldwin #662. Cosmetically restored by the Roanoke Chapter NRHS in 2012.
  • Norfolk and Western ALCO RS-3 #300
  • Chesapeake Western ALCO T-6 #10
  • Norfolk and Western EMD GP-9 #521
  • Norfolk and Western ALCO C-630 #1135
  • Norfolk and Western EMD SD-45 #1776. Cosmetically restored by Norfolk Southern Chattanooga shops and returned to Roanoke.
  • Blue Ridge Stone Whitcomb Switcher
  • Nickel Plate Road EMD GP-9 #532, donated to Roanoke Chapter of the NRHS.
  • Southern (Ex Central of Georgia) EMD SD-7 #197[10] Sold to Southern Appalachia Railway Museum
  • Conrail SDP-45 #6670. Stored offsite
  • Wabash E8A #1009. Cosmetically restored by Norfolk Southern.
  • Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac E8A #1002. Stored offsite, stripped of body panels.
  • AEP #2, GE SL144 (VMTX 70). Painted in Virginia Tech colors
  • Seaboard System EMD SW1200 #2289 sold to Southern Appalachia Railway Museum
  • Norfolk Southern slug #9914. Ex-Virginian Railway FM Trainmaster turned into a slug unit, stored offsite

Freight cars
  • Amoco Oil ARA 111 tank car AMOX #9465
  • Depressed center flat car APWX #1002
  • RF&P boxcar #2305
  • Trailer Train flatcar with Sea Land containers #470534
  • Derrick tender flatcar # 590374 and Derrick #514925.[11] Crane scrapped in 2017, flatcar stored offsite
  • Virginian Railway hopper car #107768, stored offsite.
  • Steam crane #527665 with boom car #514902. Crane scrapped in 2017, flatcar stored offsite.
  • Virginian 250-ton wrecking derrick B-37 #40037,
  • Southern Railway boxcar #33348
  • Southern Railway Big John hopper #8638
  • Norfolk Southern flatcar. Used as a stage for events
  • 3 Norfolk & Western hopper cars. Saved from Virginia scrap and Iron
  • Norfolk southern hopper car #23760. 25,000th rebodied car from Roanoke shops
  • Ex-Norfolk Southern Burro crane
  • Steam-era Norfolk & Western steam crane #514908. Stored offsite
  • VMTX 200298. coal gondola for 611
  • VMTX 200340. coal gondola for 611
  • VMTX 66538. coal gondola for 611

Passenger cars
  • Illinois Terminal "President One" business car
  • Norfolk and Western baggage car #1418. Stored offsite
  • Norfolk Southern MOW dining car #999000. Sold to private owner
  • Southern Pullman sleeping car "Lake Pearl" #2422. in primer, lacking southern railway paint
  • Southern Coach "W. Graham Claytor, Jr." Car #1070,[12] stored offsite
  • Norfolk and Western Jim Crow Car #1662, stored offsite
  • VMTX (RF&P) passenger car #513
  • VMTX (RF&P) passenger car #514 (Open window car)
  • VMTX (RF&P) passenger car #524
  • VMTX 9647, former CN baggage car, 611/1218 tool car

Cabooses
  • Norfolk and Western Class CF #518302 (Can be rented for Birthday parties)
  • Virginian Class C-10 #321
  • Nickel Plate Class C-7 Bay Window #470[13]

Other unique rolling stock
  • Norfolk & Western Dynamometer Car #514780
  • Norfolk & Western M-1 Post Office Car #93
  • Norfolk & Western Safety Instruction Car #418. A Theatre car that shows a 1983 documentary produced by Norfolk Southern titled "Going Home" about the restoration of the N&W 611.[14]
  • Norfolk & Western Tool Car #9647
  • Norfolk Southern Research Car #31[13]
  • VMTX N&W Auxiliary Tender #250001

Automobiles
  • Oldsmobile Curved Dash (1904)
  • Piedmont Touring Car (1923)
  • Ford Model T Depot Hack (1925)
  • Willys-Overland Whippet (1928)
  • Cadillac Fleetwood Coupe (1936)
  • Siebert Ford Combo Ambulance/Hearse (1936)
  • Packard Super Eight (1948)
  • Studebaker Land Cruiser (1950)
  • Studebaker President Speedster (1955)
  • DeSoto Fireflight Sportsman (1957)
  • Studebaker Lark (1962)
  • Chevrolet Impala (1963)
  • Chevrolet Corvair Monza (1965)
  • Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme SX (1970)
  • Volkswagen Beetle (1972) -COMING SOON
  • Mercedes-Benz 450 SL (1976)
  • DMC DeLorean (1981)
  • Ford Mustang GLX Convertible (1983)
  • DuPont Chevrolet Monte Carlo (1993). A Jeff Gordon car from the 2003 Warner Brothers movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action.[15]

Trucks
  • Ford Pickup Truck (1929)
  • Overnite B-Model Mack Tractor (1960) and Fruehauf Trailer, on loan from UPS Corporation.
  • Concord Fire Department Oren Fire Truck
  • Dodge Cab Over Truck
  • Jeep Oren Industrial Fire Truck[16]
  • 1962 GMC Arlington Barcroft & Washington No. 1319 New Look Bus, on Loan from Commonwealth Coach and Trolley Museum.

Other road vehicles
  • Extended Roof Rockaway Carriage
  • Studebaker Half-Platform Wagon (1870)
  • Howe Fire Engine (1882)
  • James Cunningham, Son and Company Hearse (1895)
  • Freight Wagon "Prairie Schooner" (1900-1915)
  • F-20 McCormick-Deering Farmall Tractor (1936)
  • Federal Aviation Administration Tucker Sno-Cat[17]

Aviation collection

After a storm in 2006, the aviation gallery was rebuilt into a collection of interviews and first hand collections, including:

  • Technology of how a plane flies
  • Walk-through of the fuselage of a private jet, passenger compartment and cockpit
  • Helicopters and emergency transport
  • Women in aviation
  • Careers in aviation
  • Cutting-edge research and development
  • Virginia's military bases
  • Roanoke's early civilian and military aviators

References
  1. "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties. National Park Service. November 30, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  2. "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  3. Nelson, Harris (August 29, 2019). "The Worst Flood in Roanoke History". The Roanoker. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
  4. "Virginia Museum Of Transportation". Vmt.org. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  5. Geoffrey B. Henry (April 2012). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Norfolk and Western Railway Freight Station" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying six photos
  6. Becky Mickel (June 23, 2011). "Star Cars: Star City Motor Madness returns to Roanoke". Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  7. Steam locomotives
  8. Anderson, Chris (May 19, 2020). "N&W Y6a to return to St. Louis after five years in Virginia NEWSWIRE". Trains.com.
  9. Electric locomotives
  10. Diesel locomotives
  11. Rail freight cars
  12. Passenger car collection
  13. Caboose collection
  14. Safety instruction car
  15. Automobile collection
  16. Trucks
  17. Other road vehicles
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