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VIRGINIA
MUSEUM of TRANSPORTATION |
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The Virginia Museum of Transportation is located in Roanoke, Virginia. The museum is housed in the former Norfolk & Western freight station, where it has been since 1985. The origins of the museum go back to 1963, when it was established in another area of Roanoke. The Norfolk & Western (now Norfolk & Southern) make generous donations to the museum, which is alongside the working tracks of the railroad. The museum has an impressive variety of steam and diesel locomotives and other railway equipment, mostly from Norfolk & Western. The museum also houses aviation and motor car exhibits inside, and trucks outside. For more information about the museum, see their website. These photographs were taken in July 2014.
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The entrance to the museum.
The outside area has a large canope for most of the exhibits.
Steam locomotive 1218 is a Norfolk & Western class A, built in 1943. The class A locos were built by N&W at Roanoke and were designed for heavy freight haulage. The unusual 2-6-6-4 wheel arrangement gave them vast power, and they regularly pulled 190-car coal trains on level terrain. 1218 retired in 1959 and is the last of its class to survive. |
The 1776 General Motors Diesel-Electric locomotive was manufactured in 1970, one of 115 purchased by the N&W. The unit was originally delivered in the “Pevler Blue” paint scheme that was in use by the Norfolk & Western from 1966 to 1971. In 1974, the 1776 received its distinctive paint scheme in honor of the 200th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. From 1974 through 1978, the engine proudly headed trains across the 14-state N&W system in this patriotic livery. In 1978 the engine was painted black, and continued in service until 1988. The loco was donated to the museum in 1991 and repainted in the red, white and blue bicentennial livery. |
This General Motors
Diesel-Electric loco was built in 1951 for the Wabash Railroad which operated in
the
mid-western USA before being absorbed into Norfolk & Western in 1964.
It was General Motor's 10,000th unit.
This is a Virginia Central Porter rod-driven diesel loco from Fredericksburg, Virginia.
522 is a General Motors type GP9 built in 1962. The Norfolk & Western loco retired in 1990.
Steam loco No 6 was built in 1897 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia for the N&W. It was sold in 1917 to the Virginia Carolina Railroad, but was re-acquired by the N&W in 1920 when they purchased the Virginia Carolina line. She was used on the Abingdon Branch which ran from Abingdon, VA to West Jefferson, NC. She was retired in January 1955, and it is the oldest locomotive in the Museum collection |
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© Copyright M J Smith, 2014
No photographs to be reproduced elsewhere without permission.
