The Virginia Museum of Transportation is a museum devoted to the topic of

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

located in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Roanoke,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, US. children under two years do not to buy tickets and students can get a discounted $10.5 ticket.

History

The Virginia Museum of Transportation began its life in 1963 as the Roanoke Transportation Museum located in Wasena Park in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...

. The museum at that time was housed in an old

Norfolk & Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

freight

depot Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...

on the banks of the

Roanoke River The Roanoke River ( ) runs long through southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the App ...

. The earliest components of the museum's collection included a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Jupiter rocket and the J class steam locomotive No. 611, donated by Norfolk & Western Railway to the City of Roanoke where many of its engines were constructed. The museum expanded its collection to include other pieces of rail equipment such as a former

DC Transit Streetcars in Washington, D.C. transported people across the city and region from 1862 until 1962. The first streetcars in Washington, D.C., were drawn by horses and carried people short distances on flat terrain; but the introduction of clean ...

PCC streetcar The PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the ...

, and a number of

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...

s including a

hearse A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately ano ...

, a

covered wagon The covered wagon or prairie wagon, historically also referred to as an ambulance or prairie schooner, was a vehicle usually made out of wood and canvas that was used for transportation, prominently in 19th-century America. With roots in the he ...

, and a

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...

wagon. In November 1985, a flood nearly destroyed the museum, and much of its collection. It forced the shutdown of the facility and the refurbishment of #611. In April 1986, the museum re-opened in the Norfolk and Western Railway Freight Station in downtown Roanoke as the Virginia Museum of Transportation. The museum has earned that title, being recognized by the

General Assembly of Virginia The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 1619 ...

as the Commonwealth's official transportation museum. The Norfolk & Western steam locomotives No. 611 and No. 1218 were originally property of the city of Roanoke due to the museum's original charter. On April 2, 2012, during VMT's 50 Birthday, the city officially transferred ownership of the locomotives to the museum. The Norfolk and Western Railway Freight Station was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2012. The station consists of two clearly identifiable sections, both of which were completed in 1918. They are the two-story, fifty-bay-long, freight station proper 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 and Western. The building closed for railroad freight business in 1964. an
Accompanying six photos
/ref>

Galleries and exhibits

Automobile gallery

*''Auto Gallery'' :This exhibit features many automobiles from the early part of the 20th century to more recent vehicles. The oral history display, "Driving Lessons," features stories from individuals associated with car culture. Many of the museum's antique automobiles are on display here as well. The museum also features occasional special exhibits such as the ''Hollywood Star Cars'' exhibit which showcased famous cars from the history of television and movies.

Railroad exhibits

On-going exhibits cover sundry aspects of railroad life in America, especially Virginia. In addition to these on-going exhibits, the museum maintains an O-Gauge train layout modeled after Roanoke, Salem, and Lynchburg, Virginia. *''The Claytor Brothers - Virginians Building America's Railroad'' :Detailing the lives of

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

and

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

Claytor, this exhibit 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 individuals 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, time tables, 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

Aviation gallery

*''Wings Over Virginia'' :This exhibit features the history of aviation, particularly as it pertains to the Commonwealth of Virginia. The oral history exhibit, "Flight Talk," features stories from aviation personnel who span the history of flight from the early days into modern aviation and space exploration

Collection

From January 20, 2011, to May 3, the museum was home to

Chesapeake and Ohio 614 Chesapeake & Ohio 614 is a class "J-3-A" 4-8-4 " Greenbrier" (Northern) type steam locomotive built in June 1948 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) as a member of the J-3-A class. As one of th ...

as part of the museum's ''Thoroughbreds of Steam'' exhibit. Other pieces include automobiles such as a 1913

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

, a 1920

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

touring car, a Highway Post Office Bus, and an armored car used to showcase the

United States Bill of Rights The United States Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Proposed following the often bitter 1787–88 debate over the ratification of the Constitution and written to address the objections rais ...

in 1991.

Rolling stock

Though the most prominent pieces of the museum's collection are the two Norfolk & Western engines, there are more than fifty pieces of rolling stock in the collection. Some exhibits may be closed to the public as restoration is in progress on some pieces, while some pieces in need of heavy restoration are stored offsite in yards managed by

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...

Steam

Norfolk and Western The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

J Class #611, operational since May 9, 2015. * Norfolk and Western A Class #1218. Built at the

Roanoke Shops 250px, Norfolk Southern Roanoke Shops in 2004. The Roanoke Shops (also called the East End Shops) is a Norfolk Southern workshop and maintenance facility in Roanoke, Virginia. Between 1884 and 1953, the shops produced 447 steam locomotives, all f ...

in 1943. Used in

excursion service A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

from 1987 to 1991 and is the last remaining 2-6-6-4 in the world. * Virginian Railway SA class #4

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

, the last remaining

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

from the

Virginian Railway The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads. History ...

. Built by Baldwin in 1910. * Norfolk and Western Class M2c #1151 *Norfolk and Western Class G-1 #6, built in 1897 by

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

. Oldest piece of equipment owned by the museum, and one of the oldest Norfolk and Western locomotives still in existence. *Celanese Porter Fireless Locomotive #1 *EJ Lavino Company #34, 0-6-0 *

Nickel Plate Road 763 Nickel Plate Road No. 763 is a class "S-2" 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type steam locomotive. It was built in August 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio, as the ninth engine of its class. It is a high powered fast freight locomotive that car ...

Sold to Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum, Sugarcreek, Ohio in 2007 *

Chesapeake and Ohio class H-8 The Chesapeake and Ohio H-8 was a class of 60 2-6-6-6 steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio between 1941 and 1948, operating until the mid 1950s. The locomotives were among the most powerful steam locomotives ever buil ...

#1604, Transferred to the

B&O Railroad Museum The B&O Railroad Museum is a museum and historic railway station exhibiting historic railroad equipment in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) company originally opened the museum on July 4, 1953, with the name of the Balti ...

in 1986 *

Norfolk & Western 2156 Norfolk & Western 2156 is a four-cylinder compound articulated class "Y6a" " Mallet" type steam locomotive with a 2-8-8-2 (Whyte notation) wheel arrangement. The Norfolk & Western Railway built it in 1942 at its Roanoke Shops in Roanoke, Virgin ...

, the sole survivor of the Y6 class, was on five-year loan from the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri between 2015 and 2020.

Electric

EL-C #135 *

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

GG1 The Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 is a class of streamlined electric locomotives built for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), in the northeastern United States. The class was known for its striking art deco shell, its ability to pull trains at up to 10 ...

#4919, painted in Brunswick green, currently lacking pinstripes and keystones * D.C. Transit Company PCC Streetcar (Sold to National Capital Trolley Museum in 2020, slated for operational restoration) *Panama Canal Mule #686 (Cosmetically restored by the Roanoke Chapter of the NRHS in 2020)

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 Chesapeake often refers to: * Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay * Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated pl ...

Baldwin #662 (Cosmetically restored by the Roanoke Chapter NRHS in 2012) *Norfolk and Western

ALCO RS-3 The ALCO RS-3 is a , B-B diesel-electric locomotive manufactured from May 1950 to August 1956 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and its subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). A total of 1,418 were produced: 1,265 for American railroads, ...

#300 *

ALCO T-6 The Alco T6 (DL 440) was a diesel-electric locomotive of the switcher type rated at , that rode on two-axle trucks, having a B-B wheel arrangement. The 'T' stood for 'Transfer', meaning this locomotive was capable of faster transition and hig ...

#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, returned to Roanoke. *Blue Ridge Stone Whitcomb Switcher *

Nickel Plate Road The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of New York (state), Ne ...

EMD GP-9 #532 (donated to Roanoke Chapter of the NRHS) * Southern (Ex Central of Georgia) EMD SD-7 #197 Sold to Southern Appalachia Railway Museum *

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

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 Crane scrapped in 2017, Flatcar stored offsite *Virginian Railway Hopper Car #107768, stored offsite. *Steam Crane #527665 with Boom Car #514902, stored offsite, 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, currently being 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, 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 #470Caboose collection
/ref>

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. *Norfolk & Western Tool Car #9647 *Norfolk Southern Research Car #31 *VMTX N&W Auxiliary Tender #250001

Automobile collection

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.

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 *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 James Cunningham, Son and Company was an American business based in Rochester, New York, initially manufacturing horse-drawn coaches, that from 1908 onward developed and produced automobiles. The Cunningham company was a pioneer in automobile prod ...

Hearse (1895) *Freight Wagon "Prairie Schooner" (1900-1915) *F-20 McCormick-Deering Farmall Tractor (1936) *Federal Aviation Administration Tucker Sno-CatOther road vehicles
/ref>

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

External links

Virginia Museum of Transportation

Virginia's Rail Heritage Region
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virginia Museum Of Transportation Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Roanoke, Virginia Aerospace museums in Virginia Railroad museums in Virginia Automobile museums in Virginia Museums in Roanoke, Virginia