• Source: 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.




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. 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.
The Norfolk & Western Railway Freight Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. 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.




Galleries and exhibits






= Automobile gallery

=
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.




= 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.




= Aviation gallery

=
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

Norfolk & Western J Class #611. Operational since May 9, 2015.
Norfolk & Western Class A #1218. Built at the Roanoke Shops in 1943, used in excursion service from 1987 to 1991, it is the last remaining 2-6-6-4.
Virginian Railway SA class #4 steam locomotive. Built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1910, it is the last remaining steam engine from the Virginian Railway.
Norfolk & Western Class M2c #1151
Norfolk & Western Class G-1 #6. Built in 1897 by Baldwin, it is the museum's oldest piece of equipment 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. Sold to Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek, Ohio, in 2007
Chesapeake & Ohio Class H-8 #1604. Transferred to the B&O Railroad Museum in 1986
Norfolk & Western 2156. The sole survivor of the Y6 class, it was on five-year loan from the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri between 2015 and 2020.



Electric

Virginian Railway EL-C #135
Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 #4919. Painted in Brunswick green, it currently lacks pinstripes and keystones.
D.C. Transit Company PCC Streetcar. Sold to National Capital Trolley Museum in 2020, it is 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 Baldwin #662. Cosmetically restored by the Roanoke Chapter NRHS in 2012.
Norfolk & Western ALCO RS-3 #300
Chesapeake Western ALCO T-6 #10
Norfolk & Western EMD GP-9 #521
Norfolk & Western ALCO C-630 #1135
Norfolk & 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 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 flatcar 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. Crane scrapped in 2017, flatcar stored offsite.
Virginian Railway 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 & Western baggage car #1418. Stored offsite
Norfolk Southern MOW dining car #999000. Sold to private owner
Southern Railway Pullman sleeping car "Lake Pearl" #2422. in primer, lacking Southern Railway paint
Southern Railway Coach "W. Graham Claytor, Jr." Car #1070, stored offsite
Norfolk & 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



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 Hearse (1895)
Freight Wagon "Prairie Schooner" (1900–1915)
F-20 McCormick-Deering Farmall Tractor (1936)
Federal Aviation Administration Tucker Sno-Cat




= 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

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Washington, D.C.
• Amerika Serikat
• Serangan 11 September 2001
• Hong Kong
• MARC Train
• Perbudakan di Amerika Serikat
• Carolina Utara
• Lokomotif John Bull
• Stasiun kereta api
• Gerbong kabus
• Virginia Museum of Transportation
• North Carolina Transportation Museum
• List of transport museums
• Norfolk and Western 611
• W. Graham Claytor
• Norfolk and Western 2156
• U.S. Army Transportation Museum
• Virginian Railway
• 2-6-6-4
• 2-8-8-2