NC Transportation Museum, Spencer NC (May 12, 2012)

 On the way home from Richmond, VA, made a stop at the NC Transportation Museum. Went there to see the Carolina Classic Motorcycle Show (a photo from that can be seen on my "Racing with the Wind" blog) but it also happens to be one of my favorite museums in North Carolina. The Museum was once a working train yard which was donated to the state, and has a number of interesting planes (such as this replica of the Wright Flyer which was once displayed at Kitty Hawk), a fine car collection, some cars, and a fine collection of trains. The museum charges $5 admission, $10 if you want to ride the train.

 This photo was taken in the Roundhouse, which happens to be one of the oldest and largest. Like many of the trains, it is operational. You see trains in the museum from all sorts of time periods, and there are also a number of train cars to check out. One really notable one was owned by The Duke Family which was famous in NC for founding a tobacco empire and also Duke University. Many of the trains and cars you can tour inside, and as I have noted there is a train you can ride (which changes every few weeks). The museum holds a number of special events covering all sorts of methods of transport. 

Once working shops, trains are still maintained and restored by volunteers in the actual shops they used when it was a working rail yard. They are constantly changing and updating the exhibits and the museum. I am looking forward to the upgrades planned in the future, which will include the restoration of a DC-3 that has been going on for quite a while.
The museum is located on I-85 near Spencer, NC and also has a very fine web site if you need more information. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area, and pretty much offers something for everyone no matter what your interest.