Spencer: North Carolina Transportation Museum

Nearby, in the small town of Spencer, NC, lies the North Carolina Transportation Museum–a 57-acre site of what was once Southern Railway Company’s largest steam locomotive repair facility.

If you’re into history here’s a few interesting tidbits about this site:

• The Town of Spencer exists primarily because of Spencer Shops, and grew up around the repair facility–the complex opened in 1896 and at it’s peak employed 3,000 people and was later converted to repair diesel locomotives. The repair facility closed in 1960.
• The Back Shop, which is the length of two football fields, 150-feet wide and 1 ½ stories tall, was for many years the largest industrial building in North Carolina. The building was used to do complete rebuilds to Southern Railway’s steam locomotives. During its heyday, one locomotive a day would be completed and sent back on its way, with about 10-15 engines being overhauled at any given time.
• The shops were named for Southern Railway’s president, Samuel Spencer. Spencer served as a Confederate officer in the Civil War. Ironically, he was killed in train wreck in 1906. Another train rammed his private rail car on the mainline in northern Virginia.
• There’s a working 100-foot turntable by the Roundhouse and at one time there was a smaller turntable behind the oil house.
• The current 37-stall Roundhouse is believed to be the largest remaining such structure in the United States. It replaced an earlier 15-stall roundhouse, which stood in the same footprint. Parts of the old roundhouse floor were found when the current building was restored and renovated in 1996.
• The 544 Seaboard Airline steam locomotive, the iconic engine that sits in the first stall of the Roundhouse, is one of the most unique pieces of rail equipment at the museum. The large Decapod (an engine with 10 driving wheels) was originally built for Russian railroads, but a civil war there kept the engine in the United States. Because Russian rails have a broader gauge than U.S. rails, the engine was fitted with especially wide wheels to accommodate U.S. track.
• The Atlantic Coast Line 501 diesel locomotive has the notoriety of being the highest mileage diesel passenger engine in the world, with more than six million miles. This colorful purple, silver and gold engine still operates.

Currently the museum contains about 25 locomotives, dozens of rail cars as well as an antique automobile exhibit.

I’d been to this museum once before but had never explored all it had to offer. After spending a couple of hours there yesterday I reached a few conclusions from a photographer perspective.

First, I need to wait for cooler weather for a return visit. There’s so much concrete, iron and brick here that it gets hot quickly. Many of the exhibits are also in structures so there is very little breeze and no air conditioning.

Second, while the photographic potential is great it’s very difficult (at least it was for me) to photograph many of the exhibits and locomotives. There are many large locomotives and train cars on exhibit. For the most part they are closely packed with poor lighting. When I return I’d like to have a couple of flash units.

Third and final, I shall revisit. I enjoy finding situations where I feel lost on how to best capture the subject matter in photography. It provides challenge, widens my experience level and drives me to keep returning until I’m comfortable and have photos I’m happy and satisfied with.

That’s not to say I didn’t get any photos I like. But there were many areas where I didn’t/couldn’t do the material justice.

Good or bad news, depending upon your personal interests, you’ll probably be seeing more photo from here in the future. :-)

Locomotive Spencer #604 — The locomotive was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in September 1926. This 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotive was built for the National Railway of Mexico as oil burner number 200, but never delivered. Instead, it was converted to coal firing and sold to the Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad in West Virginia as number 4. In 1964, the locomotive was sold to the Quakertown and Eastern, a tourist line in Pennsylvania. They later sold the number 4 to the Southwest Virginia Scenic Railroad in Hilton, VA. The NCTHC bought the locomotive in 1978, which was restored to operating condition in 1987 by retired Southern Railway employees who volunteered at the museum.