CALENDAR
Blue Star Museums: Free Admission to active duty military personnel
Through September 6, 2010
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is honored to support our active duty military personnel this summer. Blue Star Museums runs through Labor Day, September 6, 2010, and offers free admission to active duty military personnel in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and active duty Reserve and active duty National Guard, and their immediate family members. Military personnel or their families must present a CAC Geneva Conventions ID or a DD 1173 active duty military family ID to receive free admission for up to five family members.
Other participating museums in Roanoke are the History Museum of Western Virginia, O Winston Link Museum, Taubman Museum of Art, and Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University.
Roanoke Chapter, NRHS Train Excursions to Bluefield and Danville
November 6 and 7, 2010
The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society is offering round trip excursions by train from Roanoke to Danville, VA (November 6) and to Bluefield, WV (November 7). These trips, using modern Amtrak locomotives and coaches plus vintage railroad cars, depart from the former N&W passenger station in Roanoke. There will be a layover of 3 hours in Danville and 2 ½ hours in Bluefield to participate in local activities. For more information about the trips and ordering tickets, please see the Roanoke Chaper Excursions Flyer and a detailed list of Frequently Asked Questions.
Call for coach seats during business hours:
- O. Winston Link Museum: 540-982-5465
- Virginia Museum of Transportation: 540-342-5670
- Danville Welcome Center: 434-793-4636
- Bluefield Convention & Visitors Bureau: 304-325-8438
Evenings, or for First Class Seats, Call: Roanoke Chapter NRHS: 540-774-0611
Anytime on-line: www.RoanokeNRHS.org
Changing exhibit gallery features Images of Rail: Norfolk and Western Railway
For a century, the Norfolk and Western Railway operated as one of the greatest transportation companies in the United States. The story of the N&W is a story about people—a story of the tens of thousands of people who worked in the shops and aboard the trains, sold the tickets and moved the freight, laid the track and managed corporate affairs.
The exhibit features thirty-eight archival photographs from the book of the same name by Nelson Harris. With views of the rugged and, at times, dangerous days of railroading in the late 1880s, to the rise of the N&W as a member of America's corporate elite, these pictures convey the railroad's storied history.
Nelson Harris is a lifelong resident of Roanoke, the son of an N&W retiree, and former Mayor of the City of Roanoke.
One Engineer's Life
For a companion exhibit to Images of the Norfolk and Western Railway, Museum volunteer Erik Rhyne uncovered a collection of items in the Museum's archives that tell the personal story of an N&W employee from a century ago. Tasked with developing a “docents' choice” exhibit for the Rail Gallery, Rhyne discovered a metal tool box belonging to Caleb A. Corell. An engineer on the N&W's Radford Division, Corell was born in 1874, joined the railroad in 1894 and served 41 years until an injury led to his retirement in 1935.
“Opening up the box was like opening up this man's life,” said Rhyne. “Everything that he needed, he carried with him—his boots, his pipe, his razor. It’s like a snapshot of everyday life at that time.” The box also contained Corell's driver's license, his Studebaker's inspection certificate, various photos and a news clipping of his parents’ 69th anniversary celebration. “This one man’s really cool life gives us an appreciation of what life was like and what it was like to work for the railroad,” Rhyne said. “It's really important that we preserve the past.”