Virginia Museum Of Transportation

The Virginia Museum of Transportation is in the railroad town of Roanoke, Virginia. Roanoke is home to the original Norfolk and Western Railway that eventually became Norfolk Southern, so it’s fitting to have a facility about railroad history there. It’s a railroad town to its core and many steam locomotives were built in the N&W shops there back in the steam days.

The Transportation Museum has quite a nice collection of railroad equipment. There are steam locomotives, some electrics, and a range of older diesel locomotives. A number of freight car examples are on display, as well as some passenger cars and even cabooses and a few specialty cars.

When I visited the museum in its prior location a few years ago, I focused on taking close-in photos. The reason being was all the rail exhibits were shown close together on parallel tracks. There was no way to back up and take a shot of an entire locomotive!

So, this gallery is mostly about steam train details of drive wheels, rods, and running gear. Close up is a different way of looking at a steam locomotive and see some of the mechanical complexity involved. Interestingly, some of the finest steel ever made went into these locomotives.

Very near to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke is the History Museum of Western Virginia. Among other things, it is home to the O.Winston Link Museum, a black and white photography collection of N&W steam trains in action in the late 1950s. The collection is a special piece of rail transportation history from the last days of steam railroading.

All the pictures here are available on metal, canvas, or matted paper with the usual free shipping. As always, all the printing and manufacture is done here in my studio, with each item made to order.