Exhibits Come Alive Before Your Eyes During “Night at the N.C. Transportation Museum”
SPENCER – Visitors touring the N.C. Transportation Museum “after hours” Friday, March will see and hear something special. Exhibits will come alive, as those who worked and lived around the machines of the past tell their tales. Volunteers and interpretive historians in period dress will uniquely communicate the history the museum preserves and celebrates. These special free tours, taking place at 5, 6 and 7 p.m., are being offered as the first ever “Night at the N.C. Transportation Museum” event.
Tours begin in the Barber Junction Visitor’s Center, moving quickly to the “Wagon’s Wheels and Wings” exhibit. Alongside the museum’s Conestoga Wagon, a 19th century pioneer will tell stories of the hard journey along the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road. Migrating south along this plank road, travelers were forced to sleep beneath their wagon, eat whatever and wherever they could and protect themselves from animals and thieves. Moving further through Wagon’s, Wheels and Wings—and stepping forward in time—a commercial airline pilot will explain the mysteries of flight. He will discuss how, in one century, man moved from the fragile Wright Flyer to modern commercial jets that transport hundreds of passengers through the sky.
The tour then returns to terra firma, moving to the museum’s “Bumper to Bumper” exhibit. Amid the classic cars, a mechanic will discuss what must be done to keep those vehicles running. Visitors will also see how modern vehicles compare to the antique Ford Model A’s and T’s and classic Studebakers and Mustangs on display. Moving forward, a 1970’s era Highway Patrolman will “be on-guard” alongside the museum’s classic 1935 Ford and 1978 Plymouth Highway Patrol cars. The patrolman will discuss how those vehicles have changed over time and the job of keeping North Carolina drivers safe on the highways.
The museum’s Bob Julian Roundhouse is the final stop on the “Night at the N.C. Transportation Museum” tour, with three characters waiting to tell their stories. A train conductor from the 1940’s will discuss the heyday of passenger train travel. Using the museum’s collection of classic locomotives and rail cars, visitors will see what is was like to ride the rails before automobiles largely replaced the experience.
A few steps away, a Roundhouse laborer will talk about the Spencer Shops train repair facility, which once stood on the museum grounds, and its importance during the first half of the 20th century. He will also discuss the transition from steam engines to diesel locomotives, which led to the eventual closing of Spencer Shops.
At the tour’s final stop, a 1920’s flapper will wait alongside the most luxurious passenger train cars, the “Loretto” and the “Doris”. The “Loretto” was originally built in 1902 for Charles Schwab, the president of U.S. Steel Company and Bethlehem Steel Company. Tobacco and railroad magnate James Buchanan Duke commissioned the “Doris” in 1917 and named it for his daughter. These cars were the equivalent of today’s private jets, with sleeping quarters, kitchen areas and rooms to entertain. The “Loretto” even includes a board room. Our flapper will tell tales of riding the rails in the lap of luxury.
No reservations are necessary for the March 6 event. “Night at the N.C. Transportation Museum” tours begin at 5, 6 and 7 p.m., but visitors are asked to arrive at least 15 minutes before each tour begins. This event is free.
For more information about the N.C. Transportation Museum, call 704-636-2889, toll-free at 1-877-NCTM-FUN, or visit www.nctrans.org. The N.C. Transportation Museum, located in historic Spencer Shops, the former Southern Railway repair facility, is part of the Division of State Historic Sites, Department of Cultural Resources. The museum is located just five minutes off I-85 at Exit 79 in Spencer, N.C., and about an hour from Charlotte, Greensboro or Winston-Salem. The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is celebrating the 2009 theme of “Treasure N.C. Culture.” For information on the Department of Cultural Resources, call (919) 807-7385 or visit www.ncculture.com.