The ROCK 3.0: Happy National Train Day

Happy National Train Day!  The family and I drove 30 minutes north to East Spencer, NC to the North Carolina Transportation Museum for the National Train Day festivities at the Ex-Southern shops.  I was able to see 611 fired up again and my new favorite loco the repainted Southern Railway SD40-2 #3170.  This loco was the secondary power on one of the N&W 611 steam excursions from Charlotte up to Asheville that my friends and I rode back in the day!  Here our some photos taken today.

Southern Railway E8 #6900 at Barber Junction on the Museum Grounds

Southern Railway FP7 #6133

The former shops as viewed from the signal display at the NC Transportation Museum

An old Railway Express truck

The New Haven "Pine Tree State" Combo Sleeper/Parlor Car.  This car was once owned by the Piedmont Carolinas Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.  I used to work on this car with friends back in the day when I was a member.

Norfolk Southern SD60E #6920 Honoring U.S. Veterans

Southern Railway Post Office Car on the Turntable

Ah....the star of the show.  Steam crew members working on 611 this morning.

Here they are loading bags of play sand into the locomotive.

Inside the Bob Julian 37-stall roundhouse, we checked out some of the exhibits.  

Atlantic Coastline E3 #501

Chesapeake & Ohio E3A #8016

Southern Railway Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 Consolidated #542

Atlantic Coastline Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler #1031

Norfolk Southern Baldwin Locomotive Works AS-416 #1616

Clerk Office Exhibit

Wright Brothers Exhibit

Piedmont Airlines used to have a major terminal in Charlotte

I also remember Eastern Airlines growing up.

Ricky Rudd's Piedmont Airlines paint scheme for Nascar

A very large N scale display of what Southern Railway's Spencer Shops looked like back in the day.

Norfolk & Western Extended Vision Caboose

Interior of Caboose

Interior of Caboose

Looking down the length of the caboose at the NS #6920 Veteran Locomotive

A 70's NC State Trooper Car with that ever so large blue light beacon on top.

N Scale modular layout on display in the back shop

Norfolk Southern SD60E #6920 Veteran Locomotive

Southern Railway SD40-2 #3170 recently painted back to it's Southern "Tuxedo" Paint Scheme by Norfolk Southern for road service.

Atlantic Coastline Caboose

Seaboard Coastline Caboose

Norfolk & Western Caboose

Norfolk & Western Caboose

Southern Railway Caboose

Southern Railway GP30

Norfolk & Western 611 - the sun finally came out burning off the fog this morning.

What a beauty!

The automotive exhibit at the NC Transportation Museum

Southern Railway E8 passing by the old back shop building

Southern Railway SD40-2 passing by the old back shop building

A view from the overhead walkway on the north end of the facility

Southern FP7 pushing back on a passenger train special on the museum grounds.

Myself, my wife and cousin standing on the overhead bridge.

Southern Railway SD40-2 shoving back on a caboose train special on the museum grounds

It was a nice day to get out to see some trains.  The museum had a great turnout from what we saw this morning and nice equipment to check out.

Here's my favorite Amtrak commercial that was shown a few years back (maybe longer now that I think about it).