Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Spencer, NC: N.C. Transportation Museum/Southern Roundhouse, Etc.

(Satellite)

(Update: it appears these Spencer Shops became obsolete when they built Spencer Yard in Linwood, NC.)

I added "Etc." to the title because they have also preserved some backshops and a sand tower. I knew about the roundhouse because they had a show of first generation diesel locomotives a few years ago that had examples from all over the country as well as their own.
NCTM, Sep 2017
It is a transportation museum, not just a railroad museum.
NCTM, Jan 2018
This post was my motivation.
Randall Hampton posted
Old sand tower at Spencer, NC
Dennis DeBruler I presume that this was a sand drying tower and that it supplied other yards as well.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
The sand tower is in the background of this photo.
NCTM, Nov 2016

A view along the lead to the roundhouse.
Brian C Greene posted, cropped
Historic Spencer Shops - NC Transportation museum - Spencer NC

Danny Pattrerson posted
I have posted this photo before of old Spencer. I ran across the original photo today and scanned it at 600dpi. Hope this helps you zoom in and see clearer.
[full resolution:] Danny Patterson http://www.rowancounty.info/OldSpencerHR.jpg
Kevin Elwood So there were two turntables there? Cool!
David George BTW You're catching a little flak about something most only half-way understand. Facebook reduces all images to 72dpi. DPI has absolutely nothing to do with your on screen resolution. DPI pertains strictly to printing. The standard DPI for printing is 300dpi.

What you're concerned with on Facebook is the dimensions of the image. In the case of Facebook the maximum dimension of an image is limited to 2048px (roughly six inches.) Many of the images on Facebook don't make full use of the largest allowable size.

Another problem people have is Facebook displays at two separate sizes. By clicking "View Full Size" one can view the largest available size. The picture as it's displayed in your feed or as part of the post is displayed as a smaller size.

If you upload an image that is more than six inches you will loose some resolution. If you download a photo from Facebook and don't manually change the DPI from 72dpi to 300dpi it will print poorly. If you do change the DPI to 300dpi but attempt to print larger than six inches your print resolution will also suffer.

One work around is to upload images to the Files section as a PDF. Group members will not see an image or preview on Facebook but can download and view it as a larger image.

I hope this helps and thanks again for sharing.

Jim Kelling shared
George Bailey I believe Spencer was the halfway point between Atlanta and DC.
 
Timothy Carroll posted
Historic Soencer Shops of the Southern Railway
Larry Kent Neal Jr: Taken before Linwood was finished in 1979, but after the NCTM (Spencer Shops) had started. Notice all the equipment stored on the north end?
Steven L. Rivers: Is all of that still there?
Randall Hampton shared
Spencer, when it was still fully active.
Dan Gurley: Diesel era but pre-Linwood. I wonder what year this would've been? Early to mid 70s?
 
Dennis DeBruler replied to Steven's question
Many of the tracks on the right are gone, but it looks like the buildings and water tower still stand.
 https://goo.gl/maps/RppzKoafZGD8PBFB9

Noah Kirchner added
Spencer, North Carolina back in 2012.
Roger Riblett shared

Robert Daniels posted
William L. Vanderburg It's late 30s early 40s as there is an automobile from that period in the upper left corner at the gas station. And unless the kiosk at the museum has been changed, it dates the photo incorrectly. On that kiosk you can clearly see the car at the gas station.

Some of the backshops have been converted to exhibit halls.
NCTM, Sep 2017
They seem to have all forms of transportation.
NCTM, Sep 2017
Even an IH Farmall "M" tractor.
NCTM, Jun 2016
Of course, cars are an important part of transportation history in the USA.
NCTM, Oct 2018
Part of a backshop has been preserved in working order so that they can do their own preservation work.
NCTM, Jan 2018

Brian C Greene posted, cropped
NC Transportation museum / Car Shop - former Southern Railway. Spencer NC

It appears they also offer train rides.
NCTM, Jan 2018

Mike Lowry posted
These are on display in a old steam maintenance roundhouse at the North Carolina transportation museum in Spencer. Worth a stop if you are in Charlotte area.

Virginia Museum of Transportation posted
Spend your Sunday with some place special!
Randall Hampton shared

Randall Hampton posted
I feel fortunate to live so close to Spencer, home of the largest surviving roundhouse in America, and former maintenance facility at the midpoint of Southern's Washington to Atlanta run. The museum has saved me a ton of gas and hotel money over the years by bringing so many things to me. I took this shot from a helicopter in May of 2014.

Randall Hampton posted
Another angle on the 611 that day. You can't tell from this pic, but she couldn't have pulled anything at the time. Her side rods had been disconnected for the long tow, because the cylinders needed work before they moved again. Also, a good bit of boiler work would be done before another fire was lit.

I'll surely never again in my life get this many E's and F's in a shot that is not a posed lineup. You have to zoom in to pick out all these, from left to right:
Union Pacific E9
Southern FP-7
C&NW F7
EMD FTB
unidentified - maybe Wabash E8
Lackawanna F3 A-B set
Erie E8
Pan Am F7
New Haven FL-9
Wabash F7
Southern E8
Burlington E5
Pennsylvania E8
C of GA / Iowa Pac. E8
ACL E3
Additional power in the shot:
Amtrak P42
N&W 611 4-8-4
NC-DOT F-59PHI
Amtrak F40
I also see a rounded nose off in the distance just to the left of the water tower (I'm guessing B&O or C&O), for a total of 21 units. There were several others inside the roundhouse and elsewhere on the property.

Scott McDonald commented on a post that is shared by Randall Hampton
 
N.C. Transportation Museum posted
Today [Aug 20, 2022] we were making tracks, literally, inside the Bob Julian Roundhouse. Thanks to our maintenance of way crew led by Chris Lainis for this great progress today.  This track is inside our restoration shop, where rail cars and locomotives are maintained. The previous track’s wooden railroad ties had rotted out over the years, so new steel ties were installed today for longer life. This track will be surrounded in concrete soon.
 
N.C. Transportation Museum posted
As we celebrate the centennial of the Bob Julian Roundhouse we will post a photo each month in 2024 commemorating the majestic structure. This photo was taken in the mid-1940’s and shows the soot-covered Roundhouse with both steam and diesel locomotives. With 37 bays, the Roundhouse was the operational heart of the railway shop for steam locomotives needing regular servicing, oiling or minor repairs. It was a scene of constant activity 24 hours a day. Diesel locomotives began arriving at Spencer in 1941. From 1948 to 1950, Southern Railway worked to convert portions of the Roundhouse to maintain diesels. By June 1953, Southern Railway was completely dieselized, and the stalls of the Spencer Roundhouse that had not been converted to service diesel locomotives were becoming outdated. Eventually, a more modern diesel servicing facility was built at the new yard at Linwood in 1978. One hundred years after its completion, the Bob Julian Roundhouse is still the heart of the museum, servicing and restoring its locomotives and rail cars for future generations to enjoy!
Daniel C Carroll Jr. shared

(14:51 video, new window)

3:48 video @ 1:32



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