Train ride offers a different view at N.C. transportation Museum

Friday, June 05, 2009 3:00 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend | By Seth Leonard

sleonard@salisburypost.com

The North Carolina Transportation Museum will unveil recent improvements to the railroad tracks around the museum June 13-14.

The new route will showcase more of the museum's 57 acres and parallels U.S. 29 and the downtown area of Spencer.

Like many American towns, Spencer spent its formative years growing up in step with the railroad and the Spencer Shops train repair facility housed nearby.

The facility ceased to operate in the late 1970s and the grounds and buildings were donated to the state to be a museum. The first tour rides were given in 1987, with new additions and renovations coming since then.

The amount of money needed for the project was "high," according to Mark Brown, communications specialist for the museum. More than $600,000 was spent, but the U.S. Department of Transportation donated the majority of it. The museum raised the difference, which amounted to about $120,000.

Costs were defrayed somewhat by the amiable relations between the museum and local businesses. Keith Benfield, a contractor, began work at the site in 2008. Sturgis Bryant, administrative vice president of the N.C. Transportation Museum Foundation, said people are generous when the museum asks for help.

"People have always been good to us," he said. "If we need something and they can't give it to us, they practically give it to us."

Local officials got a sneak preview of the improvements Thursday. Spencer Mayor Jody Everhart and Town Manager Larry Smith were on hand to see it for themselves.

"It was great," Everhart said. "You get to see more. Years ago, when the shops were open, my father worked here. It brings back really what you were used to, years ago."

Some at the event called the museum the best of its type in the country.