This sign tells the history of the rail line through the muesum grounds.

This building is over 100 years old. It was moved to Spencer from Barber Junction, where it was the station house at the junction of several major Southern Railway lines. It's now the visitor center for the museum.

This device was used to sandblast locomotives and railcars prior to painting.

This device was used to winch locomotives and railcars to the sandblaster for cleaning prior to painting.

This is my sister Kathy catching up to me. I'm not sure how she got behind when I took a lot more photos than she did - and my camera is a lot more complicated than hers!

Another angle on the "mule" - a winch that was used to pull locomotives and rail cars to the sandblaster for cleaning prior to repainting.

Another angle of the "mule".

An old Mack truck. There wasn't any other description posted; maybe somebody just likes old Macks...

The front of the Back Shop. This building is longer than two football fields and was at one time the largest industrial building in NC. It was used to perform major overhauls and repair of steam locomotives. It was equipped with a crane system that was used to pick up locomotives off tracks on the other end of the building and to move the locomotives around within the faciltiy.

Exterior restoration has just been completed on the building. The interior is being fitted with large displays of various transportation types and will have a DC-3 plane hanging inside. It'll take several years to complete.

An old diesel/electric locomotive. It looks sorta ugly, but it runs!

Another angle on the Back Shop.

A caboose reflected in one of the Back Shop's windows. The caboose is open so that visitor can walk through it.

The car coupling on the front end of a caboose.

The filler cap for a tank on a caboose - but I don't know what the tank is supposed to hold unless it is fuel for the heater inside the caboose.

A retired Amtrak loco framed through a caboose's ladder.

Another shot of a retired Amtrak loco framed through a caboose's ladder. Note the length of the Back Shop on the left.

The engineer controlled the retired Amtrak diesel locomotive from here.

Across from the museum grounds.

A forerunner to the mail jeep.

It was called a "trap buggy" because the front seats folded down to allow access to the rear seats. When the front seats were in position, the rear passengers were trapped.

From Lexington, NC.

The wagon is on a section of plank road.

Valves on the old fire engine from Lexington, NC.

I bet Barney would have liked one of these!

This is one of the support legs for the Back Shop crane.

Diesel locomotive in a maintenance bay in the roundhouse.

Locomotives and rail cars in maintenance bays in the roundhouse. Note the radial rails leading to each bay.

A closer view of locos and cars in roundhouse maintenance bays.

The turntable was used to rotate trains around to the rails leading to each maintenance bay in the roundhouse.

Rail cars in maintenance bays in the roundhouse. Some have been restored, some are waiting to be restored.

In thanks for the US liberating France in WWII, France built 49 "gratitude trains", one for each state and one for the District of Columbia. Each car was filled with gifts and had a placard from each region of France. In NC, the gifts were passed out to schools and libraries, and the car was taken to each county of the state via rail. The car was then loaded on a flatbed trailer and taken around to schools across the state. After the tour was completed, the car was brought here and covered up for 60 years before being unwrapped and restored for display.

This was used to help clean up after train wrecks. The museum volunteers are practicing with it so that it can be used to help support the turntable for repairs.

Pretty strong, eh?

This is a reproduction (built in the 1920's) of the first steam locomotive in NC. The original was built in England in the mid 1800's.

An old, undated safety sign posted in the roundhouse workshops.

Diesels replaced steam locomotives because they were stronger, more efficient, and required less maintenance.

These cars were used to carry mail all across the US. Each car was staffed with clerks who sorted the mail enroute. The map on the left displays the mail car routes at the height of their use.

Sortation cubby holes.

Closer look at an oil lamp mounted to the sortation cubby holes.

This was the 1st locomotive restored by the volunteers at the museum.

My sister Kathy on the short exhibition train ride. The temperture was in the mid-90's and we'd walked all over the museum grounds and over into town to get some lunch, so we were both a bit sweaty. No AC on this train, but we got a nice breeze as the train moved.