The North Carolina Transportation Museum has been on my list to visit for a while now, and I…read morefinally made it to Spencer, NC, to check it out. I love museums and have been to a lot of them, and some are better than others. This one felt disjointed and not cohesive. It could be improved.
Tickets are purchased near the building near the train tracks. You get a wristband and a map to go on your way. The museum is on 60 acres, so there is a lot of walking.
The Southern Railway Spencer Shops were once located here. 3000 people worked at Spencer Shops to keep the steam engines working properly. Spencer was halfway between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, GA, and the steam engines needed to be serviced about every 150 miles. They could run for about two hours, but then needed an hour of service to keep everything operating properly.
I started in the Back Shop (look for the BE CAREFUL sign), which was built in 1905 for steam locomotives that required more extensive maintenance. The building is the size of two football fields. The building now shows all forms of transportation, from bicycles to fire trucks to cars to airplanes to rail cars to boats and canoes. This was a large building, and it wasn't clear which path we were to walk through it, as there were two aisles with items on both sides, along with empty areas.
Building F housed the Roundhouse, which was the best of the buildings. It is the largest remaining roundhouse in the country. This was like a garage with 37 stalls to repair the steam engines. Now, inside it, you will find steam and diesel locomotives, passenger cars, and a full-size replica of the Wright Flyer. There is an area where you can see people working on the cars, and at the end of the building, there are some train cars that you can enter.
The exhibits in this building are well done, and you can read the storyboards about the exhibits. I started in the orientation room to watch the video about the site's history, but it wasn't available to me. I was just handed another map. I'm not sure if he didn't want to start it for just one person, but I would have liked to see it as it would have provided background on the complex. The staff member wasn't friendly and didn't seem like he wanted to answer questions.
Building G was the wheel balancing exhibit in a shed. The scales made sure the weight was correct for being on the train tracks.
Buildings C, D and E felt like a waste. C was decorated for the Easter events, so it didn't seem the building was being properly utilized. There were some dining car exhibits in there. Building D had a model train layout and is used for storage. Building E had more classic cars.
More signage would help to get from the buildings, if they made a path to follow. I didn't see any signage for getting from building G to E, so I had to backtrack through buildings F and B to get there, as I wasn't sure where I was allowed to walk on the gravel and tracks. This is where a guide would have been helpful to direct guests.
Then, the inside buildings could use better descriptions, like those used in building F. It would have been nice to have helpful, friendly guides to better understand the complex. The trains weren't running on the day of my visit, so that may have provided the background information that was lacking during my visit. I'd remove buildings D and E from the tour and relocate the exhibits to fit everything into two main buildings for better flow.
If I returned, I would just focus on building F and spend my time in the building, better curated.
