PAGE 4 — WEST CRAVEN HIOHUGHTS — JANUARY l», l»88
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Southern Railway’s No. 604 is back on track
Rail Yard Given New Life As Museum
SPENCER — In little more
than a decade, the steam locomo
tive repair center known as
Spencer Shops has been trans
formed from a dying grounds for
memories of steam locomotives
into the South’s largest trans
portation museum.
Begun in 1896 at a point rough
ly half-way between Washington,
D.C. and Atlanta, Spencer be
came the site of what was once
the Southern. Railway Com
pany’s largest steam locomotive
servicing facility. In fact, the
town of Spencer and the Spencer
Shops repair center were created
solely for the repair of steam
locomotives and were named for
Samuel Spencer, the first presi
dent of the Southern Railway.
’The Public Broadcast System
will air a documentary featuring
the Historic Spencer Shops on
Saturday, Jan. 21, at 6 p.m. The
documentary contains rare foot
age of the repair center’s opera
tion, provides commentary from
former workers at the Spencer
Shops, and shows the operation
of two locomotives at the
museum.
The video, entitled "Of Men
and Machines,” was produced by
Bob Loehne, president of Per
sonal Video Production in Win
ston-Salem. It was written by
Steve Channing of Video Dia
logue Productions in Chapel
Hill, with video work by Alpha
Video of Durham.
In a review in Railfan & Rail
road magazine, Mike Del Vec-
chio said, “‘Of Men and
Machines’ is a complete record
depicting transportation in
North Carolina from the 1700s
with the use of still photos, maps
and vintage footage of Southern
Railway steam engines from the
early 1900s.”
“The narration is excellent,” he
added. “My compliments to His
toric Spencer Shops for being
able to produce such a fine
program.”
Charlie Peacock, a retired
trainman at Spencer Shops, said,
“every time you come to Spencer
and look around and see the vast
ness of it, I think you have to re
member the great contributions
the railroads made when they
finally tied the nation together,
with two ribbons of steel.”
During its heyday, more than
2,500 people worked at the facil
ity, providing almost all the em
ployment for the towns of
Spencer and East Spencer. The
railroad center also spawned
hundreds of jobs for the neigh
boring city of Salisbury.
The center, one of the finest in
the world, buzzed with activity
while servicing 100 steam
locomotives a day and had a mul
tiple track system that accommo
dated 265 railway cars at a time. A
massive crane inside the
machine shop (still among the
largest industrial buildings in the
state) could lifl a 150 ton steam
locomotive off its wheels.
through the 1970s for minor
diesel engine repairs.
Peacock added,“The first time
I ever saw one of them (diesel
Locomotives) pull in here, I
knew it was going to be the end of
the steam locomotive.”
Jim Mesimore, a retired
mechanical foreman who took
the last regular service train out
of Spencer in the late 1950s,
added, “I can remember when
they lined up all the steam en
gines to be shipped up North for
scraps — some of the old fellows
here had tears in their eyes.”
53 acres along with several his
toric buildings. Historic Spencer
Shops has acquired several mil
lion dollars worth of rare trans
portation artifacts and has made
possible their restoration and
display.
The Spencer Shops was able to
boast the remarkable record of
averaging a total rebuild of one
steam engine per day, working 3
shifts a day, seven days a week,
year-round.
Finally, in the late 1970s all
work came to a halt when South
ern Railway moved its repair
shops to a new, modem complex
in nearby Linwood, North Caro
lina. With the end of Spencer’s
operational existence, talk im
mediately began of turning the
complex into a museum.
The prize possession of the
Historic Spencer Shops is a fully
restored Buffalo Creek and
Gauley Railroad steam locomo
tive. Reborn as Southern Rail
way Number 604, the locomotive
now pulls several restored
coaches around the site on a 30-
minute tour to give visitors an
overview of the size and com
plexity of the former ojrerations.
Also in operation is a Southern
Railway FP-7 restored diesel
locomotive painted in the
famous green and gold Southern
passenger colors.
Historic Spencer Shops first
opened in 1983 and is the South’s
largest transportation museum,
currently featuring 6000 square
feet of exhibit space, and
thousands of more square feet
yet to be renovated, chronicling
the history of transportation in
the Tar Heel state.
Located near Interstate 85 in
Spencer, the 57-acre complex is
open year-round and is adminis
tered by The Historic Sites Sec
tion under The North Carolina
Department of Cultural Re
sources. A staff of five ftill-time
employees and more than 50
volunteers, many of whom are re
tired railroad workers, maintains
the 57-acre site.
With the advent of diesel
locomotives in the late 1940s and
early 1950s, the need for most of
the operations at Spencer waned.
Southern Railway closed the
main repair shops in 1960, but a
handful of workers stayed on
In September 1977, Southern
Railway President L. Stanley
Crane presented a deed to Gov.
James B. Hunt, Jr. for nearly four
acres of the site for development
of Cultural Resources. Later,
Southern donated an additional
Among its other displays, the
Historic Spencer Shops exhibits
a Conestoga wagon, portions of
plank roads, a dugout canoe, ear
ly automobiles (featuring a Mod
el AA Ford truck), a Common
wealth Skyranger airplane and
North Carolina’s first Highway
patrol car.
The Spencer Shops
documentary, entitled “Of Men
and Machines,” to be broadcast
on PBS is available on VHS,
Beta, or 8mm videocassette from
Historic Spencer Shops. For
more information or to purchase
a copy of the “Of Men and
Machines” video documentary,
write to: Historic Spencer Shops;
P. O. Box 44, Spencer, N. C.
28159; (704) 636-2889.
Along The Pathway
Transportation Board
Along the pathway oflife we are often worried about tomor
row and what it holds. Why should we worry when we have a
Heavenly Father that cares about us? If we would take time to
consider the lillies of the field and how they grow, how God
cares about the little sparrow, we would know he cares about
us too. He loved us enough to create us, so surely he cares
about us. He loved us so much that he sent his only son to be
born in a manger as the poorest of them to be our savior. Not
only was he born in a manger but he lived as the poorest and
het he trusted the Heavenly Father. He was tempted, tried and
died a shameful death on the cross so we could be free.
His strength is sufficient for us.
There is not a lily trampled down without God knowing it. A
sparrow does not fall without God looking on. He knows every
thing that touches of lives. He is concerned. He does care abou
you and me. He has the answer for everything. He will give us
answers if we will come to him in faith, believing he is a
rewarder to them that diligently seek him. He will give us
strength for everything that touches our lives. He will make us
stronger if we will submit ourselves to him. He will bring
deliverance in due time if we faint not. When everything seems
to be wrong, we must not doubt but we must still trust him. He
holds the future in his hands. So why not lean on him in faith?
1 know, because I have been through many things. If I had
tried without God, I would have crumbled along the way. If I
had not leaned on him these past eight weeks that my brother
has been missing, I would have probably been in a mental
institution or done some very foolish thing. There is one think
I know. God knows where he is and is able to cause someone to
find him and the reasons for all this that has happened. I know
he will not fail us if we trust him. He has all the answers. He is
the answer. So why shouldn’t I, and why shouldn't you, trust
him? He can lead, guide and calm the troubled waters of the
soul. Faith in him is the answer to everything.
Member Reappointed
Trust Him
Trust him, oh, child of sorrow,
He holds in his hand tomorrow.
If you trust, he will lift you up,
With peach he will fill your cup.
Gov. James G. Martin has reap
pointed Randy Doub of Green
ville to the N.C. Board of Trans
portation. He was sworn in dur
ing a ceremony Friday at the
highway building in Raleigh.
Doub, 33, is a partner in the law
firm of Dixon, Duftbs & Doub.
He will represent Division II,
which includes Craven, Jones,
Beaufort, Carteret, Greene,
Lenior, Pamlico and Pitt coun
ties. This will be Doub’s second
four-year term.
Doub is a Winston-Salem na
tive. He graduated with honors
ft-om East Carolina University in
1977. He then attended the
School of Law at the University
of North Carolina at Chapei Hili.
Doub is a member of the Bitt^
County Bar Association, the N.(3.
Bar Association and the Amer
ican Bar Association.
He is a member of the Board of
Directors of the Pitt-Greenville
Chamber of Commerce and the
Eastern Carolina Vocational
Center. Doub is a member of the
Greenville Rotary Club, the ECU
Alumni Association and the ECU
Pirate Club.
He is married to the former
Toni Susan Pegg of Winston-
Salem.
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THE AMERICAN HEART
ASSOTIAHON
MEMORIAL PROGRAM.
WEUE FIGHTING FOR
VOURLIFE
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Anwrican Heart ^ &
Association
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Wurlitzer Pianos & Organs
Selmer Band Instruments
Guitar & Accessories
Affordable Rental Programa Available on
Planes A Band Instrumenta, excallanl Sendee
Fuller’s Music House, Inc.
Low interest in.store financing available
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JANUARY WHITE SALE
Jan. 19-26
Shower Curtain Set
w/hook$ reg. *4.99 tpeclal *3.99
White Enamel DIshpans
9 Qt. reg. '9.99 Special *7.99
14 Qt. reg. 11.99 tpeelol ’9.50
Electric Blanket reg. '32.99 eo. Special *29.99 ee.
Grass Carpet Mats *1.69 ea
CANHON’S VARIEH STORf
1-0508
Vanceboro