Saturday will be a good time for a couple of ampersands.
As in Norfolk & Western.
And “Then & Now.”
The George L. Carter Railroad Museum will dedicate its April Heritage Day to the ampersand and the words on either side of it – Norfolk & Western – and its heritage.
The “Norfolk & Western, Then & Now” exhibit will be Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the museum on the East Tennessee State University campus.
The Roanoke, Va.-based Norfolk & Western railroad is now known as Norfolk Southern, but in 2012, the railroad devoted a group of new locomotives to honor its corporate history. These engines were painted to honor Norfolk Southern’s predecessor lines, including the Interstate, Nickel Plate, Wabash and Central of Georgia.
The museum will run model trains, including steam engines from the past, when the N&W was the sole major United States railroad still using them. Also featured will be Heritage-painted modern diesels.
Geoff Stunkard, coordinator of the museum’s Heritage Days program, says, “This will be one of our highlight events for 2014, as there is so much variety in the two eras we are showcasing. The colorful new engines seen on the Norfolk Southern mainline throughout the area are actively pursued by rail photographers. We hope to have an outstanding group representing the Heritage trains, as well as representatives of steam power from yesterday’s operations.”
Members of the Mountain Empire Model Railroaders club and the George L. Carter Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society are coordinating the program. Visit www.memrr.org to learn more about MEMRR, which helps demonstrate and maintain the model layouts, museum exhibits and other projects.
The Carter Railroad Museum is open every Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Admission is free. The museum can be identified by a flashing railroad crossing signal at the back entrance to the Campus Center Building.
For information about the museum, visit http://johnsonsdepot.com/glcarter/cartermuseum.htm. For more information about the event, contact Fred Alsop, Carter Railroad Museum director, at 439-6838 or alsopf@etsu.edu.