@kgdjpubs posted:The knowledge and people are out there to do the work. Oh...the biggest one...find some track where it can make enough money to justify doing the above work. Strasburg and Spencer are not viable options to justify the cost of rebuilding it.
In the meantime, it's protected. Visit the museum. Give a donation. Tomorrow may be a brighter day.
This 100%. VMT is great and a must-see for anyone visiting Roanoke. It's in an urban center whose crime and drug problems pale in comparison to others (e.g., B & O Railroad Museum in Baltimore). But there's a lot of cool stuff to do in and around Roanoke too. Visit one of the many outstanding breweries immediately around the Museum -- VA and NC make some of the best craft beer in the country! Drive up to Mill Mountain and see the Star and the city from the overlook. Check out the restored Virginian station. Stay at the Hotel Roanoke, N & W's crown jewel (Christmastime is especially magnificent). Peek thru the fence at the Roanoke Shops (yep, still there for now, albeit shut down). Venture out a little and drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. And of course, visit the O. Winston Link Museum too!
If / once there is a place to run 1218, the money will be there for its restoration. It's not running on NS trackage any time soon, unless it's en route to go run somewhere else.
