06 May 2009

Pictures of Roanoke, VA

As promised, here are some photos from our Roanoke trip.


The Roanoke Star stands on the mountain overlooking the city. It was erected to commemorate Roanoke as a progressive city, back when progressive meant constantly moving forward rather than communistic.


From the platform in front of the star you can look out over the entire city. The Norfolk and Western (now Norfolk Southern) roundhouse that houses the Virginia Transportation Museum is down there somewhere.


The museum is the home of various bits and pieces of transportation history, such as this Packard automobile.


Wandering through the trains section outside, Chris and I stumbled upon something that every Pennsylvania Railroad fan will recognize.


The star of the show is the most beautiful steam locomotive in the world, the Norfolk and Western J class 4-8-4 (this particular wheel arrangement is known as a "Northern" everywhere but in the South).


This photo gives an idea of the size of the massive beast. The boys in the photo are my ten year old son Christopher on the right and my five year old grandson Mark on the left.

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