Roanoke Chapter NRHS

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Roanoke Chapter NRHS The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society preserves and educates the public about the rail history of southwest Virginia.

The Roanoke Chapter NRHS is a not-for-profit, historical and educational organization incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c)(3) organization

We have been involved in the preservation and dissemination of western Virginia’s rail heritage, most specifically the Norfolk and Western and Virginian Railways. Our organization is quite active in the preservation and restoration of historical rail equipment, documentation and structures relating to the railroads in our area for the past 55 years. Western Virginia has an interesting rail heritage, you can experience some of it here, and there are a variety of ways to also participate. The Mechanical Department of the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society maintains and restores the chapter's collection of historic rolling stock. This includes our two operating locomotives as well as passenger and freight equipment. We meet at the chapter's yard in southeast Roanoke on Saturdays (and some other days) to work. We also assist with other railway preservation projects in the Roanoke area. If you'd like to visit or help out, send us a message for directions. No particular skills are required.

10/18/2026

N&W 537 is fresh out of the paint shop and ready for another season of Polar Express at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. We will be changing the brake valves out and finishing up the COT&S over the next week.

N&W 537 is fresh out of the paint shop and ready for another season of Polar Express at the North Carolina Transportatio...
10/18/2026

N&W 537 is fresh out of the paint shop and ready for another season of Polar Express at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. We will be changing the brake valves out and finishing up the COT&S over the next week.

A long-running project took a major step forward this week, with the return of Norfolk & Western passenger GP-9 #514 to...
10/16/2026

A long-running project took a major step forward this week, with the return of Norfolk & Western passenger GP-9 #514 to home rails. The Chapter has been working to acquire and move the 514 back to Roanoke for the past 10 years. The next steps for the 514 include mechanical and metal repairs and cosmetic updates to return the locomotive to its appearance when it was running daily passenger service on the Norfolk & Western.

The Chapter would like to thank everyone who has helped us with this project. We could not have reached this point without everyone's assistance. We will have more on the 514 project coming soon.

A reminder to all Chapter members:The October Chapter Membership meeting will be this Wednesday, 10/14/2026, due to a s...
10/13/2026

A reminder to all Chapter members:
The October Chapter Membership meeting will be this Wednesday, 10/14/2026, due to a scheduling conflict at the station. The program will be "The Railroad After Dark" by Richard Shell. It's a collection of just over a hundred nighttime photographs he's taken over the years.

With the rain coming down heavy at several times, it wasn't a good day to work on much at the yard. We used the time to...
10/10/2026

With the rain coming down heavy at several times, it wasn't a good day to work on much at the yard. We used the time to reconstruct the work platform for installing the geotech fabric on the hillside, adding more surface area for tools and supplies, and increasing the number of runners so that it is more stable.

09/26/2026

Driving one of the cable anchors into the hillside using the gas-powered hammer. Once it's driven several feet into the ground, the driving bar is removed, and the cable is tensioned, which anchors the fabric tightly to the hillside.

This weekend, we started working on installing the geotech fabric that will keep the hillside stable. The ground gets s...
09/26/2026

This weekend, we started working on installing the geotech fabric that will keep the hillside stable. The ground gets smoothed and raked, grass seed applied, and then the fabric is rolled out. Anchors are then driven through the fabric several feet into the dirt to hold it in place. We also continued working on grading the other end of the hillside in order to make it ready to apply the fabric there.

Today, several of us worked on cleaning out the track truck since we've finished the project taking up the track and swi...
09/20/2026

Today, several of us worked on cleaning out the track truck since we've finished the project taking up the track and switch on a neighbor's property. The remaining tie plates were unloaded, and the dirt and foundry sand were washed out of the bed and off the roof of the truck. We also started sorting and stacking the joint bars, tie plates, specialty switch plates, and other materials.

Work continues at the northwest edge of the yard to slope the hillside and prepare it for the geotech fabric to be insta...
09/19/2026

Work continues at the northwest edge of the yard to slope the hillside and prepare it for the geotech fabric to be installed.

We made our last trip up to the home of one of our members who left us his shop and farm equipment today. Our last rema...
09/12/2026

We made our last trip up to the home of one of our members who left us his shop and farm equipment today. Our last remaining task there was to collect some standing seam terne metal roofing from a collapsed farm building, which we will make use of on a couple of upcoming projects.

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Roanoke, VA

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