ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
THE VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF TRANSPORTATION plans to add a new stop to its exhibits. Norfolk Southern donated the station and three acres of land as well.
Norfolk Southern Corp. plans to donate its former freight station and Shenandoah Division office building on Norfolk Avenue to the Virginia Museum of Transportation, which has plans to remodel the property and expand the museum's exhibit space.
NS Chairman David Goode announced the gift, which includes three acres, Wednesday night at a private dinner at the museum held in honor of retiring NS Vice Chairman John Turbyfill, a former Roanoke Valley resident and the museum's first president.
Turbyfill's interest in the museum led NS to make the donation.
Turbyfill has long been an advocate of giving the Norfolk Avenue property to the museum, Goode said. "In honor of his retirement and his long interest in the Virginia Museum of Transportation, we decided to make the gift," he said.
Goode, a Vinton native, said the museum is a great asset to Roanoke.
The museum has occupied part of the old freight station since February 1986. It was washed out of its former quarters in Wasena Park by the flood of November 1985.
The freight station and office building were built by NS' predecessor, the Norfolk and Western Railway, in 1917 at a cost of $251,000. NS spokesman Bob Auman said information about the current value of the building was not immediately available. The building has more than 54,000 square feet of space.
The museum's board, which operates as an independent, non-profit organization, is pursuing an ambitious $2 million renovation and building plan. A 1994 bond referendum, approved by city voters, contained $813,000 in matching money to help fund the project. Federal grant money and a $1 million fund-raising campaign by the museum will provide the rest.
The first part of the renovation, which will cost $338,000, involves the entire front of the building and should begin within two months, museum director Kay Houck said. It will include construction of a pedestrian plaza at the building's east end connecting with the city's proposed rail walk to the City Market area. A federal transportation grant of $228,000 and city bond money will pay for the work.
The museum plans a new front entrance that is more in line with Third Street. A locomotive will jut from the front of the building at an oblique angle next to the entrance and be connected to rail cars extending through the opposite side of the building and into the museum's back courtyard, where they will serve as a back entrance.
The building plan also calls for construction of additional train sheds, a diner and an observation tower overlooking the museum and NS' tracks. Houck said there also are plans to place an airplane on top of the building.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Drawing, Andrew Svec staff<by CNB