(The following story by Janie Bryant appeared on The Virginian-Pilot website on December 12.)
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Willard J. Moody Sr. leads the way through a 1928 mail car, talking about what’s left to do before this piece of railroad history is ready for a new life.
The railroad car is already linked to three others, including another mail car, a diner and a caboose.
By late spring, this train will take passengers as far as their imaginations will let them go.
But the only thing actually moving will be the dream of a Railroad Museum of Virginia.
It’s taken 10 years to get this far.
Moody, a former state senator heading up the effort, describes the effort as a race to hold on to a railway heritage that is disappearing.
“When you speak of the history of railroads, you speak of the history of America,” said Moody, an attorney who has represented railroad workers for decades.
“And that certainly applies to this area and the commonwealth of Virginia.”
For the past five years, the most visible sign of the non-profit’s efforts has been the slow transformation of the antique trains that sit on tracks near the nTelos Pavilion.
The two mail cars were once part of Norfolk and Western. The diner was originally a Wabash Railroad car. The caboose was from Norfolk Southern.
The exteriors were restored first and work is still being completed on the interiors.
Soon, the cars and a walkway platform will be covered by a train-depot style canopy.
The structure will be designed to give visitors the feel of an old train station, without taking away from the cars, said William H. Hargrove III, an architect who has donated time to the project.
The nonprofit hopes to one day build a museum, but for now those cars will provide the space for a growing inventory of railroad memorabilia.
While the museum may start small, one thing the organization can tout is location.
The railroad cars are on the city’s Path of History and near the new traffic roundabout designed as the gateway to downtown.
“It’s a huge addition to the Path of History, as far as having the cars restored and the location they are in,” said Nancy Perry, director of the city’s department of museums.
“I’m very anxious to get additional interpretive signs out there.”
So far, the organization has raised $300,000 in private funding and over three years, the General Assembly has approved about $475,000 in state funding, which must be matched.
This year, for the first time, City Council members included a request for state funding for the railroad museum in their legislative package.
The legislative wish list requests $100,000 that doesn’t have to be matched.
City Councilman Steve Heretick said he proposed that the museum be included.
Portsmouth is a railroad town going back to the 1830s, he said.
“I think it’s a good project,” Heretick said. “It’s simply one the city on its own cannot afford to fund or maintain at the same level, as for example, the Children’s Museum.”