Comments on VMT Musings: If Wishes Were (Iron) Horses

You write very well.

2008-11-10T17:50:00.000-05:00

You write very well.

I'd like to come to the museum and actually have t...

2008-05-20T14:50:00.000-04:00

I'd like to come to the museum and actually have the engines be there..
I guess i'm still bent that they were down at the NS yards when we came down there. We were excited to see our favorite steam engine (611).
Oh well.. perhaps another time.
The only thing better than getting up close to them would be seeing them run again and riding behind one of those amazing machines.

Is there a way to get the whistles and such working without literally firing those things up with water and such?

We didn't bother with the museum when we found out that 611 and 1218 weren't there. Though we really liked staying at Hotel Roanoke.

We went to the Strasburg Rail Road and museum and very much enjoyed the ride and the museum. The hotel was a good ways away though.
We've been to the B&O museum in Baltimore a few times as well. They seem to have excursion rides at certain times of the year, but we've not experienced them.

One thing that bugs me about all of the rail museums that I've been to is that it's very difficult to get quality pictures of the locomotives and tenders due to being so close to other locomotives and such.

Aside from better care of the equipment, one thing...

2008-05-13T08:55:00.000-04:00

Aside from better care of the equipment, one thing I'd like to be able to do it actually sit in the engineer's seat of 611 and 1218. Obviously there are alot of other interesting exhibits but I have to imagine that those two are the big pullers. Maybe even have an air source hooked up so there's a noon-time whistle or something similar. Just some ideas.

One of the big selling points the VMT has going is...

2008-05-02T21:03:00.000-04:00

One of the big selling points the VMT has going is that people can literally climb all over the collection. Now, curators in their various ways would pull out their hair, but the average visitor could care less swinging from the hand rails of locomotives like a monkey.

That said, I'd love to see the VMT find a way to allow its visitors to share their memories and experiences. I enjoy the African-American exhibit because of the oral history collection. What if the VMT set up a computer terminal where guests could record their recollections of riding behind #611 or any of the other vehicles? Then have them stored so others can view them and share their own. There are so many great stories out there, it'd be a shame to lose them to time.

I personally would like to see the Viginian Railwa...

2008-04-29T18:41:00.000-04:00

I personally would like to see the Viginian Railway 0-8-0 #4 be painted up and have the cab open to the public.