The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society announced on March 12 that it was relocating to a new restoration facility in the Norwich area of Roanoke. The new site will give the non-profit more room to work on its historic rail equipment, including a Norfolk & Western Alco T-6, a “Redbird” GP9, and more than two dozen other pieces. 

Since 1980, the NRHS group has called the former American Viscose plant in Roanoke its home. But recently it had to move. Since the relocation, Norfolk Southern has been storing the group’s fleet of locomotives, passenger cars and more. The new 16-acre property is on the site of the former Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal in Norwich. After the scrap yard was closed in 2008, it sat unused until it was purchased by the chapter from OmniSource, LLC of Fort Wayne, Ind. 

A rendering of what the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society’s new home could look like in the future. 

The NRHS chapter is currently working on designing and building the yard at the new location and moving their rail equipment and other materials to the site. After the initial steps of building the track and moving the rail collection are complete, the project’s next phase will be to refurbish the buildings already on the property and construct a new restoration and maintenance facility. Chapter officials said the bigger space will allow it to tackle more projects in the future. 

“The Chapter would like to thank OmniSource; Norfolk Southern; Riverdale Southeast, LLC.; Jim Thornhill, a partner with Wire Gill LLP, as legal counsel; and everyone else who has helped make this project possible,” said Tim Witt, Chapter president. “The need to relocate our entire operation has been a huge project and financial challenge.  This project would not have been possible without the assistance of our partners and volunteers.”

More information about the project and how people can donate can be found at https://www.roanokenrhs.org/norwichyard. —Railfan & Railroad Staff