Displays and Museums Along The W&OD Trail
The Norfolk Southern Railway and its predecessors have donated three cabooses for display along the W&OD Trail. While none of these resemble the cabooses that once travelled along the route of the W&OD Railroad, two of the three cars house exhibits of materials relating to the W&OD Railroad and Trail.
A Southern Railway bay window caboose within the Bluemont Junction Railroad Display in Arlington exhibits photographs, maps and other information related to the County's railroads and trolleys. Staffed by a County park ranger, the caboose is open to the public on weekend afternoons from May through October. The display also contains outdoor signage and photographs that describe and illustrate the history of the W&OD Railroad and of its junction that once operated at the site of the exhibit, as well as a metallic crossbuck and a metallic marker post that was once located 1 mile (1.6 km) from a station.
A cupola caboose near the Trail in Vienna Centennial Park contains a museum that houses materials that the W&OD Railroad once used. Staffed by members of the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna, bearing on its sides the name "WASHINGTON & OLD DOMINION" and numbered 503, the caboose is open to the public during the afternoons on selected weekends and holidays. Near the caboose is a historical marker, an NVRPA information sign, a metallic crossbuck on a wooden post and a metallic marker post that was once located 1 mile (1.6 km) from a station. A metallic white railroad whistle post with black markings is located in Vienna Centennial Park on the north side of the Trail between Church Street NE and the caboose.
Adjacent to the Trail in Vienna, the Freeman Store houses a museum of the town's history. The museum contains maps, books and other materials that relate to the W&OD Railroad. Operated by Historic Vienna, Inc., the museum is open to the public during the afternoons of each week from Wednesdays through Sundays.
The W&OD Railroad station in Vienna houses a museum and a model railroad layout. Operated by the Northern Virginia Model Railroaders, Inc., the museum displays materials that the W&OD Railroad once used and a model of the station as it appeared when steam locomotives stopped at the station. The model railroad and museum is open to the public during the afternoon of one Saturday of each month except June and August.
An overlook at the Luck Stone Quarry east of Goose Creek displays a large trap rock quarry. This mineral provides bulk for concrete and macadam.
The W&OD Railroad station in Herndon houses the Herndon Depot Museum, which the Herndon Historical Society, Inc., operates. The museum, which is open on Sundays from noon to 3:00 p.m., displays photographs and newspaper articles relating to the history of the Town of Herndon and the W&OD Railroad. The museum also contains materials that the railroad once used. The museum additionally contains information about the history of a nearby Norfolk Southern Railway cupola caboose whose sides bore the name and logo of the W&OD Railroad and the number 504 in 2006. A railroad whistle post is located near the caboose
Read more about this topic: Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park
Famous quotes containing the words displays, museums and/or trail:
“The emancipation of today displays itself mainly in cigarettes and shorts. There is even a reaction from the ideal of an intellectual and emancipated womanhood, for which the pioneers toiled and suffered, to be seen in painted lips and nails, and the return of trailing skirts and other absurdities of dress which betoken the slave-woman’s intelligent companionship.”
—Sylvia Pankhurst (1882–1960)
“Museums are just a lot of lies, and the people who make art their business are mostly imposters.... We have infected the pictures in museums with all our stupidities, all our mistakes, all our poverty of spirit. We have turned them into petty and ridiculous things.”
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
“We sank a foot deep in water and mud at every step, and sometimes up to our knees, and the trail was almost obliterated, being no more than that a musquash leaves in similar places, where he parts the floating sedge. In fact, it probably was a musquash trail in some places.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)