Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 11, 1993 TAG: 9305110515
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But that may change.
Soon, tourists may stroll unbothered by the elements among 46 exhibits, beneath skylights and natural lighting, if the museum's proposed expansion plan made public Monday is implemented.
Now, these exhibits are kept in the uncovered rail yard at the rear of the museum in the Norfolk & Western Railway's old freight station on Norfolk Avenue.
Some exhibits are deteriorating because they are exposed to the weather. They include railroad engines, boxcars, buses, trolleys, trucks and fire engines.
The museum announced plans to construct a $3.7 million addition tothe freight station to cover the exhibits that are stored outdoors. Other exhibits are stored inside.
Not only will the plan help preserve the exhibits, museum officials said, but it will enhance the museum's role as a tourist attraction to draw more people to downtown.
Covering the exhibits is expected to produce a 30 to 40 percent increase in the 70,000 people who visit the museum annually, they said.
"The new facility will help us better preserve our collections as well as afford a comfortable setting for visitors to view our collections all year long," said Roy E. Butcher, president and chairman of the museum's board.
The museum will rely heavily on federal funds to help finance the building, which will be divided into six bays.
The money would be raised over the next five years, and the addition would be built in phases.
The museum is seeking $669,600 in federal money to build the first bay.
At a news conference, Butcher said the museum hopes to raise some funds privately from corporations and individuals.
Mayor David Bowers has proposed that the city provide $1 million for the museum in a bond issue next year.
"This proposed new addition to the museum should be viewed as a significant piece of the plan to spark tourism and enhance economic development in downtown," said Bowers, who also attended the news conference.
"The timing of this undertaking could not be any better," he said, noting the plan for renovating Hotel Roanoke and the development of a linear park along the railroad tracks.
Joseph Wright, president of Downtown Roanoke, Inc., said the plan to cover the exhibits will make the museum "more alluring and more visible for tourists and visitors" to the city.
The new addition will focus on the historical aspect of the museum's freight station, giving visitors the feeling that they are in a working station, Butcher said.
A brick-and-concrete platform will be built between the rows of trains like the original rail yard to allow for convenient strolling space for visitors. The building supports for the roofing will also be exposed to enhance the working-station feeling.
The front section of the proposed structure will include a landscaped area for picnic tables and a two-story deck so that visitors can survey the railroad collection its entirety and take pictures.
Each bay will measure 116 feet by 150 feet, totaling 17,400 square feet. The structure will extend for almost two blocks.
Memo: a slightly different version ran in the paper.