ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610280031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
FUNDS ARE POURING IN from sources near and far, big and small, to the Transportation Museum.
Support for the Virginia Museum of Transportation's ambitious $2million renovation and building project has come from a variety of fans of things that go clickety-clack.
A family in Georgia sends a $6.11 check every month, in honor of the Class J No.611 steam locomotive that rests in the museum's rail yard. A little boy in North Carolina sent the proceeds from sales at his lemonade stand.
"What we see is the great love so many of our citizens have for the railroad, the romance of it, the excitement," said Kay Houck, museum director. "It's a way of life that these people want to treasure and value."
The latest contribution to the fund-raising campaign for the project comes from an organization that shares with the museum a desire to preserve rail history.
Last week, the Roanoke chapter of the National Railway Historical Society presented a $5,798 check to the museum. The organization held its own fund drive to raise money for the museum's renovation and building project.
The society also made an in-kind contribution of materials and volunteer time, valued at $6,411.
"This was an effort to involve our members and friends to further enhance the historical aspect of the transportation museum," said Bill Arnold, the chapter's national director. "We wanted to work toward preserving what we have in the museum."
The museum - on Norfolk Avenue in downtown Roanoke - launched a campaign one year ago to raise $1million to more than match an $813,000 city bond referendum approved by voters in 1994 for museum improvements. That, plus a $228,000 federal transportation grant, will pay for the renovation and building project.
The campaign has raised about $172,000 so far, including last week's contribution from the rail society, Houck said. The first part of the renovation, which will cost $338,000, involves the entire front of the building and could begin before the end of the year, Houck said.
For information about the Virginia Museum of Transportation's fund-raising campaign, call (540) 342-5670.
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