Southern Railway Spencer Shops

	Southern Railway Spencer Shops
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	The roundhouse and turntable at the Spencer Shops, along with a variety of preserved railroad equipment
Location	Spencer, North Carolina
Coordinates	35°41′13″N 80°26′10″W / 35.68694°N 80.43611°W
Area	57 acres (23 ha)
Built	1896
Built by	Southern Railway Co.
NRHP reference No.	78001972
Added to NRHP	March 17, 1978

The Southern Railway Spencer Shops are a former locomotive repair facility in Spencer, North Carolina. The shops were one of the Southern Railway's primary maintenance facilities. The shops were built in the 1890s and named after Southern Railway president Samuel Spencer. Following dieselization, the need for the Spencer Shops diminished, and the facilities were decommissioned in the 1970s. The Spencer Shops and associated land were donated by the Southern Railway to the state of North Carolina, which established the North Carolina Transportation Museum on the site.^[2]

History

Spencer train repair shop

Aerial view of the shops during operation

Inspecting a diesel locomotive

Men working on a smoke box

Employees of the woodworking shop

Southern Railway officially opened the shops on October 19, 1896.^[3] In 1905 a back shop was opened in Spencer, enabling the facility to overhaul 10 to 15 locomotives at one time. The original shops included a 15-stall roundhouse 194 feet in diameter; a machine shop 204 by 100 feet with annexes for the engine room, tool room, and grinding room; a combination forge and boiler shop 204 by 90 feet; a planing mill 204 by 90 feet with annexes for the boiler room, engine room, office, and shaving tower (used to reclaim wood shavings for fuel); two car repair sheds, each 120 by 50 feet; a storehouse 150 by 40 feet; and sheds for iron, lumber, paint, and oil storage. The buildings were heated by hot air and lighted by electricity from the powerhouse. Two Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company air compressors furnished compressed air for the traveling cranes, hoists, and machinery. Most shops had not yet adopted electricity for tools and machinery, so they were still powered by a system of shafts, pulleys, and belts.^[4]

In 1924, a 37-stall roundhouse and 100 foot-long electric turntable were opened that still stands.^[5] A coaling tower was erected in the 1920s to replace the coaling dock near the classification yard.^[6]

Later history

Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, Southern Railway used the Spencer Shops as its main repair facility for diesel locomotives on eastern lines operating in the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia.^[7] The shops ceased working on steam engines in 1953, when the railway company phased them out.^[5] In the mid-1950s the railway began terminating some jobs and moving workers to other facilities, and by 1960 only the roundhouse and repair shed were still in use by less than 100 workers. Most of the work was concentrated in more modern shops in Atlanta and Chattanooga.^[7] The unused buildings were not maintained and their physical condition rapidly declined.^[8] By 1965, the blacksmith shop, boiler shop, and woodworking shop had been demolished. The workforce decreased into the 1970s and was confined to conducting minor repairs and refueling for diesel locomotives operating out of Spencer Yard. In 1979 Southern Railway opened Linwood Terminal, a hump yard with repair facilities several miles north in Linwood, and Spencer Shops was closed.^[7]

Creation of museum and preservation

In 1977, the Southern Railway donated the back shop, master mechanic's office, a warehouse, and the flue shop buildings to the state of North Carolina to support the creation of the North Carolina Transportation Museum. The rest of the Spencer property, including the car repair shed and oil house, was handed over two years later after the shops were closed.^[9] The museum opened to the public in 1983.^[10]