O. Winston Link Museum

In 1895 the owners of Norfolk and Western Railroad bought 400,000 acres of bituminous coal fields. Train tracks sprouted out from their headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia to dozens of coal mining towns in West Virginia and to coal distribution points and shipping centers. The N&W was one of the few railroad companies that built and maintained their own steam engines and hopper cars. They were also one of the last railroads to use steam and that's where O. Winston Link comes in. Link was a commercial photographer but his hobby was photographing the end of the steam era. His photographs are fantastic! Most are taken at night with multiple flash bulbs to get the exact lighting that he wanted. It could take days to set up the shots. The museum has a wonderful display of his photographs but photography is not permitted in the museum so click here if you want to see some.

The museum and visitor center are housed in the former N&W Passenger Station which was built in 1905 and renovated in 1949 by Raymond Loewy, an industrial designer who used steel and glass in his modernist design. Loewy had a long history with the railroad starting with streamlined shrouds he designed for passenger trains. He also designed passenger-car interiors and advertising material. An exhibit in the lobby of the station covers Loewy's life and career. Loewy and his company were prolific providing designs for everything from company logos to the living quarters of the space station.

The Loewy exhibit is free but there's a small charge for the Link exhibit and the changing exhibits which was about the history of hats when we visited. Pay in the gift shop. 

 

The museum is accessible.

The parking lot is small with signs designating the spa
ces for 15 minute parking. We asked about the parking time limit and we told to ignore that but since our RV would barely fit, we parked on Shenandoah Ave, a bit west of the museum near the elevated walkway that goes over the train tracks. Museum  37.2738, -79.93806