Hi Everyone,
There are some chages going on at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Ranoke VA.
Here is a link to the news piece.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=5173849

Andrew Martin

Hi Everyone,
As a side note I dont know how the loss of the Roof of the VMT and the changing of the directorship will affect the Lost Engines of Roanoke that are still langushing in the Scrapyard. I will try to find out sometime next week if possible.

Andrew Martin

IMHO, having Bev Fitzpatrick come on board at VMT is a very positive development. I have known Bev for nearly 30 years, and he has vision as well as a strong track record in finance and development. Lest I become "flaming" with my comments, I will just say that the Museum's leadership has been somewhat stagnant in recent years.

Hi Gary,

Maybe Bev has arrived at the right time. It seems like there's some additional info on the Ch. 7 website re: spending irrgularities at VMT. What's going on down there anyway??!!

Hanlon's Razor: Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained as incompetence.

It doesn't seem that any of the items mentioned in the (extremely brief and provocative but ultimately uninformative) news bite are necessarily unrelated to the project in hand. Contractors eat, fabrics get cleaned, pawnshops can provide missing hardware and fittings or required tools.

Perhaps the paper trail on each of these petty purchases is a bit too thin for the harried media to immediately grasp while working under deadline. It must be a slow news cycle, but not slow enough.

dave

Hi Everyone,
See the following link for more information on the goings on at the VMT

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=5179037

I am also to understand that the former operators of the gift shop quit after the executive director fired the person incharge of it. This person was actually an unpaid Volunteer.

Lots of things been going on in the past 4 or 5 years.

Also It is my understanding that Asbestos was found in the part of the roof that was destroyed in the storm the other day thus hampering cl;eanup.
Andrew

Hi All,
This from the Roanoke Times

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/74870

Andrew

Hi folks,
Another article on the continuing Saga of what will the Virginia Museum of Transportation do in the next few months and years.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/75791

FWIW
Andrew

Crisis because it needs money, volunteers and support? This isn't a crisis - just everyday business for the average railroad museum.

Sounds like they have the roof / insuance thing under control, and nothing more than rumors about possible finacial problems, no real evidence.

I think they will pull out of this one just fine.

dave

I agree with Dave that the lack of money, volunteers, and support is SOP at most non-profits of any type nowadays. What has been a real concern for many folks in this area who have years of support invested in this museum, is that the "stagnant", self-perpetuating (looking for non-flame adjectives here) leadership at the museum has made the situation far worse than it should be. Change has been needed for a long time, and I think that bringing Bev in is a very positive beginning. If he can bring back some of the leadership that started VMT as a separate entity from the city many years ago (many of whom were later involved in the founding of the O. Winston Link Museum) that will be another very positive step. I'm planning on going back over soon to help out, for the first time since we put 1218 on display in 2003. VMT has a great deal of potential. Properly managed, it can be one of the east's best museums.

Bringing this back up for Steven