Former Age of Steam Museum to move to new site

Dave · **Posted:** Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:23 pm

Gold Coast RR in Miami definitely not urban. More like faceless suburban effluvia. Savannah, however.....out-urbans Ballimer.

dave

Gary Gray · **Posted:** Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:58 am

Randolph R. Ruiz wrote:

Cultural facilities in urban settings generally benefit from their relative adjacency to other attractions, and their accessibility via transit. The big trade offs are that land costs are high, and there is often no room to grow. It is also usually difficult to offer a scenic interpretive train ride in these locations. Off the top of my head, the only other rail museums in urban locations that I can think of CSRM in Sacramento, and the B&O in Baltimore.

VMT is located on the west side of downtown Roanoke. It is only 4 blocks from where the rest of the cultural attractions are clustered (Science Museum, Art Museum, History Museum, O Winston Link Museum, Farmer's Market) but only draws a fraction of the attendance. A short distance can make a big difference. The adjacent trackage is far too busy for interpretive excursions and lacks that all important component known as "scenery". However, since a large portion of the rail collection belongs to the City of Roanoke, I doubt we'll see it moving out near the interstate.

snowrr · **Posted:** Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:40 pm

After living in Dallas for 21 years (moved away about 6 years ago), I would visit the AOS site whenever I went to the Texas State Fair. The museum was confined to a back corner of the fairgrounds with no space for expansion. It was like walking through a very cramped railroad yard, and there was no way to back up from the equipment to get much of a perspective. Walking in between equipment that was so close together was almost spooky - even though I knew the collection was largely stationary, I would find myself unconsciously looking out for moving cars.....

The area around Fair Park was one of those areas where you would not generally stop to change a flat tire, especially at night. During the Fair and other activities it is safer and more heavily patrolled, but the traffic is terrible. Once inside the grounds you are generally OK, but it is good to be aware of your surroundings....