Southern Railway Spencer Shops
# Southern Railway Spencer Shops

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.

## History

Southern Railway officially opened the shops on October 19, 1896. In 1905 a back shop was opened in Spencer, enabling the facility to overhaul 10 to 15 locomotives at one time. In 1924, a 37-stall roundhouse and 100 foot-long electric turntable were opened. A coaling tower was erected in the 1920s to replace the coaling dock near the classification yard.

### Later history

Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, Southern Railway used the Spencer Shops as its main repair repair facility for diesel locomotives on eastern lines operating in the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia. The shops ceased working on steam engines in 1953, when the railway company phased them out. 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. The unused buildings were not maintained and their physical condition rapidly declined. 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.

### Creation of museum and preservation

In 1977 Southern railway donated the back shop, master mechanic's office, a warehouse, and the flue shop 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. The museum opened to the public in 1983.

