Steve Mersch and Jerry Shepardson will present “North Carolina Rail Transportation History and the N.C. Transportation Museum” at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 29, in EPIC, G287.
Mersch and Sheparson, president and vice president of the N.C. Transportation Museum, respectively, lead a team of volunteers who preserve North Carolina’s rich transportation heritage. In the 20th century, Spencer was home to the Southern Railway’s Spencer Shops, once the largest steam locomotive repair facility for the railway. At its peak, Spencer Shops employed nearly 3,000 people.
Spencer is now home to the N.C. Transportation Museum, formed in 1977. The museum, administered under the Department of Cultural Affairs, is supported by the nonprofit N.C. Transportation Museum Foundation.
The N.C. Transportation Museum showcases the history of transportation in the state, and it is a functional restoration facility for locomotives, airplanes and cars.
The Jan. 29 presentation is the first talk in the inaugural UNC Charlotte Rail Lecture Series, sponsored by the Lee College of Engineering.