Larry Neal, Chief of Museum Services and Education, is currently working on a photographic book on the history of Spencer Shops, the Town of Spencer and East Spencer. The book, “Southern Railway’s Historic Spencer Shops,” will include chapters on the creation of Spencer Shops and the town, steam operation, diesel operation, the people of Spencer and the demise of the shops.

The final product will be part of the “Images of Rail” series by Arcadia Publishing. “Southern Railway’s Historic Spencer Shops” will join the more than 150 titles already available in the series. The book will be published in the fall of 2011.

More than 200 photos will be featured when published. To aid in this endeavor, the museum is asking anyone who might have photos of the site, workers or townspeople of Spencer during the Spencer Shops’ heyday to check through their collections. “We’re seeking previously unpublished photos of Spencer Shops with a large section of the book focusing on the employees and townspeople, which is something that hasn’t been done previously,” said Neal.

Due to publication guidelines, the museum requests that original photographs be brought to the museum for scanning if possible. Original print images are preferred over computer generated prints to insure the best publishing quality. Information on photographs such as location, date and names of individuals if known would be helpful to aid in writing captions.

For more information or to schedule a time to bring your photos to the museum or to make other arrangements to have your photos scanned, contact Neal at (704) 636-2889 x.227 or larry.neal@ncdcr.gov.

Original postcards can also be used, but the majority should be photographic images. Everyone who contributes will be credited in the book, and copyright must be strictly adhered to for publication.

The N.C. Transportation Museum is located in historic Spencer Shops; the former Southern Railway repair facility is located just five minutes off I-85 at Exit 79 in Spencer, and about an hour from Charlotte, Greensboro or Winston-Salem. The museum is part of the Division of Historic Sites and the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future. Visit www.nctrans.org for more information. For information on the Department of Cultural Resources, call (919) 807-7385 or visit www.ncculture.com.