Neal Smith’s death this week brings back memories of a different era in Rowan County politics ó back when he served in the legislature with the likes of Rep. Robie Nash and Sen. Jack Childers and politics was a gentler sport.
Or so it seemed.
Smith served in the N.C. House from 1974 to 1980, losing when Ronald Reagan’s Republican tide washed many a Democrat out of office. These days, people would call it a tsunami. At any rate, Smith held on to his Raleigh ties for a while, working in both the state labor department and the insurance department. But those years in the House were the pinnacle of his political career.
He put them to good use. His most lasting legacy sits along the railroad tracks in Spencer. Smith sponsored a bill in 1977 to create a transportation museum at the old Spencer Shops, something that seemed like a pipe dream back then. He won an appropriation of $160,000 for a two-year study of the proposal ó the glimmer of a beginning.
“It is sad to see something that has meant so much to the South just be left idle to become ruins,” Smith said at the time. “I think the museum will be the greatest tourist attraction North Carolina has.”
Smith’s words sounded like lofty hyperbole. The shops that Southern Railway vacated after the death of the steam engine looked like a rusty, barren hulk at the time. Now, many negotiations and millions in allocations later, the N.C. Transportation Museum is one of the top tourist attractions in the state, one that any serious train buff would find fascinating. So do some not-so-serious train buffs. The museum draws about 100,000 visitors a year, including the throngs that come to see Thomas the Tank Engine, and it has provided scenery for more than one movie.
Countless volunteers, politicians, donors and state employees have contributed to the Transportation Museum’s success through the years, and Smith made many other contributions to his state and community. But he was in the right place at the right time for the Spencer Shops ó a loyal Democrat with the support of a Democratic delegation in pursuit of an ambitious, expensive undertaking. Smith introduced the first legislation, and ultimately he succeeded. Now, thanks to Smith’s initiative, North Carolina has a gem called the Transportation Museum, one that should outlive us all.