NEWS - RAILROADING MERIT BADGES TO BE EARNED THIS WEEKEND

Railroading Merit Badges to be earned this weekend

		Thursday, November 03, 2011
Hundreds of Boy Scouts this weekend will spend a busy and fun-filled time at the North Carolina Transportation Museum earning their Railroading Merit Badges during Rail Camp, Nov. 4-6. Troops will spend Friday through Sunday at the museum, the site of the former Southern Railway Spencer Shops steam locomotive repair facility. This year the museum will host a record number of scouts—460, including troop leaders, from 23 troops. Most of the attending troops are from North Carolina, from as close by as Salisbury, Concord, and Lexington, but the cities of Greer, Spartanburg, Simpsonville, and Tega Cay will represent South Carolina. There one troop from Alta Vista, Va. Scouts attending Rail Camp will earn their Railroading Merit Badge with the completion of several activities. After a scavenger hunt, the afternoon will be dedicated to learning how a diesel-electric locomotive works, how to identify different types of railcars, the importance of railroad signals, and railroad safety. Troops will also learn about modern railroad companies and how to plan a trip by rail. Brian Moffitt, Educational Programming Coordinator at the N.C. Transportation Museum, heads up the event. Moffitt became an Eagle Scout in 1991, before the museum began offering such a program. “This is an experience I was never able to have, and it’s great to offer it to others who might also become Eagle Scouts some day,” he says Moffitt. As for the rising numbers of troops attending the event each year, Moffitt attributes word of mouth among troop leaders. “Local councils and districts find out about what we do from the troops who have attended,” he says. “They enjoy their experience and are more than willing to share.” The North Carolina Transportation Museum is part of the Division of Historic Sites and the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, which annually serves more than 19 million people through its 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, the nation’s first state-supported Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the N.C. Arts Council, and the State Archives.