Roanoke survivor

The streetcar under the tarp at this link is the Roanoke Railway & Electric car owned by the Commonwealth Coach & Trolley Museum, which suffered a devastating fire about two months ago now. Initially there was some speculation about whether the car had been destroyed but written accounts stated that it had survived, and indeed here it is, wrapped in old billboard coverings and - according to the caption - awaiting transportation to a new site. The CC&TM website indicates that the organization is being merged into the Virginia Museum of Transportation across town, which is separately listed on the PNAERC list as it owns two mainline electric locomotives and a Washington DC streetcar, but for the moment CC&TM appears to be doing its own fundraising as a distinct entity. 

The streetcar is in rough shape, as it was acquired after service as a house that included removal of part or all of one entire side of the car, but it's the only Roanoke streetcar preserved in the state. Unfortunately the museum lost most of its restored buses in the fire; this photo, taken from the concrete pad that used to be the museum's storage garage, shows what's left of the museum.

Terrible news from Roanoke

It appears that the Commonwealth Coach & Trolley Museum in Roanoke was devastated by an overnight fire this past evening, as reported here. The museum is primarily a bus museum but owns one Roanoke streetcar body (or maybe two*). The brick building that was used as the museum's primary storage garage appears to have been completely destroyed by the fire, with only the exterior brick walls left standing and the roof collapsed in on the buses stored inside. It's not obvious from Google Street View and overhead photos whether the streetcar was stored outside; it looks like it was stored outside under a tarp but it's tough to tell for sure. If it was stored outside it may have survived; if it was indoors then it almost certainly didn't.

It's impossible not to think of the parallels with the National Capital fire that took place back in 2003 and destroyed a significant part of that museum's historic collection, including several unique and fully-restored pieces of equipment. I'm not familiar with the CC&TM's bus collection, nor would I be able to readily identify the significance of whatever pieces were lost, but it's undoubtedly a bad day for preservation. From the perspective of the PNAERC list I hope to find out at some point what exactly happened to the museum's streetcar body. UPDATE: an article here says that the museum's streetcar body did, in fact, survive the fire. It's not clear but the car may have been moved to a different location, possibly to the Virginia Museum of Transportation across town.

*There were until recently two Roanoke streetcars listed on the PNAERC list as owned by CC&TM, both unidentified as to fleet number, one built in 1917 and one in 1927. However the 1927 car has not been listed on the museum's website for some years and is thought to have been scrapped. Anyone know for sure?