Crewe Railroad Museum

Crewe exists because of the railroad. The Norfolk & Western founded the town in 1888 as a central location for its steam locomotive repair shops, laid out the street pattern at the same time, and named the new community for the English railway town of Crewe in Cheshire. The repair facility's importance fell away sharply in the 1950s, when the switch to diesel-electric locomotives required far less labor and equipment than steam, though the railroad — now Norfolk Southern — still operates a rail yard here for east-west trains carrying Appalachian coal to Hampton Roads for export. The Crewe Railroad Museum, at 125 Carolina Street, keeps that heritage in view from inside the town's former Norfolk & Western passenger station, which later served Amtrak; it features a permanent model train layout and a handful of rolling stock, and is open year-round.