Viva Venna Festival

Biked into Vienna and found a lot of interesting things I discovered after I lived here over 15 years, such as the Freeman store museum, pulling the bell of the old church,  the model train in the station on w & O d biking trail, the 1897 old library,  — checked in to Vienna, Virginia.

Freeman Store and Museum sells hand crafted gifts, puzzles, toys, postcards, books, candy, cold drinks, games, candles, post cards and thank you notes, Town of Vienna themed hand made pottery and Civil War themed items among many other things.

The Northern Virginia Model Railroaders (NVMR) is a club of model railroading enthusiasts headquartered in the historic train depot in downtown Vienna, Virginia. The club is over 65 years old and has been at this location for more than 30 years. With a membership of over seventy men and women, the club built and maintains a large and permanent model railroad layout (HO scale) and opens its doors only twelve times each year to the public.

 I enjoyed watching railroad activities that realistically depict an actual railroad that existed in North Carolina in the 1950's. That railroad was called the Western North Carolina (WNC) and every hill, town, building, locomotive, rail car, and industry on our layout is modeled after those places and things as they looked in that era. Well, almost everything; we must admit that to satisfy popular demand, an occasional sighting can be made of Thomas the Tank Engine and a few of his friends chugging around among the bigger steam and diesel locomotives.