Visitor status: Collection transition; confirm current access
The Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society’s outdoor museum belongs to the story of a railway city and the volunteers who worked to preserve its industrial heritage. The organization dates to 1959, and its historical activities have included collections, a library, passenger equipment and railway excursions. Its name is closely associated with Huntington’s railway identity, but the most useful way to understand the collection is through the practical choices of preservation: what a local group can save, maintain and eventually pass to another custodian.
For decades, a major feature was Chesapeake & Ohio steam locomotive No. 1308. Local reporting records that it had stood outdoors in Huntington since 1962, making it a familiar landmark to generations of residents. In September 2025, news emerged that the historical society had donated the engine to the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek, Ohio. The reasons described included the challenge of caring for a very large machine with an aging volunteer membership. The donation was intended to give the locomotive a new preservation future.
That transfer became visible in October 2026, when West Virginia reporting photographed the locomotive being lifted and prepared for departure. The story is a reminder that a museum collection is not necessarily fixed forever in one place. A famous local exhibit can become part of another institution’s work, taking its history and the memories attached to it along with the physical machine. Older photographs and directories should therefore not be treated as evidence that No. 1308 remains available to see at Huntington.
The society’s historical record also distinguishes its office and library from the outdoor museum location. That distinction matters for anyone researching railway history or trying to understand older visitor accounts. A further qualification is that the National Railway Historical Society now marks the chapter listing inactive, while retaining older descriptions of its activities.
Visitor information
Researched November 2026.
Sources
More railroad museums in West Virginia
- Martinsburg Roundhouse — Martinsburg: Historic railway shop and roundhouse complex
- Rowlesburg Depot Museum — Rowlesburg: Depot and railroad history museum
- West Virginia Railroad Museum — Elkins: Railroad history museum
- All 4 railroad museums and sites in West Virginia
Keep exploring
- All heritage sites — museums, stations and landmarks
- Southeast — the trains you can ride in the region