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New Hope Valley Railway (NHVR) is celebrating 100 years since land was acquired in North Carolina’s Chatham and Wake counties to build the railroad that formerly operated steam engine and diesel locomotive trains to move freight, but now operates as a public museum attraction.

Current NHVR owner East Carolina Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society operates five trains to offer public rides over four track miles the first Sunday of every month between May and December. The society also owns a railroad museum in Bonsal, N.C., which includes cars, locomotives, historic memorabilia and a 600-foot model railroad.

In 1904, W. Roscoe Bonsal and his partners purchased the original right-of-way to build NHVR. The railroad later was sold to the Durham and South Carolina Railroad, which extended the route 41 miles between Durham and Duncan, N.C. Southern Railway then leased the line before it was purchased by the historical society.