The museum was initially housed in an old Norfolk & Western Railway freight depot on the banks of the Roanoke River.

The earliest components of the museum's collection included a United States Army Jupiter rocket and the J class steam locomotive No.

On April 2, 2012, during VMT's 50 Birthday, the city transferred ownership of the locomotives to the museum.

[4] The Norfolk & Western Railway Freight Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

They are the two-story, 50-bay freight station which was built parallel to the railroad tracks and now is oriented south, and the one-story-with-basement brick annex that formerly housed the offices of the Shenandoah and Radford divisions of the Norfolk & Western.