B&O Railroad Museum
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| Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum and Mount Clare Station | |
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| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
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| Location: | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1830 |
| Architect: | Baldwin, E. Francis |
| Architectural style(s): | Georgian |
| Designated as NHL: | September 15, 1961[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966[2] |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000906 |
| Governing body: | Private |
The B&O Railroad Museum is the current name of a museum that opened in Baltimore, Maryland on 4 July 1953, as the Baltimore & Ohio Transportation Museum. It is located in the historic Mt. Clare Station and is the site of the B&O Railroad's historic Mt. Clare Shops.
Mount Clare is considered to be a birthplace of American railroading.[citation needed] The museum and station were designated as a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1961.[1][1][3]
The museum houses collections of 19th- and 20th-century artifacts related to America's railroads. The collection includes 250 pieces of railroad rolling stock, 15,000 artifacts, 5000 cubic feet (140 m³) of archival material, four significant nineteenth-century buildings, including the historic roundhouse, and a mile of track, considered the most historic mile of railroad track in the United States. Train rides are offered on the mile of track on Wednesday through Sunday from April through December and weekends in January.
The museum also features an outdoor G-scale layout, an indoor HO scale model, and a wooden model train that children will enjoy climbing on. From Thanksgiving through the New Year, local model railroad groups set up large layouts on the roundhouse floor and in select locations on the grounds of the museum. A museum store offers toys, books, DVDs and other railroad-related items.
Recently, in 2008, the Museum has won three awards in Nickelodeon's Parents' Picks Awards in the categories of: Best Museum for Little Kids, Best Indoor Playspace for Little Kids, and Best Indoor Playspace for Big Kids.
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[edit] Restoration
On the morning of February 16, 2003, heavy snow from the Presidents' Day Storm collapsed the roof of the museum's Baldwin roundhouse (built in 1884).[4] The museum suffered heavy damage not only to the roundhouse itself but also to the collection within the roundhouse. Some of the items were damaged beyond repair. The roundhouse, with a newly repaired roof, reopened to the public on November 13, 2004. Repairs are ongoing to the damaged exhibits.
Within the roundhouse three locomotives (including the Thatcher Perkins) that were damaged by the roof collapse remain on display, albeit behind protective glass. The roof collapse, subsequent fund raising and the restoration allowed the museum to upgrade many of its facilities. In 2005 the museum opened a new service facility west of the roundhouse for restoration of historical equipment and maintenance of active equipment. As of March 10, 2006, members of the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore are entitled to go to the Ellicott City Station free of charge.
[edit] Exhibits
The museum's holdings and include both originals and replicas, some of which were built by the B&O for its centennial "Fair of the Iron Horse" in 1927. Notable exhibits include:
- Baltimore and Ohio #25: The William Mason 4-4-0 built in 1856, most recently used in the movie Wild Wild West.
- Chesapeake and Ohio Railway #490: Streamlined "Hudson" (4-6-4 type).
- Chesapeake and Ohio #1604: One of two surviving "Allegheny"-class 2-6-6-6 locomotives.
- Pennsylvania Railroad #4876: GG1 electric, not currently on display, that crashed into Washington D.C.'s Union Station in 1953 in the Federal Express train wreck.
- Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad ("Ma & Pa") inspection car and Railway post office car (pictured).
- B&O Royal Blue Line 1890s-era coach (pictured).
- Baltimore and Ohio #3802: An EMD GP38 named the All American Locomotive by Trains in 1982.
 Cornerstone of the B&O, laid July 4, 1828 by Charles Carroll of Carrollton |
.jpg) "Atlantic" #2, an 0-4-0 "Grasshopper" built in 1832 by Phineas Davis and Israel Gartner, one of the oldest surviving locomotives |
 Early B&O rolling stock of the 1830s |
.jpg) "Memnon" #57, an 0-8-0 built in 1848 by Newcastle Mfg., one of the oldest surviving freight locomotives |
.jpg) Pullman Palace Car #445 built in 1890 for the B&O Royal Blue |
 Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad baggage/RPO combine #35, built in 1906 by the Ma & Pa |
 B&O equipment of the 1950s–1960s |
 Roundhouse Trains |
 Wrecked Train |
[edit] Ellicott City Station
The B&O's station in Ellicott City, Maryland, also part of the museum, is the oldest surviving railroad station in America. [5] The Main Depot building was completed in 1830-1831 by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The site also includes the 1885 freight house, a replica of the first horse-drawn passenger rail car, and a 1927 "I-5" caboose. Exhibits highlight the people who built and operated America's first railroad, the role of the railroad in the Civil War, and the changes wrought by the development of rail transportation.
The freight house features a 40-foot HO-gauge model train layout showing the first 13 miles (21 km) of commercial rail track between Baltimore and Ellicott Mills, as Ellicott City was then known. The museum also offers living history programs.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Baltimore and Ohio Transportation Museum and Mount Clare Station". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
- ^ National Register of Historic Places Inventory-NominationPDF (32 KB), National Park Service and Accompanying photos, exterior and interiorPDF (32 KB)
- ^ "About the Museum: History of the Museum". Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum (2005). Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
- ^ "What's Here: Historic Site". B&O Railroad Museum: Ellicott City Station (2005). Retrieved on 2008-09-26.
[edit] External links
- B&O Railroad Museum Website
- B&O Railroad Museum: Ellicott City Station
- The Baltimore Collective — MediaWiki cultural archive project for Baltimore, Maryland US
- Baltimore, Maryland, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
- B & O Transportation Museum & Mount Clare Station, Baltimore City, including photo in 1992, at Maryland Historical Trust
- Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Mount Clare Passenger Car Shop, Southwest corner of Pratt & Poppleton Streets, Baltimore, Independent City, MD: 3 drawings, 25 photos, 4 data pages, 4 photo caption pages and 1 color transparency, at Historic American Building Survey
- Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Mount Clare Station, 500 block West Pratt Street, Baltimore, Independent City, MD: 1 photo, 1 data page at Historic American Building Survey
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