Saturday, April 15, 2006
B&O Railroad Museum 03-19-06
Click Here for photo album.
[Photographs posted under the approval of the B&O Railroad Museum.]
I went to the B&O Railroad Museum on March 19th but just recently got permission to post the photos from the museum. The delay is my fault due to not following up on an action. I had been asked by someone on Trainboard about copyrights on images I had taken but of subjects owned by someone else and I had intended to put a brief thing up here about relevant copyright law, but I was not able to find anything. I am fairly certain copyright law covers this and even if it doesn’t I would prefer to abide by a facility’s policies. Otherwise I would not have bothered to A) check for the policies (as I do prior to going to a place so I don’t wind up getting a “nastygram” from someone’s lawyer) or B) ask for permission as this museum’s policy requires. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dave Shackelford, Chief Curator at the museum, for his assistance and patience in providing me the permission required to display these photos here and at the webshots album.
Now that we’ve gotten that fun stuff out of the way I can talk about the museum itself (aerial photo). This is the first time I had been to the museum since prior to the collapse of part of the roof of the roundhouse dome on February 16th, 2003 as a result of heavy snow (Baltimore Sun article, and another). It was a massive snowfall. The result to the museum is damaged and smashed exhibits (see the image in the first article for a view into the damaged roundhouse). Another result was the cancellation of the Fair of the Iron Horse which was to mark the 175th anniversary of railroading in the US. Prior to this the Baltimore & Ohio Museum was an excellent museum in my view. However, they truly made lemonade out of lemons and not only repaired the roof but took the opportunity of the museum’s closure to make several changes to the layout and to exhibits which have made this place truly a world class museum. The reorientation makes better use of space inside the museum and provides a glimpse into the Mount Claire (the site of the museum) station, the first passenger railroad station in the United States, several collections including clocks and timepieces, scale replicas of railroad equipment including a cutaway view of an FT diesel locomotive and other excellent additions and changes.
Outside the roundhouse they have constructed a pair of covered raised walkways which gives you access to enter some of the railcars and views through the windows of others. There’s a caboose you can enter and climb up into the cupola, a “reefer” (refrigerated car) that appears to
be oriented towards kids and is mainly a theater – a movie about model railroads was showing when I went into the car. Another car has their brand new HO Scale layout which shows scenery from modern downtown Baltimore to the mountains of Western Maryland and is quite spectacular. It is not the level of quality that I had expected given the availability of techniques and skills that are available, particularly here in Maryland, but it is still very much worth seeing. I spent quite some time inside there looking at the scenery and watching the several trains that were running. The area where the old layout that had been inside the museum building is no longer accessible and I believe it had been dismantled. Still another car has access to a World War II “troop car” which is a fascinating exhibit about how GIs were transported to where they needed to go. The diesel shop is now also open from time to time and there is quite a bit to see in here including some equipment (such as the C&O Streamliner and the Allegheny) that had been outside previously. There is quite a variety of equipment on the grounds and in the roundhouse. Since there is limited space at the museum they had to carefully pick and choose what goes where for best display effect. Some equipment has been moved around and probably will continue to be moved around over time. The result is that your favorite equipment might not be in the place where you can get the best view of it. For example, the BL2 was placed next to a fence so while I could get a good look at it, I couldn’t get a good picture of it. But I feel they have done a great job with the space they have, especially with the equipment in the roundhouse and other buildings. Of the equipment in the roundhouse they have on display three locomotives that had been damaged in the roof collapse 
protected by a clear plastic barrier both to protect the visitors and the equipment. There are signs in front of each locomotive describing the cost to repair it. The roundhouse also houses some of the oldest equipment on the property and some interesting types of equipment such as a Shay type locomotive. Signage around the museum describing the exhibits is good. There is a G scale model railroad outside the roundhouse the kids will love. There are train rides along the first mile of commercial (or “common carrier”) railroads tracks in the United States from April to December and is included in the price of admission.
What really makes this museum special goes beyond the fact that it is a collection of equipment. This museum has good focus and definition of purpose. It is also attractive, clean and well staffed with attendants willing and eager to answer questions. It takes the time and space to explain various aspects of railroading and has reached out to people of varying ages and interests levels. This is a fantastic place to take kids whether they have an avid interest in trains or if they have shown no particular interest. There is not a lot of walking involved here so short legs won’t get worn out yet there are plenty of things for kids with short attention spans to jump between various exhibits. This is also an excellent place for adults to visit whether a railfan, a fan of American or industrial history, or are just looking for something new and interesting to see. The wide variety of different kinds of exhibits and equipment will satisfy any level of interest in railroading.
Tragically and confusingly the “Donation Info” page on their website provides no information at all of any of the projects that require funding, what funding level is needed and what the progress is. This is most confusing because following the roof collapse there were near weekly photos and updates being made to the website on repairs being done to the dome and what other projects they had in mind. I don’t understand why they don’t follow this same basic philosophy in order to make people aware that there are specific projects needing funding. I don’t think a weekly update is needed, but maybe an update monthly or quarterly would be good. Ideally in my view would be a blog so people could create RSS subscriptions and get updates as they occur. In this way they would be able to generate excitement about the projects they have. Fortunately they have facilities for making online donations. If you have the ability and desire to give to the B&O Railroad Museum, please do. The museum facilities are also available for event rental.
The bottom line is this is a great place to spend some time. I am a member of the museum and have museum license plates on my van. (The photo to the left was taken in Galesburg, Illinois where I was taking the first sets of pictures I uploaded to webshots almost 3 years ago. It was taken with a point and shoot film camera instead of the Canon S2 IS I have been using since summer 2005.) I don’t go here nearly as often as I want to, but I intend to make a return visit fairly soon so I can give some specific exhibits closer attention and take another ride on their train.
[Photographs posted under the approval of the B&O Railroad Museum.]
I went to the B&O Railroad Museum on March 19th but just recently got permission to post the photos from the museum. The delay is my fault due to not following up on an action. I had been asked by someone on Trainboard about copyrights on images I had taken but of subjects owned by someone else and I had intended to put a brief thing up here about relevant copyright law, but I was not able to find anything. I am fairly certain copyright law covers this and even if it doesn’t I would prefer to abide by a facility’s policies. Otherwise I would not have bothered to A) check for the policies (as I do prior to going to a place so I don’t wind up getting a “nastygram” from someone’s lawyer) or B) ask for permission as this museum’s policy requires. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dave Shackelford, Chief Curator at the museum, for his assistance and patience in providing me the permission required to display these photos here and at the webshots album.
Now that we’ve gotten that fun stuff out of the way I can talk about the museum itself (aerial photo). This is the first time I had been to the museum since prior to the collapse of part of the roof of the roundhouse dome on February 16th, 2003 as a result of heavy snow (Baltimore Sun article, and another). It was a massive snowfall. The result to the museum is damaged and smashed exhibits (see the image in the first article for a view into the damaged roundhouse). Another result was the cancellation of the Fair of the Iron Horse which was to mark the 175th anniversary of railroading in the US. Prior to this the Baltimore & Ohio Museum was an excellent museum in my view. However, they truly made lemonade out of lemons and not only repaired the roof but took the opportunity of the museum’s closure to make several changes to the layout and to exhibits which have made this place truly a world class museum. The reorientation makes better use of space inside the museum and provides a glimpse into the Mount Claire (the site of the museum) station, the first passenger railroad station in the United States, several collections including clocks and timepieces, scale replicas of railroad equipment including a cutaway view of an FT diesel locomotive and other excellent additions and changes.Outside the roundhouse they have constructed a pair of covered raised walkways which gives you access to enter some of the railcars and views through the windows of others. There’s a caboose you can enter and climb up into the cupola, a “reefer” (refrigerated car) that appears to
be oriented towards kids and is mainly a theater – a movie about model railroads was showing when I went into the car. Another car has their brand new HO Scale layout which shows scenery from modern downtown Baltimore to the mountains of Western Maryland and is quite spectacular. It is not the level of quality that I had expected given the availability of techniques and skills that are available, particularly here in Maryland, but it is still very much worth seeing. I spent quite some time inside there looking at the scenery and watching the several trains that were running. The area where the old layout that had been inside the museum building is no longer accessible and I believe it had been dismantled. Still another car has access to a World War II “troop car” which is a fascinating exhibit about how GIs were transported to where they needed to go. The diesel shop is now also open from time to time and there is quite a bit to see in here including some equipment (such as the C&O Streamliner and the Allegheny) that had been outside previously. There is quite a variety of equipment on the grounds and in the roundhouse. Since there is limited space at the museum they had to carefully pick and choose what goes where for best display effect. Some equipment has been moved around and probably will continue to be moved around over time. The result is that your favorite equipment might not be in the place where you can get the best view of it. For example, the BL2 was placed next to a fence so while I could get a good look at it, I couldn’t get a good picture of it. But I feel they have done a great job with the space they have, especially with the equipment in the roundhouse and other buildings. Of the equipment in the roundhouse they have on display three locomotives that had been damaged in the roof collapse 
protected by a clear plastic barrier both to protect the visitors and the equipment. There are signs in front of each locomotive describing the cost to repair it. The roundhouse also houses some of the oldest equipment on the property and some interesting types of equipment such as a Shay type locomotive. Signage around the museum describing the exhibits is good. There is a G scale model railroad outside the roundhouse the kids will love. There are train rides along the first mile of commercial (or “common carrier”) railroads tracks in the United States from April to December and is included in the price of admission.
What really makes this museum special goes beyond the fact that it is a collection of equipment. This museum has good focus and definition of purpose. It is also attractive, clean and well staffed with attendants willing and eager to answer questions. It takes the time and space to explain various aspects of railroading and has reached out to people of varying ages and interests levels. This is a fantastic place to take kids whether they have an avid interest in trains or if they have shown no particular interest. There is not a lot of walking involved here so short legs won’t get worn out yet there are plenty of things for kids with short attention spans to jump between various exhibits. This is also an excellent place for adults to visit whether a railfan, a fan of American or industrial history, or are just looking for something new and interesting to see. The wide variety of different kinds of exhibits and equipment will satisfy any level of interest in railroading.Tragically and confusingly the “Donation Info” page on their website provides no information at all of any of the projects that require funding, what funding level is needed and what the progress is. This is most confusing because following the roof collapse there were near weekly photos and updates being made to the website on repairs being done to the dome and what other projects they had in mind. I don’t understand why they don’t follow this same basic philosophy in order to make people aware that there are specific projects needing funding. I don’t think a weekly update is needed, but maybe an update monthly or quarterly would be good. Ideally in my view would be a blog so people could create RSS subscriptions and get updates as they occur. In this way they would be able to generate excitement about the projects they have. Fortunately they have facilities for making online donations. If you have the ability and desire to give to the B&O Railroad Museum, please do. The museum facilities are also available for event rental.
The bottom line is this is a great place to spend some time. I am a member of the museum and have museum license plates on my van. (The photo to the left was taken in Galesburg, Illinois where I was taking the first sets of pictures I uploaded to webshots almost 3 years ago. It was taken with a point and shoot film camera instead of the Canon S2 IS I have been using since summer 2005.) I don’t go here nearly as often as I want to, but I intend to make a return visit fairly soon so I can give some specific exhibits closer attention and take another ride on their train.
