B&O Railroad Museum
Aug 6th, 2007 by Cory
So I guess it’s time to update this blog…I heard a rumor that Blogimore was up for a MOODB (Most Out Of Date Blog award). There’s lots of reasons for my inactivity: family in town, busy at work, refereeing a battle between a pirate and a ninja, and downright laziness.
The good news is, during my lapse I did have lots of family in town. Family in town always means hitting the touristy spots that you would otherwise never hit. So, if my laziness inertia can be overcome, there will be more posts soon about our activities out and about in Baltimore.
Continuously looking for ways to make my life seem meaningless and shallow, Lisa left on Saturday to continue her great work with kids diagnosed with cancer at a camp sponsored by the American Cancer Society. She helps kids with cancer, I write cynical, snarky blog posts filled with an air of superiority. I like to think we both do our part to help mankind.
So anyway, Lisa was gone this week so I was looking for some activity where I could nerd out. I settled on the B&O Railroad Museum. I didn’t get there until 3:50 (pronounced tree fitty Saturday afternoon, a little more than an hour before closing time. At the urging of the cashier, I checked out the backyard first. Now I’m no train dork (aka a “trainy”), but the collection at the museum was amazing. Items range from wood-fired steam locomotives to modern diesel-electric locomotives to MARC passenger cars from the 1960s. In the old car shop, you could step inside an old steam locotive, peer into an engine pulled out and displayed on the floor, or peer up at the crane still suspended from the ceiling. The sites and sounds of the car shop reminded me of the family body shop and wrecking yard back in south Arkansas.
The sheer size of the round house is intimidating. I’m not a great judge of distance, but I would guess that it is at least 100 yards in diameter. Based on the size of these monster locomotives, it makes sense that the roundhouse would have to be so ginormous.
Back inside the (thankfully air conditioned) exhibit gallery, they have models of trains and engines from all eras of rail travel. There is also a display of the fine china used in the dining cars back in the day. In the very back, you’ll find an eery room filled with clocks, displaying how critically important accurate timekeeping was and still is to the industry. Most disappointing, however, was the conspicuous absense of a hobo exhibit, or any hobo tribute at all. Shameless.
