The B&O was the first passenger railroad in the United States; the cornerstone for the initial tracks is at the museum (after having been buried in the 1800s). At one point the B&O employed tens of thousands of workers running a network that stretched from Baltimore and New York to Chicago and St. Louis. Many of those workers built and repaired locomotives and passenger and freight cars at the complex of shops where the museum is now located.
The museum portrays the evolution of railroads from the initial days when a horse pulled a wagon on rails to the first rudimentary open-air steam engines to the increasingly sophisticated Civil War-era locomotives (including the one that pulled President-Elect Lincoln's train through Baltimore in the middle of the night while mobs plotted to stop him when he was on his way to Washington for his first inauguration). Eventually the locomotives grew to mammoth versions (the Allegheny class) capable of hauling 160 loaded coal cars over the mountains. It's amazing to think of the engineering and manufacturing skills that were needed to build the equipment.
Our volunteer guide, Mike Kline, was extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Overall I would highly recommend the museum. It does a great job of explaining the development of the railroads and showing how they affected how everyone in the country lived. Plus, it's located in an architectural landmark that's an inspiring space all by itself.
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| At the B&O Railroad Museum Roundhouse |
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| Our capable guide, Mike Kline, explains how an early steam locomotive worked |
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| A Civil War-era locomotive |
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| Poster for the museum, showing the Roundhouse in the center |
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