Well, this being my last week of "freedom" as I start on CSXT next week as a conductor, I took a trip to Baltimore Monday to see the B&O Museum. Well, I must say that I was impressed. Most of the equipment actually had significance to the area and belonged there. There was a good cross section of both everyday freight equipment and the oddball stuff (check out that clearance car!). There were a few pieces of equipment that needed cosmetic restoration, but overall the stuff was in better condition than what I have found at many museums that only have a couple of pieces of equipment to maintain.<p>One thing did stick out though. There is a Fairbanks Morse switcher that is planned to be painted into a B&O scheme. However, the unit is ex Milwaukee Road. With all the other deserving B&O and Maryland related equipment out there deserving of display at the B&O Museum, I wonder why they would use valuable track space for a unit that doesn't belong, especially when all those authentic B&O diesels sit in the back lot away from visitors.<p>Oh well, if that's the only nit I can pick from my visit, then I guess they're doing alright. :-)<br>



bighookx45@aol.com

The was one of the Museum's more controversial aquisitions. The FM came from the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, in a swap for the B&O Museum's PRR GG-1 #4890.<p>The arugment was that the GG-1 was not core to the B&O Museum's collection, and (secondly and somewhat in contradition to the first) was duplicated by a second (albeit unrestored) GG-1 also in the Museum collection. Meanwhile, the FM could be restored to stand in for a class of early B&O dielsels of which there are no survivors.<p>Personally, I disagreed with this decision both at the time and since. While the GG-1 wasn't B&O, it was certainly a representative part of the Maryland railroad scene for half a centry, as well as being a landmark in industrial design. While I might have been reconciled to a trade for a genuine B&O unit of a rare class, trading it for an ersatz struck me as a deal better not made. As it is, the FM is liable to sit outside indefinitely, as many other pieces with stronger historic claims are ahead of it in their restoration queue.<br><br>



eledbetter@rypn.org

I agree that the PRR 4876 does fit into the B&O Museum's collection goals. It is representative of the class of locomotive that powered passenger trains over the Pennsy's electrified lines in Maryland. I feel the museum made the right decision in trading off the other GG1 as 4876 is certainly more historic (remember the bumping block smashing contest in Washington Union Station?). Now that they have an equally rare Fairbanks Morse diesel locomotive, the museum should be using it as trading stock to acquire other real B&O and Maryland significant equipment.<br>



bighookx45@aol.com