Well, what can I say? It reopened.

Strictly for the sake of brevity, I will recount only the major changes:

*The main entrance is now back at the door along Pratt Street in back of where the gift shop used to be, and where the wheelchair access has always been. The gift shop is located in the room that used to be a theatre, and the old Mt. Clare Station entrance is now locked. The old station area is to become a "living history" area, presumably with a recreation of the old station and telegraph floor plan.

The old display areas now feature exhibits on loan from the Smithsonian, as well as the "holy" First Stone Of The B&O. The Smithsonian exhibits include most, if not all, of the large-scale models that used to grace Railroad Hall around the SR 1401. The models are presented with accurate data of what the models represent, but, sadly, do not indicate who actually made the models. In the case of many of the models, that's a crying shame, especially for the giant cutaway EMD E8 model (which, if one reads the labels, was made by EMD). Also on display is the remaining relics of the "Stourbridge Lion" (along with a model), as well as large displays of railroad china and timepieces (the latter a holdover from an earlier B&O Museum exhibition). The old restrooms, a dingy excuse shoehorned into some spare space, has been replaced with modern and clean rooms cleverly wedged into an area between the roundhouse and office building.

The roundhouse looks wonderful--nice new lighting, and a roof--the latter is almost all we ask. The locomotives that were smashed in the collapse are still in their original places, along with the wreckage of the CNJ baggage car, all placed behind huge Plexiglas barriers. Each is accompanied with post-collapse photos, along with restoration estimates. Oddly, all the four steamers have the same price--$537,000 each, despite different damage. The tag for the baggage is $1 million, if I recall correctly--and even then it looks like it'd be 50%+ new material. The refinished turntable features a clear panel above the now-refurbished main bearing.

The old silver "music stand"-style information signs have been replaced with fine graphics-loaded signs mounted on upright stands, a gift of the North American Railroad Foundation--no more picking up kids to let them read the signs. The signs have the added feature of being far less obtrusive to photographers wishing to photograph the pieces, being placed between pieces at vertical posts. Unfortunately, only a few pieces have the luxury of these new signs so far.

The new "platforms" increase wheelchair access tremendously; however, a lot of the ramps beg for additional steps as a shortcut for normally-abled pedestrians to take a shortcut, rather than being forced around the roundabout route. The shiny restored IC refrigerator car is now a theater; the old "Camden Station" combine is now the model railroad exhibit, complete with a handsome miniaturization of Baltimore (even the "B&O Bar" makes it in!). The C-2222 caboose, damaged in the collapse, looks good as new; unfortunately, in the process of making it a gallery of caboose photos, they gutted the interior, leaving no bunks, table, cupola steps, etc.--totally removing the context of why cabooses existed.

The train ride left a bit to be desired. Of course, it was nice to have two ex-MARC PRR cars (and an observation we couldn't ride) that were warm. And there's not much they can do about the the fact that their ride goes through a mile of urban dreck and hell. But at least the crew could have entertained us with a lecture of the history of this spur during that 20 minutes--it has more history than just about any mile of track in America. But we got friendly silence instead. And in spite of TWO Baltimore police officers patroling the area on dirt bikes, the punks in the area STILL managed to throw rocks at the observation car. Grrrr. Also, it's bad enough to have the train ride roll past the worst of the dreck of the storage lines, all covered with graffiti--but it's REALLY bad form to have it pass the flipped remains of two box cars being cut for scrap!

There's no acknowledgement of an upstairs to the old office section now. I suppose this means the Hays T. Watkins Library is now closed off to the public? (Not that it was an open-door policy in the past, but now there's no way to even know it exists!)

The other "left something to be desired" aspect: The Museum reopened by charging their full re-opening admission--$14--while only being partially reopened. I heard a lot of irritation expressed about this.

Other thoughts from other visitors, anyone?

Thank you for the review -- a few questions:

Do you have photos of the IC refrigerator/theater, the Camden Station car (ex dining-car if we are talking about the car used by MARC into the 1990's) and the C-2222? Also, do you know the numbers of the cars are being scrapped?

I hope to visit the musuem before the end of the year - so I will reserve my thoughts until then.

I worked on restoring C2222 in the early 90s. The minimal interior has been like that for as long as I've know the car. It long predates the current renovations, and I'm pretty sure the car came to the museum in that condition.

Prior to the roundhouse collapse it was used for other photo- and text-exhibits, including one I recall on B&O Christmas traditions.

A quick google search found this website from the B&O museum showing the immediate post-collaspe condition of the caboose and a page summarizing its history after leaving revenue service (it did not come directly to the museum).

http://www.borail.org/restoration/20031017.asp

Sandy,

I worked there as a docent most of today. Eric is right, the interior of C-2222 was never restored after it was rescued from an advanced state of deterioration and brought to the museum.

The model railroad is not in the old "Camden Station" dining car, but instead it is in C&O Coach #725.

The damaged locomotives and baggage car are displayed together in an area enclosed by plexiglass. However, the only two pieces in the roundhouse that are on the same tracks as before the collapse are Shay #1, and CNJ 4-4-2 #592. Everything else has been moved.

As for pricing, I heard no complaints from the dozens of visitors that I spoke with today. Everyone was only too happy to see the museum open and operating again.

KLevin Gillespie

Can anyone provide specific information on how this car was modified to accomdate the HO layout?

My apologies for what appear to be several; mistakes in identification on several items in my original missive. I'm obviously confusing C-2222 with my memories of an earlier caboose display that included an intact interior behind plexiglas--and a copy of Trains issue Vol. 1 No. 1 hiding under an old copy of Railroad Magazine on the bunk!

Okay, so the model car is/was C&O.......... so where's the "Camden Station" car?

Certainly you're not going to hear complaints on the price today; the reopening, soft as it may be, is mostly to a crowd pre-disposed to be favorable to the Museum (members, VIP, press, etc.). They're preaching to the choir. What one has to worry about is how the admission affects the mindset of the bread-and-butter of the Museum's attendance: Joe Tourist and his family. I certainly couldn't argue with the $14 adult admission/etc. once the Museum offers a solid half-day or so's worth of entertainment--which, I'm afraid, at the moment, it doesn't yet. And more than a couple of the fellow fans I spoke with afterwards agreed (quietly, and in hushed mutters) that the Museum should have held down the admission until at least the car shop "annex" was opened.

Whatever happened to the four-wheel electric switcher, B&O #10, that was at the museum? I never heard whether it was damaged in the collapse or not. Is it still on display?

Sorry I can't help. The car was sitting on a piece of detached track in the back of the museum, and was never open. I don't know if it was a gutted shell or not. It was painted Pullman green at the time. It is now painted in the blue, yellow and grey C&O scheme of the streamlined era. If I get any more info, I shall be happy to post it.

The former "Camden Station" is behind the 725, just about where it was originally, but is painted solid blue.

The B&O electric switch engine was not in the area where the roof collapsed, but is not currently on display.

The coach was one of the "Imperial Salon" coaches the C&O purchased in the 1920s. It originally had 2-1 seating in what appeared to be swivel-type seats as opposed to standard coach seats. Sometime later in its life the C&O put standard coach seating in the car. I thought the car remained intact, but it may have been missing the seats. Either way, it's current paint job in the streamlined C&O colors is probably more of an accurate repersentation of the car as it is mechanically and cosmetically, save for the model trian layout on the inside.

Nope, the B&O boxcab electric is right where it was before, behind the CNJ 1000, on display with a new explanatory sign and two floor panels opened up to show off the electric motor--basically exactly the same as before, but with the nice NARF sign.

[quote]The C-2222 caboose, damaged in the collapse, looks good as new; unfortunately, in the process of making it a gallery of caboose photos, they gutted the interior, leaving no bunks, table, cupola steps, etc.--totally removing the context of why cabooses existed.
[/quote]

Wasn't the interior of this car missing even before the roof collapse?

James Kissinger