Hello all,What is the current status of of B&O Sky Dome 5551 at the Musuem of Transport? The car arrived at MOT in late 2001.Many thanks,Tom Cornillie

Tom,I don't think the museum has done much of anything with the car since it arrived. It is "buried" in storage on one of the tracks that leads into the large display building. It appears to have had a hard life after it's B&O years, including some type of fire damage, or rust damage. This is, of course, speculation. Maybe someone that has been with the museum longer can shed some light on the car.David

I can remember several years ago that the MOT had a crew with shovels and hoses cleaning out the pigeon guano. The car was a derelict in every sense of the word.

I recall a generation ago riding one of those cars during the short time that Amtrak had it. It had soft spots in the floor, especially under the dome. A lot of carbon-steel painted cars did not make it to Amtrak in very good condition a/c the increasing use of road salt at highway crossings in the late 1960s. It doesn't seem like much, but it adds up. ISTR riding in one of the Chessie dome sleepers, and it was stainless steel, and had soft spots in the floor, also. Even the folks that have restored vintage airliners from the Davis-Monthan area in Arizona have reported spending weeks cleaning bird excrement out of the INSIDE of an airplane fuselage, where the critters had come to rest.The best way to begin a restoration of a great car like that is to GET IT INSIDE. As long as it is outside, it might as well be in an auto graveyard. JMO.

I saw this car back in 1999 when MARC still owned it. As I recall, while both ends of the car (the main coach seating areas) didn't seem to be in bad shape, it was the middle of the car that was in extremely poor condition. The dome windows had been boarded up with plywood (evidently for years), and while that's good for security, plywood is rarely water tight. It was evident that water had been getting into this area of the car for some time. And on a steel car it doesn't take long before water inside the car takes a severe toll. Consequently, the dome section in general, and the dome floor in particular, was in very rough shape rust-wise. And most striking was that the floor area under the dome (the sunken area that originally contained 2 lounges and the restrooms) was completely gone. It had rusted away. You could see the track under the car. This is based on memory, as I had run out of film to record the interior. While these PS built flat glass smooth side domes are very unique cars, it will take some dollars to restore this car. The good news is that all the drawings are available, and steel is relatively easy to work with, so it could be done. It will remain to be seen whether MOT will tackle this job.

Thank you all for the information. I first saw this car in Brunswick, MD in 1995. It was stored in a long line of RDC's - and I actually thought it was the mid-train car from the NYNH&H Roger Williams (that I knew was somewhere on MARC property). In terms of overall condition, this car is by far the worst that I have ever seen. I wonder if the corrosion has extended through the floor to the center-sill - which would make for a much more complicated repair. Can anybody here recommend a contact at MOT to find out what there immediate plans are for stabilizing the car.Tom Cornillie